Berry's Own Blue Hanger 11th Release
$89.99
IT'S BACK - WAS $165 - NOW $120 - More bottles arriving August 19.
Whisky Advocate Magazine gives this Blue Hanger Release a rating of 92 and titled it their 2015 Blended/Blended Malt Whisky of the Year. Exclusive to KWM, only 60 bottles for Canada.
This 11th release is a vatting of 8 total casks: 4 hogsheads, 3 sherry butts and 1 puncheon. Amongst these is purportedly both peated and unpeated malt from Bunnahabhain distillery but the rest of the makeup is not known.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: honey and marzipan mingle with clean smoke and chocolate salted caramel tarts; crisp lemon and orange with loads of creamy vanilla and dried fruits: raisins and apricots.
Palate: round and immediately smoky, earthy and chocolaty all laid over a base of silky vanilla and decadent honey; firm spices develop including bright ginger, black licorice and candied fennel; there are dried fruits hinting at a sherry influence balanced out by muddier tones of sweet peaty malt.
Finish: big, bold and malty with lovely vanillans, leather, dried fruits and spices; delicate clean salty smoke and gentle earthy peat underneath!
Comment: lots going on here though it is not as peaty as some past releases, very layered and complex; a gateway whisky to more heavily peated malts?
Whisky Advocate Tasting Note: "It’s the intensity of flavor that just grabbed me by the lapels and spun me round. It harbors intense tangelo juiciness; that unparalleled concentration of deep citrus skillfully mingled with dark vanilla, dried apricots, and gentle smoke. This goes the distance, delivering wave after delicious wave: peach juice, mandarin, pineapple cubes, and lemon zest. A firm, unctuous finish shows a little charred wood and dark sugar cloaked in fine smoke. Tongue pleasing and very special indeed. £90" (Spring 2015) 92pts Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick"
Berry's Own Glengoyne 2000
$149.99
Exclusive to KWM, only 90 bottles have come into the market. Distilled in 2000 bottled in 2014 at 46% after maturing in a first fill sherry cask #1074. Non-chill filtered, no added colouring.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: big chocolate, rich dark fruits and treacle sauce; soft leather, snuffed wax candles and a freshly opened bag of assorted jujubes.
Palate: big, rich, nutty and creamy with loads of spices, dark fruits and treacle; the waxy tones and jujubes are still there coming in the wake of the darker sherry notes; very, musty and a trace of struck matches, Dutch licorice with brandy filled dark chocolates.
Finish: long, rich, spicy and fruity with leather, treacle, dark fruits and spices hanging on tightly.
Comment: more robust than your trypical distillery bottled Glengoyne, big sherry notes more reminiscent of the 25, though not quite as elegant... but how can you fault it for that, it is half the age?!
Berry's Own Glen Grant 1995
$134.99
Exclusive to KWM in Canada, this 1995 vintage Glen Grant has been bottled at 46%, non-chill filtered with no added colouring. Matured in 19 years in a presumably Refill Ex-Bourbon barrel.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: delicate, zesty and creamy, it is very floral, fruity and aromatic; doughy with fruit flan and tropical fruit punch; butterscotch and almond past.
Palate: light, fruity and very creamy with building buttery-doughy notes of baked goods, delicate sugars and zesty citrus tones; also apple, pear and tropical fruit punch; the floral tones are still there with more almond paste and butterscotch ice cream.
Finish: lush, fruity, elegant and very smooth the layers of fruit, sugars and baked goods keep coming.
Comment: this is a beautiful delicate malt with loads of character; a perfect patio malt, or paired with more delicate dishes.
Bruichladdich Private Cask
$60.29
Scotch Malt Whisky Society 7.163
$122.39
THE INDIAN SPICE TRAIN
From a 1st fill barrel, this 12 year old Speysider comes in at 60.7%
Flavour profile: Spicy & sweet
Outturn: 180 bottles
Panel's tasting note: "The train was hot and spicy, assisted predominantly by our delicious bloody marys with celery sticks, pickled ginger and sweet chili sauce. As the driver shovelled mounds of black pepper into the engine’s furnace we chugged our way through the Indian countryside passing trees of lemons, limes and sweet blood oranges. With a shrill “toot toot” of the engine’s whistle we entered a tunnel cut deep through a blueberry muffin mountain. We could smell the peppery smoke from the engine that also had the sweet aroma of honey roast nuts. Then to our delight the afternoon tea trolley came around carrying pancakes with lemon juice, nutella and vanilla ice cream."
Drinking tip: "With spicy food and/or a fruity dessert"
Lagavulin 25 Year
$1,649.99
All gone.
Bottled at 25 years of age to mark the 200th Anniversary of one of Islay and Scotland's most beloved distilleries at 55%. 8,000 bottles released world wide, only a tiny fraction of that is coming to Canada. Apparently matured in sherry casks.
This one came as a bit of a surprise. I asked it we'd be getting any earlier in the year and was told likely not, as there was only 1,200 bottles going to the US. I said that was crazy, surely they could find a few cases for us Crazy Canucks who love Lagavulin, and then I forgot all about the conversation. And wouldn't you know it, they did find us some, though exactly how much is not clear. We are assuming we will get at least 6 bottles, but you know what they say about people who make assumptions.
93pts Whisky Advocate Magazine "This cask strength, sherry cask matured expression was released as part of Lagavulin’s bicentennial celebration. The nose offers new leather, tropical fruits, brittle toffee, and brine, backed by spicy peat smoke. Smoky sherry notes open up in time. The rich, well-mannered palate boasts sweet peat, brine, muted sherry, figs, gentle spices, tangerines, and lemons. Becoming more savory in the long, gently smoky, malty finish. Very drinkable at cask strength. A great Lagavulin."
Tasting Note in Brief: "Rich, intense and complex; deeper, less racy and more rounded than younger expressions, while just as drying. This mature Lagavulin shows a full range of smoke blackened, meaty and peaty notes that are wonderfully offset by balancing ripe fruits, mintiness and sweet cereals."
Distiller's Tasting Note
Nose: Profound, complex and dry overall. Rich yet elusive, it really takes time to open up, first offering liquid dried fruits; figs, dates or prunes, a trace of treacle toffee with almost no sweetness and a distant faintly medicinal note of wood polish, which takes on char and smoke, as with a fine old oak chest left too close to a roaring fire. Gradually you discover jammy notes with roasted meats and honey; even, a raspberry coulis. Finally, there are clean ripe red apples, mint and, in time, a whiff of sealing wax. Water brings up soft toffee and milk chocolate, sweet marzipan over sour cherries, cold smoke, burnt timbers and pine resin.
Palate: A voluptuous, oily texture, with a bitter-sweet and gingery, slightly drying start. Intense, with masses of charred wood, oak-smoked meats, honey, burnt treacle tart and ash. Then, refreshing spearmint. Salty, then sweet, with water; gentle peat and spearmint. Now it’s soft, comforting and relaxed.
Finish: Long, smooth, sweetly honeyed and elegant, with slowly rising fragrant wood smoke, ash, salt and a subtle, chilli like heat; followed by cooling eucalyptus. Finally, oily and bittersweet,with burnt orange peel, all of it lingering deliciously. Softer with water, which brings a late, quiet pungency.
The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar
$395.99
The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar is in its 3rd year in Alberta. It includes 25 new 50ml Scotch whiskies from 10 independent bottlers, many of them single casks. Also in the mix a Tasting Glass, Lapel Pin, Embosed Brochure and Tasting Note Journal.Includes 25 new 50ml Scotch whiskies from 10 independent bottlers, many of them single casks. Also in the mix a Tasting Glass, Lapel Pin, Embosed Brochure and Tasting Note Journal.
Glenglassaugh Octaves Classic
$124.99
An Octave cask is one of the smallest casks used in whisky maturation containing a scant 50 litres of alcohol. This release from Glenglassaugh Distillery was matured entirely in Octave Casks which should lead to more oak and wood characteristics coming through at a young age.
Bottled at 44% ABV. Non chill-filtered. No colouring added
Glenglassaugh Octaves Peated
$114.99
Glenglassaugh Distillery definitely has a thing for using smaller Octave casks. This peated batch from the distillery aged in a combination of resized Octaves that once held Bourbon, Port and Oloroso Sherry. Bottled at 44%.