Balvenie 25 Year Single Barrel
$909.99
Balvenie takes its single barrel line up a notch! Released for the first time late in 2014 each bottling is one of just a few hundred bottles from a given cask, never more than 300, matured in Refill Ex-American oak casks and bottled at 47.8%.
Producer Description
"The Balvenie Single Barrel Traditional Oak is characterised by subtle spices and rich honeyed sweetness. Malt Master David C. Stewart MBE only selects casks of whisky for bottling that have the character he expects of Balvenie matured for 25 years exclusively in American oak. However, no two casks will ever produce an identical single malt. As such, this 25 year old single malt whisky from a Single Barrel Traditional Oak Aged is unique and no more than 300 bottles will be filled from any one cask. This is reflected on the bottle label – carrying the distillation date, bottling date and cask number in which the Scotch whisky was matured. The Balvenie Single Barrel Traditional Oak Aged 25 Years is a non chill-filtered release with an ABV of 47.8%."
Springbank 19 Year Bourbon Wood
$339.99
This single cask Springbank has been bottled exclusively for Springbank's Alberta importer Gold Medal Marketing. Just 162 bottles of this 19-year-old, 1998 vintage single cask. Matured in a First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel and bottled at a cask strength of 57.4%. It is pricey, but it is spectacular!
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: salty, vanilla and peanut butter icing sugars, creamy, toasty and subtly oaky; oh wow, this is classic old Springbank... here come the apricots, fatty oils and soft doughy oak tones; a hint of peaty and juicy tropical fruits: mango and papaya.
Palate: round, oily, creamy and decadent and malty; soft oily peat rolls over the palate like a wave; more vanilla and peanut butter icing; dried apricots with kiwi and mango; still salty (salted caramel) with some elegant smooth smoke and fatty-buttery oils; a touch of old engine oil just to round things out.
Finish: big, round and low; it drips from the palate, coating it and leaving a creamy, decadent warming sensation.
Comment: this is very well matured older Springbank; hard to believe it is just 19 years of age, it tastes much older!
Evan's Tasting Note
Nose: Peat and dryer sheets, lemon jujubes and just-baled hay, leaves on the ground in autumn, salt, brine, peaches & cream, sunflower seeds, almond butter, white chocolate and ripe bananas.
Palate: Salty, oily and rich with sweet & spicy peat notes. Toasted almonds, white grape juice, oak spices, salted caramels & milk chocolate, honeydew melons, banana chips, black pepper and sweet chilis. Hints of minerality with lemonade and vanilla.
Finish: Spiciness slowly fades leaving peat, seawater, juicy pears and citrus with a slight nutty edge.
Comment: Awesome Single Cask Springbank. Does this Campbeltown distillery have ANY bad casks right now?
Springbank 12 Year Cask Strength 56.3%
$99.99
Expected new shipment arrival November 2018.
Blink and you'll miss it! The Springbank 12 Year Cask Strength is never available in large quantities, this batch will be sold out in just a week or two! Matured in mix of 70% Sherry & 30% Ex-Bourbon casks, bottled at 56.5%.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: round sherry notes, chocolate, subtle peat and briny maritime notes; dried cranberry and sea salt caramel; clotted cream and ornage marzipan.
Palate: big and firm; big sherry tones bash head-on into a firmer peat-smoke; classic engine-oily / butter-scotchy Springbank peat tones smash head on hold up well against the sherry onslaught: leather, dried cranberries and clove.
Finish: long, rich and coating; oily peat and sherry slowly fade away.
Comment: bolder and more than other recent releases of the Springbank 12 cask strength... me thinks they may have burnt the peat a little longer with this batch!
Distiller's Tasting Note
Nose: A richness of maraschino cherries, wild berries and boiled sweets combine with softer notes of fruit and nut chocolate, almond ice cream and watermelon to give a warm and pleasant introduction to this twelve year old dram.
Palate: The gentle nature of the palate does not hint that this is a cask strength whisky with viennese whirls, milk chocolate, cantuccini biscuit, walnut whip present alongside cloves, almonds and syrup.
Finish: Salted caramel, gentle smoke and dunnage warehouse notes influence this true Campbeltown malt, while coffee bean, clotted cream, hazelnut and liquorice all add a further dimension to this superb dram ensuring you return for a refill.
Springbank Society Longrow 14 Year
$139.99
Please note, you must be a Springbank Society Member to buy this product. Strictly 1 per customer!!!
Only 36 bottles are available for Canadian Springbank Society members; 1 per member. It was matured in a Fresh Sherry Butt from October 2001 and matured through October 2016. 53.2% abv. I haven’t had a chance to write up a tasting note yet, so the distillery’s will have to do.
YOU HAVE TO BE A SPRINGBANK SOCIETY MEMBER TO PURCHASE A BOTTLE: But we can help with that. Membership is a onetime fee of £50. We can send you the form and forward it to the distillery!
Distiller’s Tasting Note
Nose: Rich walnut, pecan, notes of stewed fruits with woodiness and scent of worn leather.
Taste: Stewed fruits remain, rhubarb, dunnage warehouse flavour and woody.
Finish: Meaty and chewy, dry with menthol as the smokiness builds up.”
Millstone 1996 American Oak Cask 1376
$284.99
An Alberta exclusive single cask of Millstone bottled by Greg and Jarka Winters of Craftwork Sprits. The whisky is from a single Virgin American oak cask filled in 1996, matured 20 years and bottled at 51.45%. The Dutch are very precise. I was worried that 20 years in a Virgin Oak cask would have left too heavy an oak imprint on the whisky, but far from it, it was a deft touch!
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: bread and butter pudding with canned whip cream; dried apricots and peaches n cream; strawberry puff candies an cooked marshmallow; French bakery notes: fruit flan, croissants and other baked goods.
Palate: waxy, tropical and creamy; toasty, oily and coating; more dried apricot, peaches and whip cream from a can; floral and spicy with toasted coconut, marmalade and some orange rind; this is sweet, fruity and waxy, a beautiful malt
Finish: warming, toasty and peppery; the fruits are all on the front end, but traces linger with a waxy oily grip.
Comment: this is a lovely, layered and fruity malt; 20 years in virgin oak, has surprisingly not overwhelmed the spirit, but it has had a deft touch; a wonderful concentration of flavours!
Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 2004
$13.99
G&M Caol Ila 2007 KWM Cask
$121.99
This is one of two new KWM exclusive Caol Ila casks we have launched for Fall 2017. Distilled in May 2007 and bottled in July 2017, this 10 year old was matured in a single Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel before bottling at 58.6%. Only 224 total bottles!
Andrew’s Tasting Note
Nose: honey glazed ham with cloves; chewy British bacon dipped in maple syrup with orange rinds; clean wood smoke and a touch ashy with a salty maritime tones.
Palate: round, chewy and sweet; more honey glazed ham with crisp spices: clove and fennel; buckwheat blueberry pancakes and chewy-salty British bacon with maple syrup; creamy vanilla with wood ash holding back layers of fruit: orange rinds, melon and banana.
Finish: long, coating and classic Islay; very maritime, smoky and salty with glazed ham; bold but smooth and layered.
Comment: I may have a slight preference for this younger bottling over the other cask we’ve bottled; it is very good for a 10 year old single cask!
Gordon MacPhail Tasting Note
Nose: sweet cured meat aromas with vanilla and hints of lemon.
Palate: peppery with ripe tropical fruits, chocolate and toasted oak, accompanied by peat smoke.
Finish: long with lingering bonfire embers.
G&M Caol Ila 2002 KWM Cask
$144.99
The older of the 2 KWM exclusive Caol Ila casks launched in fall 2017, this 14 year old, bottled by Gordon Macphail at 52.5%, was matured in a First Fill Ex-Bourbon barrel. There was a very low outturn of just 155 bottles, which will be found nowhere else in the World, but Kensington Wine Market.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: beeswax, apple crumble, peanut brittle and almond paste; oily, butter-poached scallops and lobster tail dipped in lemon-butter; lots of big, round vanilla notes, but also a trace of chunky malt and citrus tones.
Palate: big, round, creamy and bold; still nutty, loads of vanilla and honey, building into thick dried-grassy-barley and soft peat smoke; more scallops and lobster follow with a generous helping of lemon-butter; citrus fruits and more exotic tropical far lie beneath a building tarry-earthiness.
Finish: it settles into an oily, coating, smoky and drying finale; very long in the tooth, but also fresh.
Comment: while the younger cask is a more unapologetic, bacon-y, and in your face malt, this older cask is more complex and leaning towards seafood and citrus tones; what a pair!
Gordon Macphail Tasting Note
Nose: sweet honey and ripe tropical fruit aromas mingle with a smoky edge.
Palate: smooth and sweet with ripe banana, apple and citrus flavours, complemented by a touch of oak.
Finish: long and sweet with lingering smoke.
Tomatin 1999 KWM Single Cask
$149.99
Our first ever single cask of Tomatin! The whisky was distilled at this Highland Distillery in 1999, matured in Bourbon and finished for five years in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butt. 621 bottles were filled at 52%. It was bottled at 17 years and 9 months of age. It is a classic big sherry cask whisky!
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: nutty and woody with soft leather; a touch of tobacco and clotted cream; moist Jujubes and candied fruit tones with a touch of musty oak; ginger and cinnamon in a cedar sauna.
Palate: round, oily and thick; the sherry is laid thick over the creamy, honeyed, base; more Jujubes and big candied fruits; leather and tobacco with dark chocolate, candied orange peel and Demerara sugar; my mouth is tingling, watering and desirous of more; the sherry is bold but balanced, coming in big waves, eventually emerging into cloves and Dutch licorice.
Finish: very fruity, rich, long and spicy; it continues to evolve in waves; very oily and coating.
Comment: it is getting harder and harder to find good value sherry cask whisky, and so this exclusive Tomatin cask is timely; very good value for its age, here you have a very sherried but balanced malt; and for those with a sensitivity to sulphur I dare you to find even a trace herein!