Kensington Wine Market’s
Whisk(e)y E-Newsletter
Happy September. I hope you had a wonderful summer, and that this finds you and yours well!
The last few months have been a very busy time here at KWM. We have been hard at work getting our new website ready to launch, which finally went live last week. In addition to a new, modern look, it is also more streamlined and even more secure. We also now have the ability to add content for Distilleries, Independent Bottlers, and Wineries to product descriptions. We are really excited about it and hope you love it as much as we do.
Though it is up and running, it is still far from complete. Who would have thought it would take so long to re-photograph more than 4000 products and update all their descriptions… We are also still finding and working out bugs as we go. Thank you for your continued patience while we continue to polish it up!
While the weather is still fine, at least in this part of the woods, there is that unmistakable chill in the air which is a reminder that there are cooler months ahead. Whether you like it or not, winter is coming…
Truth be told, I love winter in Calgary. Sure it can get cold, but if you accept and embrace it there is much to love. Skiing, skating, snowshoeing, fat biking, and sitting by the fire enjoying a good book or sharing drams with friends. December may be the darkest and one of the coldest months of the year, but it also gives us Christmas, Hanukah, Festivus, New Year’s, and Whisky Advent to look forward to… which brings me to the reason I’m writing you today.
We are now taking pre-orders for the KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar.
This is our 8th year producing a Whisky Calendar, and as with last year, we are offering you two different options for securing one. The full price of the 2021 Calendar is $435+gst, which is a reflection of some of the whiskies we are offering in this year’s edition, but also the reality of increasing costs and global supply constraints. The good news is, we are balancing this with our most generous early bird offer ever.
If you select the Pre-Pay Early Bird offer, you can purchase the KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar for $375+gst, a savings of $60! Or if you’d rather pay later, you can select the Pre-Order Pay Later (full price) option. More details on the KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar can be found below.
One other thing to look forward to in the cooler months ahead… Whisky Tastings! We still have room in some of our September and October virtual Whisk(e)y Tastings, which you can browse below or on our online tasting schedule. We will be adding some November tastings to the schedule in the weeks ahead.
We will have a full Malt Messenger out with news on some exciting new releases next week. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this Malt Messenger Bulletin.
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.
Sincerely,
Andrew Ferguson
Kensington Wine Market
NOW TAKING ORDERS
for the
KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar
The design of the KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar will be revealed in late September!
The KWM Whisky Calendar, aka “25 Days of Dram Fine Whisky”, is back for the 8th straight year. Once again the calendar will have a fresh new look, which we will reveal in late September. This year’s calendar includes 24 50ml premium whiskies, a custom logo Glencairn glass, and a 100ml Scotch Malt Whisky Society whisky for Christmas Day. You can follow along on the KWM Blog starting December 1, or one of our various social media channels as we introduce and discuss each day’s whisky. And there is more…
Last year, inspired by Covid and the rise of Zoom events, we held 5 Whisky Calendar Recap Tastings throughout the month of December. They were such a big hit, that we knew we’d have to bring them back again this year. Accordingly, we will hold tastings for participants on December 5, 10, 15, 20, and after Christmas on 29th. Each of them will cover the 5 prior day’s whiskies in the Calendar.
The whiskies this year include 3 KWM exclusive casks, a number of whiskies in their 20s, and more than a dozen distilleries and producers never before featured in any of our prior Whisky Calendars. We also worked hard to keep the pricing as reasonable as we possibly could this year, which wasn’t easy. Prices have been rising across the board, and supply chain issues have affected everything from the availability of glass and cardboard to delays in shipping and bottling. Never the less we are confident that we have put together another amazing product this year, and we know you are going to love it!
Best of all, if you select the pre-pay preorder option, you will save $60. This option was very popular last year, and completely sold out 2020’s original production in just 2 weeks!
We anticipate the KWM 2021 Whisky Advent Calendars should be ready for pick up in early November. That is, as long as everything goes as planned… which in the Covid Era you can never be 100% sure of. But we’ve planned accordingly and ordered early from all of our suppliers!
Two Options to Order the KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar
1. Pre-Pay Early Bird Special Offer – Select this option if you wish to save $60 on the regular price of $435, by prepaying now in full (please note this cannot be combined with other offers or discounts). You will be charged $375+gst when we receive your order.
2. Pay Later Pre-Order – If you want to reserve a KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar and pay the full price of $435+gst later, please select this option to submit your order, and you will not be charged until a few days before it is ready for pick-up.
Order a KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar
UP-COMING 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!
Adelphi & Ardnamurchan with Connal Mackenzie
· Date: Friday, September 24
· Time: 5 PM
· Cost: $55
· Pick-Up Date: Available Now!
· 15 spots left!
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!
· 9 spots left!
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 Ile Take 2
· Date: Thursday, September 30
· Time: 8 PM
· Cost: $100
· Pick-Up Date: Available Now!
Our last virtual Feis Ile 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 Ile 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: Available Now!
· 11 spots left!
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
Wine vs Whisky with Abi & Evan
· Date: Friday, October 22
· Time: 8 PM
· Cost: $55
· Pick-Up Date: Day of the tasting! Friday, October 22
Abi knows Wine.
Evan knows Whisky.
What would happen if they switched roles?
For this tasting, Evan will select and talk about samples of wine while Abi will take charge on the whisky side, choosing three samples as well. Worlds will collide on this wine and whisky tasting. Which choices will come on top?
Included in the tasting kit:
– 3x 1.7 oz / 50 ml samples of wine
– 3x 0.5 oz / 15 ml samples of whisky
– A few small Halloween-themed snacks for pairing.
This offers enough of a sample size for all the singles out there. Those of you making a date night out of it might want to purchase two kits.
*Because the wine is a bit more perishable than the whisky, we will not be pouring it into sample bottles until the day of the tasting. Samples will not be ready for pickup until the day of the tasting*
Really Rare & Old Things Andrew Wants to Taste Take 2
· Date: Thursday, October 28
· Time: 8PM
· Cost: $275
· Pick-Up Date: Available Now!
· 10 spots left!
* Different whiskies than those pictured above… same sh*t-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! 8 PM, Thursday, October 28.
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.*Kensington Wine Market Copyright © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
