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KWM 2022 Whisky Calendar Day 5: Big Peat Blended Malt Scotch

Posted on July 15, 2025

BONUS CONTENT: Read Andrew's write-up on two Springbank KWM Casks here! Yes, there was a time when we could get single casks of Springbank. Can you believe it?!?

by Evan

Yesterday marked our first entry from an independent bottler with single malt from Teaninich Distillery as bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Today, with door number Five, we are seeing another independent bottling, but this time from a company that focuses on blends. This is the Big Peat Islay Blended Malt from bottler Douglas Laing.

The Big Peat brand first hit store shelves in 2009. It was the first release from Douglas Laing in what eventually became known as its Remarkable Regional Malts selections. These blended malts each showcase a different whisky region of Scotland.

For the Lowlands, you have The Epicurian, which features a fancy lad who might just be the unlikely offspring of Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly board game, Leonardo DiCaprio's character from The Great Gatsby, plus Fred Laing Jr and his carefully managed mustache itself..

The Speyside region is represented by The Sweet Wee Scallywag, whom our Fearless Leader’s own dog might just be modelled after.

The Highland Blended Malt is named Timorous Beastie and features a mouse on the label. This rodent is and the moniker are a reference to the Robert Burns poem “To a Mouse”.

The Gauldrons is a Campbeltown Blended Malt. The Gauldrons is a location about a 15-minute drive west of Campbeltown itself; on the opposite side of the Kintyre Peninsula. The name translates to “Bay of Storms”. Also: apparently you can surf there.

There is also the Rock Island Blended Malt, which is made with single malts from the distilleries which reside on the Orkney and Hebridean Isles, including Jura, Arran, Islay, and the Orkney Mainland.

The Big Peat itself, of course, focuses on just on a single island: the one and only Islay. Because it is focused on the distilleries of Islay, it tends to be composed of the big peated malts that the region is known more. Hence the name Big Peat, and why the character on the label is squinting with his head pushed forward against the harsh coastal wind.

Part of what makes Big Peat an interesting Blended Malt to talk about and taste is pretty much every iteration and batch that has been made in this whisky’s existence has contained at least a small amount of Port Ellen in the mix.

What makes the name Port Ellen such a big deal? Well, currently - as in as I write this – there is no Port Ellen Distillery in operation. In fact, the distillery has been closed for just under 40 years now, since 1983. Port Ellen has only existed as a Maltings Plant that supplies much of the peated malt used by other Islay distilleries for the past four decades...

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History In A Bottle Day 4: Buffalo Trace Bourbon KWM Cask

Posted on December 4, 2022

This post is Bonus Content. It has information on one of the KWM Cask bottles that are featured on the back of our 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar box. You can find the blog post for the mini bottle for Day Four of our Whisky Calendar here.

by Andrew

Buffalo Trace Bourbon KWM Cask

The first ever KWM exclusive Bourbon Barrel was from the storied Buffalo Trace Distillery. This was back at a time when Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare were little-known brands, let alone Pappy Van Winkle. The 23-year-old Pappy used to sit on the shelf, sure it had customers, there weren’t any other 20+-year-old Bourbons available in the market. But they came in cases of 12, making them an expensive case at the time. Blanton's and the Antique Collections whiskies wouldn’t hit the Canadian market for a few more years!

Unfortunately, my tasting note for our one and only Buffalo Trace cask not survived. But it was a hit, and it didn’t last long!

Link to the Archive:

https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/product/728336

Andrew Ferguson

Owner

Kensington Wine Market
...

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KWM 2022 Whisky Calendar Day 4: Boutique-y Teaninich 10 Year Old

Posted on November 30, 2023

BONUS CONTENT: Read Andrew's write-up on the first KWM Cask Bourbon we ever had here! Yes, there was a time when we could get single casks of Buffalo Trace. Can you believe it?!?

by Evan

Day four of the 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar is now upon us. What delights will today bring? Check what is behind that door and you will find we are headed back to Scotland for a bottle from That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

If you had last year’s KWM Whisky Calendar, have seen our store shelves over the past few years, or have attended one of the many virtual tastings we have run during Covid, you may know a bit about That Boutique-y Whisky Company and the quirky labels featured on their bottles. If this is your first experience with them, here is some background:

That Boutique-y Whisky Company is an Independent Bottler, owned by parent company Atom Brands. Atom Brands in turn is owned by massive drinks company AB InBev, which acquired the group in April of 2018. AB InBev is responsible for a few minor Beer brands that you may have heard of including Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois.

Atom Brands itself is responsible for more than That Boutique-y Whisky Company. They also bottle Gin and Rum under the That Boutique-y xxxx Company moniker. Plus, they own Master of Malt – a popular UK internet-based whisky retailer. In conjunction with Master of Malt, Atom also runs Drinks By The Dram – which rebottles whisky into smaller, dram-sized minis that are sold individually or repacked into gift packs and – get this – something called a Whisky Holiday Calendar. Crazy idea, no? The company is the originator of the whisky calendar idea, as far as I can tell, and Kensington Wine Market first carried one of these whisky calendars a year before Andrew created the first of our own back in 2014.

Back to That Boutique-y Whisky Company itself. If none of the above two paragraphs made any sense to you, the idea of an independent bottler may be a new concept as well. If that is the case, then prepare yourself for a potentially exciting new phase in your whisky Journey!

That Boutique-y Whisky Company is an Independent Bottler of Scotch Whisky and other spirits. An Independent bottler purchases spirit and whisky from distilleries and brokers and then bottles it under their own label. Independent Bottlers typically bottle whisky in either small batches or from single casks. They aren’t as concerned with the consistency of style as a company that owns the distillery might be and do not have to worry about one batch being different from the next. Indie Bottlers care more about getting interesting whisky that shows well and will sell well. Because of this, they tend to be a great way to explore a distillery or style beyond what you get from the official bottlings.

Because Andrew is awesome, and beca...

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History In A Bottle Day 3: Tullibardine 1987 KWM Cask

Posted on December 3, 2022

This post is Bonus Content. It has information on one of the KWM Cask bottles that are featured on the back of our 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar box. You can find the blog post for the mini bottle for Day Three of our Whisky Calendar here.

by Andrew

Tullibardine 1987 KWM Cask

In 2003 the Tullibardine Distillery was purchased by a small consortium headed by a Scotch whisky industry veteran John Black. For a brief 8-year stint, the distillery was a dynamic and innovative player in the Scotch whisky industry. Building on modest legacy stocks from the ’60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s the distillery shifted its focus to single malts. It bottled whiskies at 46% or cask strength, from a range of cask types. There were some incredible releases during those years, especially from 1964 and 1966. But there were also glorious bottlings from 1973 and 1988. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to bottle a couple of single casks of Tullibardine. The second was a 1993 vintage finished in PX Sherry, and the first a 1987 vintage matured 20 years in a Sherry Hogshead. One of our earliest KWM casks, the whisky was a classic example of Tullibardine whisky from the late 80s, balancing delicate sherry notes with the distillery’s chocolate-marzipan profile.

Unfortunately for KWM, the distillery changed hands in 2011, going to a firm which dropped the bottling strength back down to 43% or 40%. There would also be no further single casks, with the exception of a few super premium bottlings. A shame to be sure, but not every producer has the same philosophy or target consumer.

Tullibardine 1987 KWM Cask & Glass - 54.6%

Individually selected from a sample of nearly 30 casks, Andrew Ferguson chose this whisky for the balance of its delicate sherry notes, with the marzipan and milk chocolate that characterize Tullibardine single malt. Distilled in 1987, the whisky was matured in a Sherry Hogshead Cask (#632) bottled in March of 2008 after 20 years at 54.6%. 191 total bottles.

Andrew's Tasting Note

Colour: betrays its sherried heritage.

Nose: white chocolate dominates burnt sugar, fresh cream, light Christmas cake notes and a touch of marzipan.

Palate: burnt sugar and gentle spices, marzipan and fresh cream with crisp oak and a touch of honey towards the back end; a thread of white chocolate traces the entire palate.

Finish: medium to long, starting big and slowly fading with the white chocolate lingering long after any other trace is gone.

Link to archive:

https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/product/731212

Andrew Ferguson

Owner

Kensington Wine Market
...

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KWM 2022 Whisky Calendar Day 3: Paul John PX Select Cask

Posted on December 3, 2022

BONUS CONTENT: Read Andrew's write-up on the Tullibardine 1987 KWM Cask here!

by Evan

It is time to see what sits behind door number three in the 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar. Behind the portal, you will find a bottle of Paul John PX Select Cask Indian Single Malt!

This marks our first excursion outside of Scotland in this year’s calendar. This is not the only time we have headed to India if you have had some of our past Whisky Calendars though. The more well-known Amrut Distillery has been featured previously, though you have to go all the way back to 2015 to find the Amrut Fusion in the calendar. It is a bit surprising that we haven’t featured the highly touted Amrut more since then…

The same goes for Paul John – we originally planned for this bottle to be in last year’s 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. Thanks to the catch phase of that year - shipping delays – we didn’t receive these bottles until the 2021 Calendar was already sold out and entirely built. Luckily it allowed us to get a jump start on the 2022 Calendar instead…

Paul John is perhaps not yet a household name at least in whisky terms. If you are a Beatles fan, I am sure the name resonates with you, though I don’t believe that was planned with the branding. John Distillery resides in Cuncolim; a city in the southwestern coastal state of Goa, India. The distillery was founded in 1992 by Paul P. John and it originally focused on a different style of “whisky” that is only recognized as such in India itself.

This Indian Whisky is made primarily from molasses to a high enough alcohol level to make it essentially neutral, with only a small amount of grain whisky added. The Indian Whisky category has historically far outstripped the sales of true grain or malt-based whisky within India itself, with some labels easily outselling the likes of Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels on the global stage. The whisky brands of McDowell’s, Officer’s Choice, Imperial Blue, and Royal Stag may not even be seen on the shelves in Alberta but they are powerhouses in India, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.

John Distilleries itself still makes this style of Indian whisky today, with their Original Choice brand made from a combination of distilled molasses and malt whisky. It sells around 150 million bottles per year within India alone, according to the Malt Whisky Yearbook. To put that in perspective: Johnnie Walker is the best-selling Scotch whisky brand and currently sells around 230 million bottles per year.

This neutral molasses-spirit-driven style of “whisky” is not what is in the bottle of Paul John PX though. This is bonafide single malt whisky made from 100% malted barley, distilled in pot stills at Paul John’s Goa distillery. The pot stills were installed in 2007, and mark t...

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