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1257 Kensington Road NW
1 (403) 283-8000 / atyourservice@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Our third exclusive KWM single cask from Bruichladdich arrived a few months back, but we decided to keep it under wraps for an October release. Distilled in 2010, the whisky was fermented and distilled from a mixed mash of publican, oxbridge, and optic barleys, before filling into a First Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel. 240 bottles of the whisky have been filled without colouring or chilfiltration at its natural cask strength of 58.8%, exclusively for KWM. Funny story about this cask... it wasn't the one we chose, that one was accidentally married with another cask at the bottling hall... but this lovely whisky is a more than suitable replacement!
700ml ml
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: soft, malty, and lactic with a whiff of smoke... this is promising; Milk Duds and Malted Milk candy bars; aged gouda and orange cheddar lead into some barnyard tones, lush barley, and hay bales; dried apple chunks and dehydrated apricots; creamed honey and vanilla extract.
Palate: plush with malt, vanilla, honey and soft orchard fruits: apple and apricot again; beer nuts and candied almonds lead into more aged gouda and a little comte; floral botanicals, dried orange slices, and savoury salty maritime notes; the soft smoke creeps up on you, subtly at first and building with each sip; the impact of the peat is far from Port Charlotte or Octomore levels, but also more than just a trace; decadent oak spices build in tandem with the smoke.
Finish: long, coating, cheesy and fruity with a backbone of juicy malt and clean smoke; vanilla, salt, and oak spices at the very end.
Comment: this isn't quite what we were expecting... but it is another very good Laddie single cask and we aren't even a little disappointed; despite its having been filled into a first fill cask (likely rinsed by the original distillery), this is very much a spirit driven whisky, full of funk, barnyard and cheesy tones, and also a curious amount of smoke; more than 20 years into the distillery's revival, their stocks of whisky aged more than 10 years of age are growing, and yet we see so few bottlings of them; maybe next time we'll push hard for a 15 year old! ;)
$164.99
It is finally here... we have been teasing and talking about this whisky for months, and it was worth the wait. We are thrilled to introduce you to our first ever KWM exlcusive single cask from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Although the bottle doesn't explicitly tell you which "Highland" distillery the whisky is from, there are clues on the label... 578 bottles have been filled exclusively for Kensington Wine Market at 51%. But we have nothing holding us back from telling you that Boutique-y Highland #2 is Clynelish... That's right, this is 20 year old Clynelish!
Andrew's Note on the Whisky & Label
Could that be a cat in the clouds, a Wild Highland Cat perhaps? Is it not strange to see a waxy candle-powered balloon? Incidentally, it is lifting the KWM whisky team aloft. And what of the monument? If we told you it was a controversial monument near the town of Golspie dedicated to the infamous Duke of Sutherland, would that give you all the information you need to know? What Highland Distillery has a Wild Highland Cat as its symbol, a waxy profile, and an infamous Duke as its founder?
This label is a cheeky take on a shared memory, with embellishments, embedded details, and Easter eggs, in the tradition of the best Boutique-y Whisky Company Labels. More importantly, it tells a story, which is personally important to my family. My mother was born into the Clann Gunn in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her ancestors roamed swaths of what is now Caithness and Sutherland in northern Scotland. That is until they were compelled to leave Scotland in the late 18th century, cruelly and rudely displaced to make way for sheep during the early days of the Highland Clearances.
On the label there is a ship at sea, heading to Canada presumably, as hinted at by the flags (the Canadian flag as it is today was only introduced in 1965). On the flat coastal plain at the base of the mountains sheep can be seen grazing. In front of the monument stand a pair of Canadians stand in hockey jerseys. Sam Simmons, Head of Whisky at Atom Brands, and a native Torontonian, stands closest to the monument in what appears to be a hockey jersey. Further back, a native Calgarian, yours truly can be seen waving a white hat, an iconic symbol of "Cowtown", whilst sporting a local hockey team jersey of his own. In the balloon Keith, Evan, Shawn & Curt can be seen waving at Andrew & Sam below. Speaking of those two, what are they doing atop Ben Bhraggie? Funny story that.
When TBWC offered us this cask of Highland Malt, they asked us what we wanted on the label, and I had a cheeky idea. In 2006 I made my first trip to Scotland, and on that trip, I hiked up Ben Bhraggie, a small mountain (really a foothill by Canadian standards) to see the monument of the infamous Duke. Someone had spraypainted the word "Monster" in neon green at the base. When I was sure no one was looking I dropped trow and relieved myself on it. I sent Sam an email of this tale, my connection to the area and my idea for the label. I was sure it was just a little too edgy...
Minutes later my phone was ringing... it was 3 AM in the UK, but Sam wanted to make sure I had seen his reply. He too had hiked Ben Bhraggie in 2005, and he had also paid his own respects to the infamous Duke of Sutherland...
One last little nugget, Keith, who is a personal trainer and headed to Beijing as a Team Canada Skeleton coach, felt his arm didn't look appropriately burly, in an early draft of the label. So we had the artist, Emily Chappell, 'bugs bunny' his arm... In case it isn't already apparent, nothing is sacred (especially when it comes to The Duke of Sutherland and Keith's pipes)!
And the rest as they say is history. On the back of every bottle, That Boutique-y Whisky Company includes the following text: "We are passionate about great whisky, we don't take ourselves too seriously and we LOVE a good story." No wonder these chaps are such a great fit to work with!
