Before we get to what’s new, let me quickly mention something that is finally happening. Come hell or high water, our new website is launching in the next week. There is still a lot of work to be done updating product descriptions, loading photos, and writing content for the new features. But it is launching, and that is very exciting. It will be mobile-friendly, have a new look, a predictive search and it should be easier to use. Most importantly it will be more robust and even more secure. I can’t say for sure when it is going to go live, but we are close… very close!

Lots of news to share with you, including the first traunch of new virtual tastings for the Fall Tasting Schedule. They are built around a number of exciting new whisky releases (more on those next week). After a lot of deliberation, and second-guessing, we have decided for operational reasons to stick exclusively to the virtual tasting format for the time being. It is our hope that we will be able to resume some in-person tastings in the New Year.

There is a lot to be excited about in the tastings we’re launching today, including a couple of Bourbon Tastings. There is a Glengoyne Vertical Tasting with our friend Gordon Dundas, featuring 7 whiskies up to and including the 25 & 30 Year. Right on Gordon’s heels, we have Connal Mackenzie joining us for an Adelphi/Ardnamurchan tasting featuring a very cool range. We also have two sessions planned with Dave Worthington, That Boutique-y Whisky Company Brand Ambassador. They are built around some really cool and unique new whisky arrivals. If you haven’t taken part in one of our past tastings with Dave, you don’t know what you’re missing!

We’re also taking another kick at an Independent’s Day: Feis Isle (Take 2), now that the Peat’s Beast whiskies are finally here. The tasting will also include some curiosities from Signatory, Boutique-y Whisky, and the character of Islay Whisky Company. Staying in the Islay theme, we are also hosting an upcoming Bowmarathon… Don’t worry, there is no need to train, it’s just a cheeky 9 whisky Bowmore tasting!

Finally, I’m also further inflating my ego with another round of Really Rare & Old Whiskies Andrew wants to Taste. This round will feature a quarter of whiskies in the 40s and three other mature malts. Two of the whiskies are from closed distilleries, and none of them have been previously included in a KWM tasting.

Our goal for the fall is to have the tasting poured and ready for pick-up roughly 4-5 weeks out. Ensuring we all have lots of time to arrange pick-ups and delivery.

One other bit of news to share with you today, and it is no less exciting… we have a new KWM exclusive cask… Our third and (possibly final) Shelter Point Rye KWM Cask #3 (actual cask #345) is finally here. This is Alberta Distiller’s Rye at or 12 years old, and it is delicious!

As always, in the event of a discrepancy in price, the point of sale at KWM will be taken as correct. Please don’t hesitate to email me with any questions, comments, or requests. But if you can, please order online!

Sincerely,

Andrew Ferguson

Kensington Wine Market

IN THIS EDITION

1. Introducing: Shelter Point Rye KWM Cask #345

2. New KWM Fall Tastings

3. Other Up-Coming Tastings

INTRODUCING:

SHELTER POINT RYE KWM CASK #345

We love good Rye here at KWM, by which I mean real Rye Whisk(e)y like Alberta Premium. Canadian Whisky is colloquially referred to as Rye, and can legally be called such even if there is no Rye grain used. While there is a market and place for these mostly-corn whiskies, they are just not as exciting as whiskies made predominantly or entirely from rye. Real rye whisky is big, rich, and spicy, often unapologetically so.

Until recently there have not been many producers of real rye whiskies, save Calgary’s own Alberta Distillers (ADL). ADL’s juice has been bottled by other companies (usually American) as their own for years under brands like Masterson’s, Whistle Pig, and Pendleton, to name just a few. You’d think this would make acquiring a cask easier, but the minimum purchase volumes are usually in the 50,000L range.

So it was serendipitous when we found out a few years ago that our friends at Shelter Point not only had casks of Alberta Distiller’s Rye, but that they weren’t quite sure what to do with them. Suffice to say we’ve been doing our best to help them with that. Our third Shelter Point Rye KWM Cask has just arrived. It was also a hit at Shelter Point tasting we put on with Distillery Manager Jacob Wiebe in June. There are only 168 bottles of what might be our Shelter Point Rye KWM Cask…

Shelter Point Rye KWM Cask #345 – 58.1% – 12 Year – ex-Bourbon Barrel – My Tasting Note: “Nose: decadent, toasty and spicy with juicy fruits; pancake syrup, flapjacks, and link sausage; oily with fennel and German rye bread; floral. Palate: big, oily, rich, spicy, and very decadent; more pancake syrup smothering flapjacks and sausage; fig jam on toasted pumpernickel rye; creamy with white chocolate and toasted nuts; licorice allsorts, Jujube, and even salty German licorice; chocolate-covered espresso beans, clove, and candied fennel; candied orange peel, mango salsa, and melons dusted in pepper. Finish: medium long, dark, oily, and spicy; bags of licorice, toasted oak, toasted nuts, and spices. Comment: this fits somewhere between the prior two Shelter Point Rye KWM casks; it balances the sweetness of the first with the spice of the second!” – $120

NEW KWM FALL TASTINGS

Loads of exciting new KWM virtual tastings to look forward to this Fall. It is possible we’ll add a few more October events to the schedule, and the November tastings will be announced in September. All of the tastings feature 7x 15ml samples, unless otherwise indicated!

SMWS September 2021 Virtual Outturn

·     Date: Thursday, September 2

·     Time: 8 PM

·     Cost: $45

·     Pick-Up Date: Target August, 21

Join the KWM Whisky Team online for a virtual tasting of the September 2021 Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada Outturn. You’ll sample 7 whiskies from the World’s largest whisky club, never before featured in a KWM tasting. 8 PM, Thursday, September 2.

Blinded by Bourbon

·     Date: Tuesday, September 7th

·     Time: 8 PM

·     Cost: $40

·     Pick-Up Date: Target of August 24th

September is National Bourbon Heritage Month, which celebrates the best thing ever to come out of America (according to Evan). What does that have to do with us Canadian folk? Not much, but who cares! Any opportunity to taste some Bourbon is not to be missed, so it is time for An American Whiskey tasting. What is the twist, you ask? This time, we will be running the tasting blind! We are hiding your biases from you and giving you the chance to discover – or rediscover – a new favourite!

Join Evan via MS Teams for this blind tour through the 8 different 15ml samples which will be poured for this tasting.

*Sample Kits will be ready for pickup starting August 24th*

Glengoyne Vertical with Gordon Dundas

·     Date: Friday, September 17

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $65

·     Pick-Up Date: Target August 26

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen our friend Gordon Dundas, Brand Ambassador for Glengoyne and Tamdhu Distilleries. And in the last year, they’ve rebranded the Glengoyne range, so we thought it was high time we invited him to join us for a virtual vertical tasting. We’ll be tasting Glengoyne Cask Strength as well as the 10, 12, 18, 21 25 and 30-year-olds. 5 PM, Friday, September 17.

Adelphi & Ardnamurchan with Connal Mackenzie

·     Date: Friday, September 24

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $55

·     Pick-Up Date: Target August 26

Adelphi Distillery Sales Director Connal Mackenzie will be our guest as we sample a range of whiskies from Adelphi Distillery Ltd. We have five independent bottlings from their Adelphi range, including bottlings of BenRiach, Breath of Speyside, Caol Ila, Glenborrodale, and Springbank. We also have a pair of single malts, from Adelphi’s Ardnamurchan Distillery to sample, including a peated single cask. 5 PM, Friday, September 24.

Independent’s Day: Boutique-y Whisky with Dave Worthington Round 1

·     Date: Saturday, September 25

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $80

·     Pick-Up Date: Available Now

We’ve just received a boatload of exciting new whiskies from the That Boutique-y Whisky Company, so we’ve cajoled our friend and Boutique-y Global Brand Ambassador Dave Worthington into joining us for a couple of tastings. Dave always puts on a good show, and just might be joined by Sam Simmons, aka Dr. Whisky… we never can be sure! Round I will include a mature range of malts including a closed distillery bottling…. specifically: Ben Nevis 22 Year, Caperdonich 22 Year, Glengoyne 19 Year, Inchgower 14 Year, Inchmurrin 20 Year, Irish Single Malt #1 14 Year and Tobermory 24 Year. 5 PM, Saturday, September 25

Bourbon: Learning About New Riff

·     Date: Tuesday, September 28

·     Time: 6 PM

·     Cost: $30

·     Pick-Up Date: Target September 14

New Riff is coming to Kensington Wine Market (virtually)! We can finally showcase this Newport, Kentucky Distillery that has a big focus on Bottled in Bond and Single Barrel Bourbon and Rye Whiskey. Join Evan and special guest Jay Erisman – Distiller at New Riff – for an online guided tour through 6 samples of New Riff Bourbon and Rye Whiskey.

*Please note that this stating starts at 6 PM Calgary Time instead of our usual tasting time to accommodate our special guest, who will be joining us virtually from Kentucky.*

Independent’s Day: Feis Isle Take 2

·     Date: Thursday, September 30

·     Time: 8 PM

·     Cost: $100

·     Pick-Up Date: Target September 3

Our last virtual Feis Isle tasting in the Spring/Summer was a bit of a fiasco… we had to postpone it for months due to global shipping problems. And in the end, we were never able to feature a couple of the whiskies we had hoped to showcase. So we’re doing it again, but we’re taking our range up a notch. On the tasting docket this time: Boutique-y Bunnahabhain 14 Year, Boutique-y Bruichladdich 27 Year, Grace Isle 25 Year, Peat’s Beast PX, Peat’s Beast 27 Year, Signatory Caol Ila 2010 & Signatory Unnamed 1992 Islay Single Malt. 8 PM, Thursday, September 30.

 

Independent’s Day: Boutique-y Whisky with Dave Worthington Round 2

·     Date: Friday, October 15

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $65

·     Pick-Up Date: Target September 8

We’ve just received a boatload of exciting new whiskies from the That Boutique-y Whisky Company, so we’ve cajoled our friend and Boutique-y Global Brand Ambassador Dave Worthington into joining us for a couple of tastings. Dave always puts on a good show, and just might be joined by Sam Simmons, aka Dr. Whisky… we never can be sure! Round 2 will include a pair of teaspooned “Blended Malts” believed to be 25-year-old Balvenie and 24-year-old Glen Scotia. In addition to that we’ll sample Bunnahabhain 10 Year, Glen Elgin 22 Year, Glen Garioch 29 Year, Tobermory 12 Year and an unnamed 10 Year Islay Single Malt. 5 PM, Friday, October 15

The Bowmarathon

·     Date: Thursday, October 21

·     Time: 8 PM

·     Cost: $150

·     Pick-Up Date: Target September 15

What to do when you get a single bottle of a very sought-after Bowmore like the Bowmore 27 Year Timeless? Open it for a tasting so as many people can try it as possible, of course! In truth that was only part of the inspiration. There was also the desire to put two new unnamed but obvious Bowmores, the Peat’s Beast 34 Year and Islay Violets 33 Year, into a head-to-head tasting. Add to that the fact we also had two different bottlings of Bowmore 25 Year on hand at one point… To which we’ll add three more expressions, because why not! Though this is going to be a big, marathon tasting, 9 Bowmores in all, there’s no need to train in advance as we’ll coach you through your first Bowmarathon! 8 PM, Thursday, October 21.

Really Rare & Old Things Andrew Wants to Taste Take 2

·     Date: Thursday, October 28

·     Time: 8PM

·     Cost: $275

·     Pick-Up Date: Target September 17

* Different whiskies than those pictured above… same shit-eating grin on Andrew’s face!

The concept here is pretty simple, even if the price tag appears eye-watering… there are a lot of rare and old things Andrew wants to try, and if he’s interested in them, there’s a good chance you might be too! For this round, we have a couple of closed distillery bottlings and an otherwise mature old selection of things. You’ll taste Caperdonich 2000, Clynelish 1995, Jura 1992, Mosstowie 1979, Highland Malt (Clynelish) 42 Year, Glentauchers 44 Year and Glenlivet 1973. An assortment of whiskies from Gordon Macphail, Signatory and That Boutique-y Whisky Company, which would set you back close to $12K. There are some really cool whiskies in this tasting, you won’t want to miss it! 5 PM, Thursday, October 28.

OTHER UP-COMING TASTINGS

Teeling Whiskey With Master Distiller Alex Chasko

·     Date: Friday, August 20

·     Time: 5 PM

·     Cost: $25

·     Pick-Up Date: Target Available Now

·     Only 4 spots remain!

We are thrilled to announce that Teeling’s Master Distiller Alex Chasko will be our special guest for a virtual tasting on Friday, August 20, at 5 PM MT. Alex agreed to join us from Ireland in the wee small hours of the morning, to celebrate the launch of our most recent KWM Teeling Whiskey cask. Alex will join the KWM Whisk(e)y Team as we all taste our way through a range of six whiskies: the Teeling Trinity (Single Malt, Single Grain, and Small Batch Blend), both of our KWM Casks (the 16 Year Bourbon and our new 15 Year Armagnac Cask) and an unnamed “special treat” which will round out our lineup. 6x 15ml Samples.

CURB SIDE PICKUP

Physical distancing is made easy with curb side pickup. Order online or by phone, wait for confirmation your order is ready then call us when you are out front.

FREE DELIVERY

We are proud to offer Free City Wide Delivery on all orders over $100 Monday-Friday!

Orders under $100 are subject to a flat rate $10 deliver fee.

We are expecting high demand for delivery after the sale so please be patient!

403-283-8000

Store Hours

Mon – Wed 10AM – 8PM

Thurs & Fri 10AM – 9PM

Sat 10AM – 8 PM

Sun 11PM to 6PM

*All Prices Quoted here are subject to change and do not include GST. In the case of pricing discrepancies, the price at our point of sale will be taken as correct.*