Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I thought we should get a note out a tad early, lest some of you get into your green beer before opening your emails…
As we do every year, we are celebrating St. Patrick’s with an in-store tasting. Harmony has an awesome lineup planned, and if you haven’t made any plans as yet, at the time of writing there are still 4 spots open…
We thought we’d also do a little Irish whiskey mini-sale this weekend, as many of our suppliers have offered special pricing in the last couple of weeks. All in-stock Irish whiskey is 15-30% off, now through the end of day Sunday.
You can browse all Irish whiskey on our site, but there are a few we’d like to highlight, so Curt and Harmony have selected a few they would like to showcase!
To mark St. Patrick’s Day… I asked OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 for an image for the newsletter of “a sad looking leprechaun on a dreary moor looks on as one by one the leaves of the four leaf clover clasped in his fingers blow away in the wind in the style of Salvador Dalí.”
Anyway, you’re welcome…
There is a full Malt Messenger coming next week, with news on our latest KWM casks, as well as new whiskies and tastings.
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.
Sincerely,
Andrew Ferguson
Kensington Wine Market
Irish Whiskey Highlights In Our Humble Opinions
by Curt & Harmony
Andrew wrote the headline here, so I guess we now have to feign humility. While our opinions may be humble(ish), our passions are anything but.
If you’ve been living under a rock, you may have missed the headline: Irish whiskey (and whisky) is back, and back with a vengeance. The delightful distillate coming out of Ireland right now is sort of like the big guy shoving his way through the crowd to reach the front of the stage. The category has now grown large enough that there are simply no excuses for thinking Irish whiskey begins and ends with the bottom shelf versions of Bushmills and Jameson. Quite frankly, if you’re overlooking Irish whiskey (and whisky), you’re missing out.
We had plenty of brilliant drams we wanted to highlight – in fact, we had to pare down our list for this Malt Messenger – but here are a few of the real gems available at the moment.
Waterford Single Farm Ballymorgan 1.2 – 50% abv – From the perpetual motion machine that is the mind of Mark Reynier (formerly of Bruichladdich fame and infamy), comes quite possibly Ireland’s most fascinating malt distillery. We’ll even award extra points for spelling it ‘whisky’ and not ‘whiskey’. If you’re a fan of Bruichladdich’s naked style of young malts, you’ll almost certainly tumble head-over-heels for Waterford’s offerings as well. While different (as you’d expect), they’re also surprisingly similar. Waterford is the epitome of what young single malt whisky should be, irrespective of provenance. – $101.99+gst
W.D. O’Connell Single Grain 10 Year Batch 03 – 48% abv – If Pot Still whiskey is the beating heart of Irish whiskey, then certainly Irish grains are the arteries that have helped move Irish whiskey to the four corners of the earth (no, we’re not flat-earthers). Always clean, light, and vibrant, single grains are some of the absolute best buys out there…especially when taking into account the level in your piggy bank. This 10-year-old single grain was distilled at Cooley and matured in ex-Bourbon casks, before a final polishing is ex-Rye casks. – $96.99+gst
Hinch 10 Year Oloroso – 43% abv – A marriage of some of Hinch’s most prized casks of single grain and single malt, triple distilled, wrapped in a beautiful cloak of Oloroso Sherry, and left to gather a full decade of cask influence and oxidation. Just a tip (though you probably already know this): Irish Whiskey and Oloroso casks go together like peanut butter and chocolate. – $82.99+gst
Bushmills 21 Year – 40% abv – A syrupy mash-up of tropical fruits, soft baking spices, and (probably, almost certainly) the distilled tears of angels. Our detailed tasting notes: “tastes like one bottle is not enough.”
Oh, and free with purchase: a story from Curt about why he loves Bushmills more than he loves his own…well…let’s not finish that thought, lest there be familial consequences that fall out. – $209.99+gst
That Boutique-y Whisky Company 15 Year Single Malt #2 Batch 6 – 50.2% abv – We’re not saying this 15-year-old little gem also carries the Bushmills DNA, but we’re not not saying that either. Shhhh. It’s not like TBWC needed more secrets. If you were fortunate enough to try the previous Boutique-y Irish offerings (a 13- and 14-year-old), you’ll have an idea of what you’re in for here: an alcoholized fruit cocktail syrup. – $184.99+gst
…and last, but far from least…
Teeling 15 Year KWM Armagnac Cask 16570 – 58.4% abv – This one is a perennial favorite of all the KWM staff. Right now, it says “Curt’s pick” on the stack, but we can neither confirm nor deny the rumour that Harmony’s name was there first. Expect an overflowing fruit bowl, sparingly drizzled with Armagnac, and dusted with a bit of confectioner’s sugar. One of the best Irish whiskeys we’ve seen in forever. No hyperbole. – $149.99+gst
Upcoming Tastings
· Date: Friday, March 17
· Time: 7 PM
· Cost: $50
· IN-STORE TASTING
· Only 4 spots left!
An Irish Whiskey tasting on a Friday which also 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 will, of course, raise a glass to Saint Paddy!
Friday, March 17 @ 7PM
· Date: Tuesday, March 28
· Time: 7 PM
· Cost: $50
· VIRTUAL TASTING
· Samples ready for pick-up!
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
Glengoyne & Tamdhu with Gordon Dundas
· Date: Saturday, April 1st
· Time: 5 PM
· Cost: $40
· VIRTUAL TASTING
· Samples ready for pick-up!
To launch the new Glengoyne 15 and Tamdhu 18, our friend Gordon Dundas has agreed to join us live from Scotland for a virtual tasting of 8 whiskies from the Glengoyne and Tamdhu Distilleries. You will sample your way through Glengoyne Cask Strength, Legacy 3, 15- and 18-Year, as well as Tamdhu Batch Strength, 12-, 15- and 18-Year.
Saturday, April 1, 5 PM
SMWS Canada April 2023 In-Person Outturn Tasting
· Date: Thursday, April 6
· Time: 8 PM
· Cost: $60
· IN-STORE TASTING
· 5 Spots Left!
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 @ 8 PM.
Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Virtual Tasting with Bry Simpson
· Date: Tuesday, April 18
· Time: 7 PM
· Cost: $75
· VIRTUAL TASTING
Our friend Bry Simpson, Glenmorangie’s Canadian Brand Ambassador, will be our special guest as we taste our way through 8 Glenmorangie expressions. We’ll tackle the extra matured range, 18 year, Signet, and A Tale of Forest. But the real draw for this tasting will be the Grand Vintage Malts. We’ll be sampling not one, but two of them: the 1996 and 1997.
Tuesday April 18, 7PM
Milk & Honey Distillery Virtual Tasting with Oded Weiss
· Date: Tuesday, May 2
· Time: 7 PM
· Cost: $40
· VIRTUAL TASTING
Israel’s Milk & Honey has been turning heads ever since its first whisky was launched in 2017. The Tel Aviv Distillery worked with the late Dr. Jim Swan, a Scotch whisky industry legend, to help shape the profile of its spirit. But while it produces a traditional Scottish-style single malt, M&H is also using innovation to put an Israeli twist on its whisky. We will be joined virtually by Milk & Honey’s Ovid Weiss, for a vertical tasting of 8 M&H whiskies, including both peated and unpeated single malts. You’ll sample whiskies matured in sherry, STR, ex-Pommegranate wine and Ale casks, as well as a whisky matured at the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea!
Tuesday, May 2, 7PM.
FREE DELIVERY
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Orders under $100 are subject to a flat rate $10 delivery fee.
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Order online or by phone, wait for confirmation your order is ready then call us when you are parked in the back or out front.
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888-283-9004
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Thurs & Fri 10 AM – 9 PM
Sat 10 AM – 8 PM
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