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Malt Messenger Bulletin by Andrew Ferguson – Happy Burns Day… New Tastings… & More! – Burns Day Whisky News

January 25th, 2023

Happy Burns Day…

Before we get to the new stuff, I should point out we still have a handful of tickets left for the Burns Bash tonight at KWM, should you be looking for an opportunity to celebrate the life of Scotland’s favourite son.

What is the Burns Bash? Long story short, we used to hold an annual Burns Dinner with speeches, highland dancing, whisky, and haggis, until the AGLC told us we couldn’t… (you really don’t need or want to hear the long story, it will frustrate you)

Undaunted, and still wanting to celebrate the Bard’s birthday, we replaced a classy formal event with an in-store whisky festival where consumers could sample as many whiskies as they safely could in a two-hour window. It’s not that it isn’t classy… just not as classy, but there are some very good deals.

Those deals are actually live on our website right now, and will be just until we get around to turning them off tomorrow… This isn’t our Year End Inventory Sale, that was pushed back to February 10-12, so we could call it the Door Crasher Sale… remember the Dodge Ram?!

Regardless, if you can’t wait 3 weeks for the big sale, feel free to take advantage of some of the deals we have on now. You can browse all items on sale here!

We also have some new tastings to tell you about, with most of our March and some of our April events live online and open for registration now. A few of them are likely to sell out quickly, so don’t drag your feet…

This Malt Messenger Bulletin is heavy on events. We’ll have some new whisky news to share with you next week!

As always, in the event of a discrepancy in price, the point of sale at KWM will be taken as correct. Online ordering and in-store purchasing are always our preferences, but you can email too.

Stay tuned for the next full Malt Messenger, likely Wednesday next week!

Sincerely,

Andrew Ferguson

Kensington Wine Market

1. New Tastings

2. Ardbeg Embassy Dinner at Commery Block

3. Up-Coming Tastings

4. Past Events: On Sale!

New Tastings –

Look Out… March is Looking Exciting!

Here it is, the March Tasting Schedule, well most of it, anyway… There wasn’t time to pull together tasting-specific photos yet, though we’ll get to those soon… in the meantime, we have improvised!

We have had to hold off announcing a couple of events, while we finalize a few more details… but this is the meat of it. There are also a couple of April events open for registration. Due to the Easter break, April doesn’t offer as many opportunities for events… but we still have some cool things planned.

Blinded by Campbeltown Virtual Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, March 7

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $50

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· MAX 2 REGISTRATIONS PER CUSTOMER!

We have a crazy lineup of 8 whiskies planned for this tasting, including whiskies from Glen Scotia, Glengyle (Kilkerran) and Springbank… we are trying to cover all of our Campbeltown bases… but that’s not as easy as it used to be. The tasting just happens to coincide with the arrival of the Springbank PX in Alberta, which is a really hot potato. Full disclosure, we are only getting 6 bottles, and the only way you’ll be able to enter a ballot to purchase a bottle from KWM, is if you take part in this tasting, and space is limited… But this won’t be the only whisky we’ll be offering for sale by ballot to participants in this tasting, there will be at least 3 others!

Tuesday, March 7 @ 7PM

Bourbon Or Bust In-Store Tasting

· Date: Friday, March 10

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $50

· IN-STORE TASTING

Evan, KWM’s foremost Bourbon Fanboy will be your guide as you taste your way through a range of 7 whiskies from south of the 49th parallel. Will it be a blind tasting? Will it focus on craft Bourbon, the big distillers, or both? Evan isn’t saying, and we think that is because he is not sure himself yet… Regardless, Bourbon will be the name of the game and there will be 7 whiskies sampled with nibbles from our neighbour Peasant Cheese.

Friday, March 10 @ 7PM

Even Mo Whisky FOMO Virtual Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, March 14

· Time: 7-9 PM

· Cost: $100

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· MAX 2 REGISTRATIONS PER CUSTOMER!

If your new year’s resolution was to resist falling victim to Whisky FOMO, I salute you, but might I suggest not reading further!?

Spoiler alert: this tasting will feature the Bowmore Aston Martin 22 Year, Kilchomans Loch Gorm, 100% Islay 2022, and Cadado Cask, Longrow 21 Year 2022, Macallan Harmony Intense Arabica, Rosebank The Roses 21 Year “Fascination”, and Springbank 15 Year to round things out. These bottles will only be offered to tasting participants, and only by ballot after the tasting. Why open a bottle of each, which we could much more easily sell? Because we want to try these whiskies as much as the next person!

Tuesday, March 14 @ 7PM

Irish Whiskey: Boom or Bust

· Date: Friday, March 17

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $50

· IN-STORE TASTING

An Irish Whiskey tasting on a Friday which just happens to be St. Patrick’s Day… this could be dangerous! The last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in Irish whiskey. 7-8 years ago there were just 4 distilleries in the whole of Ireland, today there are at least 20 with plans for many more! We’ll have a look at Irish whiskey’s past, present and future while sampling some of the finest whiskies from the Emerald Isle. And we’ll, of course, raise a glass to Saint Paddy!

Friday, March 17 @ 7PM

Blinded by Bourbon – Virtual Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, March 28

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $50

· VIRTUAL TASTING

Evan loves his Bourbon, and everyone enjoys blind tastings, so we are once again fusing these concepts together. This time around we will be including 8 different samples of American Bourbon and Rye to taste through and talk about. We can’t tell you what’s in the lineup, because it’s a blind tasting… but even if we wanted to offer a few teasers, we can’t… Evan still has to pull his lineup together. In any case you can be assured it will be a good one!

Tuesday, March 28 @ 7PM

Feis Ile:The KWM Islay Whisky Festival

· Date: Thursday, March 30

· Time: 7-9 PM

· Cost: $60

· IN-STORE FESTIVAL

Sure, we could wait until May, and celebrate our Islay Festival at the same time as the Feis… but who wants to wait another two months?! We’ll be cracking as many Islay malts as we can, as well as some Islayternatives (trademark the Scotch Guy!) all in the name of peat and Scottish West Coast culture. The price includes a KWM logo glass, a chance to sample from 100 odd whiskies and some delicious bites from our neighbour Peasant Cheese!

Thursday, March 30 @ 7PM

Rare & Old Spirit Andrew Wants to Taste

· Date: Tuesday, April 4

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $125

· VIRTUAL TASTING

Andrew’s had his heart set on a tasting of old Armagnac, Calvados, and Cognac for a while, and we’ve finally pulled the trigger. The range includes products from Asta Morris, Chateau Montifaud, Malternative, Darroze, Sponge, and Vallein Tercinier. All in all, we have about 414 years of old Rare & Old brandies to sample in a single vertical tasting. As a decent chunk of the products come from his stable, our friend Igor Kossov from Heads & Tails will be Andrew’s cohost for the occasion!

Tuesday, April 4 @ 7PM

SMWS Canada April 2023 Virtual Outturn Tasting

· Date: Wednesday, April 5

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $55

· VIRTUAL TASTING

Log in, pour your drams and join us from home, the cottage, or work… for the April 2023 Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada Virtual Outturn Tasting. The KWM team will be your guide as you sample through an exciting range of 7 new, never-before-sampled SMWS bottlings.

Wednesday, April 5 @ 7 PM

SMWS Canada April 2023 In-Person Outturn Tasting

· Date: Thursday, April 6

· Time: 6 PM

· Cost: $60

· IN-STORE TASTING

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada’s March 2023 Outturn tasting will feature new, never before featured bottlings. The range will be the same as the virtual tasting the night before but will also include nibbles from our friends at Peasant Cheese, and the comradery that can only come from 18 SMWS Members in our tasting room. Please note we will not be holding back stock of the Outturn bottles specifically to purchase for this in-person tasting, though there will likely be bottles of most whiskies still available.

Thursday, April 6 @ 6 PM.

Ardbeg Embassy Dinner at Comery Block

Thursday March 9, 2022, 7 PM

You might recall seeing an announcement about this before Christmas… We decided to reschedule it as some of the parties involved were under the weather, and it was an otherwise busy time…

So we’ve regrouped with our friend Bry Simpson, and the Comery Block, setting aside Thursday, March 9 for an Ardbeg Embassy Dinner.

For the occasion, we have cobbled together a lineup of Ardbegs, with a combined age of more than 100 years. Recovering Glaswegian, and Ardbeg Canada Ambassador extraordinaire Bry Simpson will lead us through a tasting including two different releases each of both the Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 Year (Batch 3 & 4), and Ardbeg 25 Year, as well as the Ardbeg 8 Years Old For Discussion and Ardbeg Fermutations.

While enjoying the whiskies you will be treated to a special menu prepared just for the occasion, fusing Scottish food with Tennessee BBQ.

The cost is $150 per person. Register by email with Comery Block by clicking below!

Email Comery Block to Register

Upcoming Tastings

We’ll be dropping some new March and April tastings next week. In the meantime,

The Burns Bash Festival Returns

· Date: Wednesday, January 25th

· Time: 7-9 PM

· Cost: $50

· IN-STORE FESTIVAL

For the first time since 2020, the Burns Bash is back! We’re marking the birth of ‘The Bard’ on his actual birthday this year, with a whisky festival featuring a mix of the latest and greatest new arrivals and some very good deals. We’ve cut out the poetry, bagpipes and haggis, but you’ll get to sample some great malts, from a range of 80 or more, all while catching up with friends new and old. We think that Rabbie would approve of that!

Wednesday, January 25 from 7-9 PM

Independents Day: Whisky Bargain Hunting Virtual Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, January 31st

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $35

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· Ready for Pick-Up!

Often, the best bargains in Scotch whisky come from independent bottlers. However, with so many indie bottles on the market, where do you even start? It can be daunting to select a bottle of Scotch without tasting it first, so that is precisely what we will do! With this tasting we will sift through some of these bottles in search of some diamonds in the rough.

Tuesday, January 31 @ 7 PM

SMWS February 2023 In-Person Outturn 8 PM

· Date: Thursday, January 6th

· Time: 6 PM

· Cost: $50

· IN-STORE TASTING

· 6 spots left!

6PM seating The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada’s February 2023 Outturn tasting will feature new, never before featured bottlings. The range will be the same as the virtual tasting the night before but will also include nibbles from our friends at Peasant Cheese, and the comradery that can only come from 18 SMWS Members in our tasting room. Please note, we will not be holding back stock of the Outturn bottles specifically to purchase for this in-person tasting, though there will likely be bottles of most whiskies still available.

Thursday, February 2 @ 8 PM.

That Bruichladdich Virtual Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, February 7th

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $65

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· 8 spots left!

We added additional spaces, and even still it has almost sold out! The annual arrival of Bruichladdich limited releases is a little like water and the Okavango Delta; for most of the year there is nothing more than desert, and then all of a sudden there is a surge of life. Conveniently, this also makes for a nice little tasting lineup. We have 8 Laddies slated for this virtual vertical tasting: the latest annual releases of Organic, Bere and Islay Barley; the Port Charlotte SC:01 Sauternes Cask; all three of the Octomore 13s; and as the cherry on top, the Black Art 10.1.

Tuesday, February 7 @ 7 PM.

Spongeworthy Whiskies with Angus MacRaild

· Date: Saturday, February 11th

· Time: 4PM

· Cost: $150

· READY FOR PICK-UP!

Angus MacRaild, aka The Whisky Sponge, has made quite a name for himself over the last decade in the Scotch industry. We have been enjoying his satirical blog, The Whisky Sponge, and its sardonic humour for years. He is also a contributor to Whisky Fun, a website we reference frequently for reviews and tasting notes. In recent years he has started selecting and bottling his own casks under the Sponge and Equinox & Solstice labels. Angus will join us live from the UK for a banging range of Whisky Sponge bottlings: Edradour 2005 Equilibrium 2, Glen Garioch 1991 Ed. 65A, Glenlivet 2007 Ed 57, Highland Malt 1993 No. 59B, Islay Malt 1990 Part 1, Orkney Malt 2005 Ed. 002, and Springbank 1995 Ed. 60B. All in all, we have a range of Spongeworthy whiskies worth more than $5K to sample our way through!

Saturday, February 11 @ 4PM.

Whisky & Chocolate

· Date: Thursday, Ferbruary 17th

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $65

· IN-STORE TASTING

A sumptuous whisky and chocolate tasting for lovers of both, or people who just love whisky or chocolate! Singles, couples and more complicated or unconventional groupings are all welcome.

Friday, February 17 @ 7 PM

Lost in Translation Virtual Japanese Tasting

· Date: Tuesday, February 21st

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $45

· VIRTUAL TASTING

The regulations for Japanese whisky have changed, and for the first time we can now more easily distinguish between true 100% made-in-Japan and what we like to call Japanese-ish whiskies. We will sample two releases each from Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries, including the limited edition Aromatic Yeast releases, and three other Japanese, and Japanese-ish whiskies!

Tuesday, February 21 @ 7 PM.

Bladnoch Distillery Virtual Tasting

· Date: Thursday, February 23rd

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $50

· VIRTUAL TASTING

For the longest time, from the 1990s through the first 5 years of the new Millenium, the Lowlands only had three active distilleries: Auchentoshan, Glenkinchie, and Bladnoch. And the Bladnoch Distillery was barely in production for most of that time. It was only in 2015 under new ownership that full time production was resumed, and it would be another 3-4 years until the first bottlings found their way to Canada. A few short years later we find ourselves with a shelf full of Bladnoch single malts, so we’re going to do a range tasting with 7 of them.

Thursday, February 23 @ 7PM.

That Boutique-y Whisky Co. 10th Anniversary Tasting with Dave Worthington!

· Date: Saturday, February 25th

· Time: 5 PM

· Cost: $125

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· Ready for Pick-Up!

· 10 spots left!

Our friend Boutique-y Dave, aka Dave Worthington, will be joining us from jolly old England to guide us through a tasting of some of the 10th Anniversary releases from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. We have a 31 year old Aberlour, a 45 Year Blended Grain and 25 year old Ben Nevis, Clynelish and Millstone to name just 3 of the whiskies. Andrew and Shawn had the opportunity to sample these whiskies in the fall in London, and they are all excellent… This is a tasting you won’t want to miss because as a participant you will be given the first opportunity to purchase the Boutique-y 10th Anniversary bottles… and we only received 6 bottles of most of them! And because the bottles are 500ml, there are only 28 spots available!

Saturday, February 25 @ 5PM

30 for 30 on the 28th: KWM 30th Anniversary Virtual Tasting Pt.2

· Date: Tuesday, February 28th

· Time: 7 PM

· Cost: $225

· VIRTUAL TASTING

· Ready for Pick-Up!

· 12 spots left!

We did an epic range of 30-year-old whiskies and whiskies from the 1992 vintage (the year we opened) to celebrate our 30th Anniversary back in May of 2022 (on the 30th of the month if we are being precise). And we’ve had it in the back of our mind to do another such tasting before our 30th Anniversary year was up, but alas there are only 28 days in February. Andrew has been tucking aside 1992 vintage and 30 year old bottles for the occasion for months, but the paucity of both 30 year old and 1992 vintage whiskies was making it hard to flush out the range…so we’ve gotten creative. Our range consists of Bowmore 30 Year 2021 Edition (we sampled the 2020 in May), Glengoyne 30 Year, Springbank 30 Year, our Glenfarclas 1992 KWM 30th Anniversary bottling, and the two 30th Anniversary Cognacs bottled for our store by Chateau Montifaud and Vallein Tercinier. For our 7th bottle we have selected a 1991 vintage Tormore 29 Year from Gordon & MacPhail. True it isn’t from 1992, or 30 years of age, but we are determined to see this tasting go ahead, and it does look very enticing…

Tuesday, February 28 @ 7 PM

Past Events on Sale!

We put some of these on sale a few weeks back, and they were a hit, so we’ve pulled together another batch, the last of our 2022 events with left over kits! Despite how great we think our tasting ideas are, and IMHO there have been very few bad ones, not all of them sold out. Being both practical and frugal, we hold on to tasting kits from past virtual events and periodically put them on sale.

We’ve just loaded 20 such “Past Events” on our site, and while quantities last, you can purchase them for 35-50% off the original tasting price. All of these “Past Event” tasting kits consist of 6-7 products and come with a QR code linked to the tasting’s YouTube video on our KWM page. You can taste the whiskies on your own terms, or while watching members of the KWM whisky team (and some special guests) sample their way through the range.

There are as few as 3 or 4 sets of most of these!

Browse All “Past Events”