Tickets on sale Tues April 2 at 10am!
Mark your calendars! Tickets for this year’s Spirit of Toronto Whisky Gala go on sale at 10am on Tuesday, April 2, once again through Roy Thomson Hall. Full details will be online in the coming week but suffice to say that we have our fingers crossed that ticket demand does not bring down the servers as it did last year!

Tickets in 2013 are $135 for admission to the main tasting hall at 6:30pm, and $35 for early admission to the 5:30pm masterclasses. Once again you will be able to reserve seats in the 7pm and 8:30pm masterclasses for a nominal fee of $15. Full details to be published online at http://www.spiritoftoronto.ca and the full masterclass schedule will be available next week.

Some Highlights for 2013
The last masterclasses are being confirmed and our new website is almost ready to go live—in the meantime, here are a few of this year’s highlights to whet your appetite…

Charlie MacLean: Author, Raconteur and Bon Vivant
I hazard to guess that few of you who take Scotch seriously have yet to hear of the inimitable Charlie MacLean, speaker, scholar and author of several books on the subject, most recently ‘Whiskypedia’, essential reading for lovers of whisky minutiae. On a personal front Charlie’s antics are legendary, and almost as memorable as his contagious enthusiasm for the ‘water of life’.

Those of you who have had the pleasure of tasting whisky under Charlie’s tutelage know how very fortunate we are to have him join us in Toronto, in what is a very rare North American appearance. Fans of Islay whisky in particular will not want to miss his early bird masterclass—“Icons of Islay, from Past to Present”—a session that promises to unveil the stories and tastes of some of Islay’s legendary distilleries. (Please note that there will be a $20 surcharge for this session.)
Rumour has it that Charlie enjoys a fine cigar paired with whisky to wind down the evening. We’ve assured him that he will have plenty of company on the outdoor terrace and suspect he will be holding court at the end of the night with a few fortunate guests (weather permitting, of course!)

Chip Tate, Balcones Distilling
Founder of the first legal distillery in Texas since Prohibition, I doubt it would be an exaggeration to call Chip Tate the rockstar of the American craft distilling movement if what we’ve read in the New York Times, Imbibe and the San Francisco Chronicle are anything to go by. Having already tasted some of Chip’s handiwork, we are confident that those of you with an open mind and open palate will relish this new style of American whiskey being sampled for the first time in Canada at Spirit of Toronto 2013.

We’re so pleased to have Chip join us this year that we will be welcoming him with a 4-course Balcones Whisky Dinner on Friday May 11. Being held on the poolside terrace of Roy Thomson Hall, this will be an opportunity for a few lucky guests to meet Chip firsthand and enjoy a harvest table of down home goodness paired with his range of exceptional Texas whisky. Seating is limited and can be reserved when Spirit of Toronto tickets go on sale on Tuesday April 2. The full menu will be published online at www.spiritoftoronto.ca shortly.

Ralf Mitchell, www.ralfy.com
Thousands tune in regularly to Ralfystuff on YouTube to hear Ralf Mitchell’s carefully considered, methodical reviews, no nonsense commentary and wry banter on all things whisky. Spirit of Toronto is chuffed to not only have Ralfy in person covering the show, but he will be taping some of his whisky reviews—otherwise known as v-logs—at the event before our live audience.

Mark Gillespie, WhiskyCast
When you’re asked to keep the details of a masterclass secret you can’t help but get excited, particularly when it’s being hosted by one of whisky’s most intrepid and roving journalists!

There are few places in the globe that Mark Gillespie hasn’t visited as part of his coverage for the cask strength conversation of his weekly podcast at www.whiskycast.com Mark is also an accomplished photographer and a few lucky guests at this year’s show will enjoy the tastes and sights of some of these distillery visits as part of his masterclass entitled “What I’m Tasting Now”. We would love to reveal more about this blind tasting, but we’ve been sworn to secrecy! That said, those of you who follow Mark on his travels may find some clues as to what he intends to share with us at this year’s show.