Tickets on sale Tuesday at 10:00am

This is your reminder: tickets for Spirit of Toronto 2016 go on sale this morning, Tuesday March 29, at 10:00am!

These may be purchased as follows:

• In person at Roy Thomson Hall’s box office at 60 Simcoe Street
• By calling Roy Thomson Hall’s box office at (416) 872-4255
• Online through Roy Thomson Hall’s website

Buying tickets online for several people? Please keep reading!

Masterclasses: the more, the merrier?

May we make a suggestion based on feedback from our regular guests?

If this is your first time coming to the show, one masterclass will be plenty, leaving you with ample time to explore the tasting halls, sample a cocktail, take in some live jazz and see why everyone is queuing for the prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.

For those determined to attend masterclasses at both 7pm and 8:30pm, please allow enough time to check-in, check your jacket, collect your glass and event programme, and queue for the class itself. But please keep in mind that attending 2 classes leaves little time to enjoy the event itself!

Buying Multiple Tickets Online

If you are buying multiple tickets and wish to attend different masterclasses than your fellow ticketholders, please note that you will be required to build these different selections as separate packages before proceeding to the checkout to pay for the full order.

Furthermore please note that masterclasses cannot be purchased without including a ticket to Spirit of Toronto as part of your package.

For example…

Buying tickets to the show for yourself and a friend, but planning on attending different masterclasses? Purchase your tickets as follows…

Select the following as Package #1 and and click ‘Continue’:

6:30PM-Spirit of Toronto 2016 5:30PM-Early Admission: Dewar’s Fine Whisky Emporium 7:00PM-Old Pulteney, A Maritime Malt

You will then be prompted for the number of tickets being purchased for Package #1, after which you may either “Go to Cart” to pay for your purchase, or “Build Another Package” to select a different grouping of masterclasses as Package #2:

6:30PM-Spirit of Toronto 2016 5:30PM-Early Admission: A Kentucky Derby Social 8:30PM-Legends of Bourbon

When finished building all your packages you may now select ‘Go to Cart’ to review your order and proceed to the checkout page.

There’s always standby…

Didn’t get the classes you wanted? Not much of a planner? There may still be hope: any empty seats courtesy of no-shows will be assigned to those waiting on standby. Note that this only applies to the classes at 7pm and 8:30pm; please review the About section of the website for more details.

March auction is now LIVE!

Our latest auction is now live and will end on Tuesday 5 April.

We have two stunning single malts both distilled in the 1950s: Bowmore 1955 – 40 Years Old and Glenfiddich 50 Years Old Second Release.

We also have 10 different Special Release bottlings from Port Ellen, including the First Release. You’ll find some terrific bourbons from the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery, including Pappy Van Winkle 15 and 20 Years old. And keep a lookout for Johnnie Walker Directors Blend 2009 and 2013. From our miniatures selection, don’t miss out on Midleton Very Rare Pearl – 30th Anniversary. Good luck with your bids!

• Ardbeg Mór First Edition Cask Strength
• Bowmore 1980 Queen’s Visit
• Glenfiddich 30 Years Old Crystal Decanter & Silver Stag Head
• Karuizawa 1971 Cask #6878
• Laphroaig 1980 27 Years Old Cask Strength
• Macallan 1955 Rinaldi 80 Proof
• Springbank 1966 Local Barley Cask 503
• Yamazaki 25 Years Old
• Yamazaki 2016 Sherry Cask

You can bid in two ways: either increase the highest bid by a fixed amount, or place your maximum bid straightaway – ideal if you can’t be online on the last day of our auction. Be the first to bid!

Get bidding, and good luck! The Whisky Auction team.

To find out more, please email info@whisky.auction, call Enrico Gaddoni on +44 (0)20 8838 9381 or visit the website www.whisky.auction.

Hi folks. The 60th auction is now live!

 ENJOY!!!!!!

MARCH & EARLY APRIL TASTINGS

TONIGHT – April Outturn Preview – The Vaults, Thu 31 Mar  More >

Steak & Whisky Tasting – 19 Greville St, Mon 4 Apr  More >

Burger & Chips Tasting – The Vaults, Fri 8 Apr  More >

Sheffield Preview Tasting – Leopold Hotel, Fri 8 Apr  More >

Cheese & Whisky Tasting – 28 Queen St, Sat 9 Apr  More >

Island Tasting & Dinner – 28 Queen St, Fri 15 Apr  More >

FREE EVENTS AT THE VAULTS

Sherry & wine Cask Lovers’ Theme Drop-in – Tue 19 Apr  More >

Browse All Events & Tastings >

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

OPEN NIGHT TASTING EVENT 6/5/16

Hi everyone, this is a just a quick email to say sorry…with all the excitment of our upcomming 21st Anniversary we gave you conflicting dates in yesterdays email. We are in fact celebrating our 21st Anniversary on Friday 6th May 2016, and to mark this milestone we have a special draw taking place on the evening of May 6th at around 7:30PM. The evening starts at 4:00PM and will finish at around 7:45 to 8:00PM with an open night tasting event that is totally free to all those who wish to attend.

PRIZE DRAW DRAMS

Entry to the prize draw is still from the moment you received yesterdays newsletter until 6:30PM on May 5th 2016, anyone who buys either on-line or in the shop will be entered automatically. If you buy several times during the period we will keep adding you to the draw. The draw will be done by someone attending the tasting at 7:30PM and the prizes are as follows…

Winners within the UK will have their prize posted the following Monday, if you live outside the UK we can hold the bottles to one side for you or arrange posting to a UK address.

1st Prize

A 31 year old Caol Ila worth £175.50 (Yes that special London edition)

2nd Prize

A Bottle of Miltonduff 20 worth £89.90 (London Special Edition)

3rd Prize

6 spaces for a private whisky tasting for the winner and friends with myself (Ok the booby prize) you can choose an evening or Saturday daytime slot to force me into the tasting!

For those who missed yesterdays email, heres a quick reminder of the top 10 limited lines that I think you should consider as we head into those long days and short night’s…

No 1 Creations Vatted Grain 26 year old 57.7% This dram is so creamy smooth yet nicely complex. With a fantastic price point of £64.30. One the point of grains I can’t say it enough but they are all rather amazing if you enjoy the smooth range of tastes, well worth digging into the web site to check out the range. View Now

No 2 Tullibardine 22 Small Batch 47.3% Yes the one that scored high on whisky fun. with it’s spiced flavours balanced out with shortbread and clotted cream. £72.20 View Now

No 3 Glenallachie 22 48% Small Batch. One of the under the radar vintages we have used on the tasting room to show people who think all speysides are the same. Yes it’s very smooth but it’s also refreshing making it a No1 for those who like to sit and relax with friends after dinner as they dig into some amazing artisan chocolates (Or is that just me?) £66.80 View Now

No 4 Auchroisk 27 48.6% Authentic collection 258 bottles in the world Always a favourite in my own house simply because it’s so smooth and so very rich. I should re-think about telling you about this dram. Why let the secret out!!£108.00 View Now

No6 Back to Whisky with our private corporate event tastings top dram, Girvan 26 56.6% Authentic collection. We did this as a special tasting for a rather large group of whisky fans holding a gathering on the Greenwich exhibition site this season, to our surprise 90% of those attending selected this exceptional smooth dram as the No 1 beating even old Islay’s. £83.90 View Now

No 7 Off to Islay with a lighter style dram from the dark Isle Bruichladdich 22 48.9% 228 bottles in the world. It’s another great example of the old style Bruichladdich that people love so much, soft coastal notes with just a hint of sweet smoke. £79.95 View Now

No 8 is one of 2 Campbeltown drams this one is Hazelburn 12 46% Sherry cask matured. This wee dram will soon be a thing of the past as we head towards the end of 2016 it will become unavailable to order. The rich nose of dark fruits with the long dry yet smooth palate deliver a stunning dram. £49.90 View Now

No 9 Almost at the end now! This one is Mortlach 26 56.1% What can one say about this distillery that’s not been said before. The malt from this great distillery has never been anything but superb when we come to the Cadenhead be it the 8 year old we had back in the 1990’s in Covent garden (Anyone remember that?) to this delightful 26 year old. I managed to grab a few extra cases for the web shop in the hope it will stick around for a few weeks more also with a slight reduction on the price now at £108 View Now

No 10 the one and only Springbank 15 year old 100% sherry cask possibly the best malt in the world in my book anyway. It’s running short so if you want a bottle best grab it soon or wait until August/September when it comes back again. £54.90 View Now

It’s not easy selecting a top 10 at anytime simply because it’s all down to personal taste, the selection above is a little different as it’s based on customer feedback mainly following tastings and of course what they purchased after the tasting, the top buy was Springbank 15

See you in the Spring!

Stephen W.

Our friends at the Spirit of Toronto have published their 2016 Masterclass line-up; tickets go on sale March 29th, 2016!

MASTERCLASSES

Here at SWA HQ we are celebrating as the 60th Auction marks our 5th Birthday! This would not have been possible without all of our wonderful buyers and sellers over the years so please feel free to raise a dram to yourselves and we wish you all the best for another 5 years and beyond.

Big Peatrie is back again excited, as always, to bring you his favourite bottles this month you can see his vLog here.

In lieu of jelly and ice cream we have a wonderful auction filled with the finest whiskies from Scotland, Japan and across the world and across the years.

Karuizawa has been the runaway success of the auction world in the last five years and this month we are proud to present a wonderful selection from this great distillery.

First up we have a 41 year old from the Noh series featuring the fearful Hannya daemon. There is also whisky distilled in 1967 and a procession of geisha, Samurai, Ghost, and more Noh cask bottlings. There are also sets and individual bottles from the Cask Strength 1999-2000 series featuring images from Fugaku Sanjurokkei, the Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji.

Sir Peter Blake’s 8 Decades from Macallan makes another welcome appearance this month and we also have a bottle from Rutherford & Kay hailing from the early years of the 20th century.

There is a wonderful chance to taste the magic of maturation in this month as Ardbeg presents us with two single cask releases #1189 and #1190 which contained whisky from the same spirit run and then slumbered side by side until they were bottled.

Talking of decades the 1960s are out is force this month with great bottlings from Glen Grant, Macallan, Benrinnes, Glenburgie, Glenury Royal, Fettercarin, Balblair, Glenturret, Macallan again, Port Dundas and Glenlivet spanning the years of peace and love.

The lost distilleries are once again out in force with bottlings from Garnheath, Killyloch, Glen Albyn, Glenlochy, Brechin, Pittyviach and Littlemill, as well as the more well known and much missed Port Ellen, Brora and Rosebank.

There are also well aged bottles from revived distilleries such as two 45 year old offerings from Glenglassaugh and the wonderful GlenDronach Nippon from 1968.

As always there is a plethora of great drinking drams and great examples of liquid history available for you all to peruse at your leisure and bid away to your hearts’ content.

Just a wee reminder that we will be closed for the Bank Holiday Monday on the 28th of March and that if you wish to pick up bottles please go to our new premises at 139 Lancefield St, Glasgow, G3 8HZ but for entering in bottles for future auctions please take the bottles to The Pentagon Centre, Glasgow G3 8AZ.

All the best from us here at SWA HQ!

MARCH & EARLY APRIL TASTINGS

April Outturn Preview – The Vaults, Thu 31 Mar  More >

Steak & Whisky Tasting – 19 Greville St, Mon 4 Apr  More >

Burger & Chips Tasting – The Vaults, Fri 8 Apr  More >

Sheffield Preview Tasting – Leopold Hotel, Fri 8 Apr  More >

Cheese & Whisky Tasting – 28 Queen St, Sat 9 Apr  More >

Island Tasting & Dinner – 28 Queen St, Fri 15 Apr  More >

FREE EVENTS AT THE VAULTS

TONIGHT – Live music with Hot Tin Roof – Tue 22 Mar   More >

Browse All Events & Tastings >

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

World Whiskies Awards 2016 – who won?

Today is the start of Whisky Live London (tickets still available here) and that means that last night marked the announcement of the winners of the World Whiskies Awards 2016.

The World Whiskies Awards judges – if you look very carefully you can see the top of my head

I’ve been a judge for the awards for the past two years, and have been waiting patiently since the beginning of February to find out which whiskies have won this time. The judging process began back in December, when the panel of judges received packs of anonymously labelled samples to taste and score. The results were collated and a smaller group of judges met in person at the Honourable Artillery Company on the edge of the City of London on 1 February to try the highest-scoring whiskies from the first round and select the best of the best.

Now, after six weeks of waiting, the winner of the prestigious World’s Best Single Malt award has been revealed:

Old Pulteney 1989 Lightly Peated

It’s the latest peaty-cask dram from owners Inver House, where they have matured the traditionally unpeated spirit from their distilleries in casks that once held smoky whisky. The rumour was that the original Balblair release was created due to someone not checking the casks before filling them, but whether this was a happy accident or deliberate decision, congratulations go to Old Pulteney – it may not be the best-known distillery, but with a Jim Murray ‘Best Whisky in the World’ award for the 21 Year Old and a WWA World’s Best Single Malt under it’s belt, I suspect we might see more from them in the coming years.

Unfortunately, our handful of remaining bottles sold out within minutes of the result being announced, but we have a lead on some more – you can sign up to receive an email if we do get more stock on this page by hitting the Notify Me button.

You can find all of the category winners that we have in stock over on our World Whiskies Awards 2016 Winners page and all of the winners on the World Whiskies Awards website.