www.ralfy.com gets all peaty with Whisky Review 370 – Finlaggan Cask Strength Islay

Mike Nicolson introduces an engaging Lowland Malt. Humorous insights on Malt and Blended Scotch Whisky from the distillers perspective, “As informative as Charlie Maclean and Richard Patterson, as user friendly as Ralphy.”

http://youtu.be/MIvLJ8ggdII

Semi retired, thirty six year Scotch Malt Whisky making veteran who now resident on Vancouver Island, Mike writes, presents and educates on Scotch Whisky and produces related video. His style is authoritative and experienced but personally engaging with humour and a degree of irreverence. Mike also advises on new plant construction, commissioning and quality control issues plus related Distillery visitor activity. Mike Nicolson’s Experience as a Master Distiller for Diageo  from February 1967 – June 2003 (36 years 5 months) in multiple locations; former manager of five prestigious Malt Distilleries including the mighty Lagavulin. Experienced in Visitor Centre Management and first host/contributor to Diageo’s innovative and ground breaking ‘Malt Advocate Course’. Mike received the Whisky Academy Award from Whisky Magazine in 2003 for “Special Services to the Industry”

Ardbeg Ardbog – Now on Sale at TheWhiskyExchange.com!

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT

Just a quick post to let you all know that Ardbeg Ardbog, as previously mentioned on the blog, is now on sale on our website. It’s one bottle per customer and costs £79.95. Just click on the picture of the … Continue reading >>

Krishna Nakula has written a great report about out the Malt Maniacs visit to Knockando during last’s years anniversary trip to Scotland:

Knockando Visit

www.ralfy.com tells you all about a single malt from a personal perspective with Whisky Review 369 – Glen Garioch 1990 Batch 34

A note from our friends at Scotch Whisky Auctions;

Hi folks. Due to essential building works we will be closed on Friday June 21 and Saturday June 22. No bottles will be accepted on those days and no collections will be possible. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Kind regards from Glasgow

The SWA Team

UK vlogger Joe Ellis a.k.a Whisky Wednesday reviews the Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy Single Pot Still Whiskey

http://youtu.be/HhoF0AM4Rgk

http://Facebook.com/whiskytube

http://Twitter.com/whiskytube

TWE Karuizawa Whisky Trip Pt.9: More Whisky Bars

Welcome to the concluding episode of Tim F’s series of whisky adventures in Japan, in which more whisky bars are visited. Time-rich insomniacs can find the previous instalments here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. It was with some trepidation that I approached the next … Continue reading >>

Tasting Notes: Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 8

The Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 8 launch was last night at the Balvenie whisky fete (still running today and tomorrow, 12 until 6pm) and I was fortunate enough to be on the invite list. Working for the company running the … Continue reading >>

The noted philosopher Homer J. (Jay) Simpson is credited with coining the term “crisitunity”. It came about when his daughter Lisa pointed out to him that the Chinese used the same word for both crisis and opportunity. Well, such a “crisitunity” has popped up at the Kensington Wine Market, and we are going to take full advantage of it. Our Spring Single Malt Festival is this Thursday June 13, and it has been sold out for months. Next Tuesday, the 18th of June, we are scheduled to host a Japanese whisky tasting: called The Last Samurai (nothing to do with Tom Cruise). Unfortunately the whiskies for this tasting have not been released in time so we will be postponing it until late July. Nevertheless we are going to turn this crisis into opportunity by offering a scaled down Spring Mini Whisky Festival to accommodate those of you who can’t be with us this Thursday. I’ve included details on the new Spring Mini Whisky Festival and postponed Last Samurai.

Mini Whisky Festival Added for Tuesday June 18th – $50

The Spring Single Malt Festival this year sold out 2 months ago, and I know that there are many of you who wish you had tickets. We are putting on a special mini festival on Tuesday June 18th, for a maximum of 40 interested participants. We won’t have every whisky from Thursday’s event available for sampling, but there will be a lot of them. Rob & Kelly from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Andy Dunn from Gold Medal Marketing and J. Wheelock from Authentic will all be on hand in addition to myself and Hunter. We will have a range of 50 whiskies available for sampling, covering many of the highlights from Thursday’s event.

To register visit https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/tastings/register.php , call the store at 403-283-8000 or pop in to get your tickets.

Master Malt – Tuesday June 25th – $95

Our tri-annual high-end whisky tasting is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and we have another excellent selection of whiskies on offer. We will sample through a range of 7 Scotch whiskies, six of which are between 30 and 50 years of age! All but one of the whiskies are new to the market. As the tasting is blind I can’t share any further details with you now, you’ll have to join us on the 25th to find out what we’ll be tasting.

To register visit https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/tastings/register.php, call the store at 403-283-8000 or pop in to get your tickets.

Last Samurai Japanese Whisky Tasting Moved to Thursday July 25th

Unfortunately the whiskies for this tasting which was originally slated for next Tuesday did not arrive in time, so we are pushing the tasting back by a month to the 25th of July. I am really excited about this Japanese whisky tasting as it includes 7 new whiskies exclusive to the Kensington Wine Market, 5 of which are from single casks. Having just returned from Japan where I visited some of the distilleries I have some interesting photos and stories to share. We are getting as few as 6 bottles of some of these whiskies.

The range is as follow:
1. Karuizawa Asama 1999 & 2000 – $109.99
2. Karuizawa 28 Year Cocktail Series – $403.99
3. Karuizawa 1969 42 Year Cask 8183 – $1176.49
4. Nikka Coffee Grain 2000 Single Cask – $246.99
5. Nikka Coffee Malt 1998 Single Cask – $264.99
6. Nikka Yoichi 1989 Single Cask – $293.99
7. Nikka Miyagikyo 2002 Single Cask – $268.99

To register visit https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/tastings/register.php, call the store at 403-283-8000 or pop in to get your tickets.

If you have any whisky questions or comments concerning The Malt Messenger please contact me by e-mail, phone, or drop by the store. Feel free to forward me any whisky news you feel should be included in a future issue of The Malt Messenger; it might just get included.

All of the products mentioned in THE MALT MESSENGER can be purchased in store, over the phone or from our website at www.kensingtonwinemarket.com. All prices quoted in the Malt Messenger are subject to change, don’t include GST. In the case of discrepancies in pricing, the price in our in store point of sale will be taken as correct.

Thanks for reading the Malt Messenger.

Slainte!

Andrew Ferguson
Manager & Scotchguy
Kensington Wine Market
403-283-8000
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
www.kensingtonwinemarket.com

Owner & Opperator
Ferguson’s Whisky Tours
www.fergusonwhiskytours.com
scotchguide@fergusonwhiskytours.com