Maker's Mark 46 Review - Possibly the finest outdoor summer bourbon

Maker's Mark 46 Review - Possibly the finest outdoor summer bourbon

Maker’s Mark 46 tastes great in a Glencairn glass, in a plastic cup, on ice, with some water, or from the bottle (I haven’t actually tried this!). It’s the whisky that’s most likely to make an appearance when I’m hosting a party with a mix of wine, beer, and whisky drinkers. It pops nicely with flavour, it doesn’t require fancy glassware, and it's a whisky that stirs conversation.

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Swamp Water is Not a Cocktail and Should Not Be Tried at Home

Swamp Water is Not a Cocktail and Should Not Be Tried at Home

While I was attending a friend's bachelor party, we had all of a few minutes to make a "traveller" drink before we boarded the private bus (thanks Mint Julep Tours). I ended up mixing whatever ingredients we had left in the house. This recreation with Jamie didn't go quite as well. As Jamie calls this, it's the "This drink is disgusting and I'm disappointed in you Mark Bylok" cocktail. 

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Mortlach Rare Old Reviewed - Braggartly whisky with good looks that comes with a price

Mortlach Rare Old Reviewed - Braggartly whisky with good looks that comes with a price

From removing the cork, to tipping the bottle, to the pour, Mortlach Rare Old is a fine experience. The bottle screams “expensive whisky.” That being said, the marketing is likely to enrage many. Bragging that your whisky is "rare” and “old" has the same stereotypes associated with driving an embellished large car. Maybe there are some insecurities there?

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Laphroaig 18 Year Old - One of the Great Ones from Islay

Laphroaig 18 Year Old - One of the Great Ones from Islay

Laphroaig 18 is a favourite of mine. It wasn’t long ago that you could find this release for around $75 in the United States. At that price point, it’s an insanely great buy, and quite frankly we’ll likely not ever see it sold so cheaply. While the product is largely discontinued, you might still find supplies of it in 2016 before it’s officially gone.

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Monkey Shoulder - A Bold Marketing Success, but What About The Whisky?

Monkey Shoulder - A Bold Marketing Success, but What About The Whisky?

I sometimes avoid defining “Single Malt Scotch” during whisky tastings because I get the inevitable questions that cause more confusion than clarity. Single malt scotch is a single distillery whisky made in Scotland of 100% malted barley. It's most often blend of hundreds of barrels, and so long as those barrels contain 100% malted barley whisky that was distilled in the same distillery, it's defined as single malt scotch.

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Supply, Demand, and Shelf Space - The Story Between Whisky Makers and NAS Haters

Supply, Demand, and Shelf Space - The Story Between Whisky Makers and NAS Haters

The summarized story of whisky goes something like this—In the 60s onward the rise of vodka made edgier spirits like whisky unpopular. Whisky producers started watering their whisky down and adding age statements to popularize their spirits as being of higher quality. It worked. Scotch sales were up, and soon modern cocktail culture (based heavily on an interpretation of traditional cocktail culture) brought spirit-forward drinks to the market. The whisky boom reached new heights when the premium whisky market exploded to a much broader audience. Pappy became a "thing" and the demand far outstripped supply.

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A Dry Month Without Benefits - My Story of Dry January

A Dry Month Without Benefits - My Story of Dry January

When I was in my twenties, I attempted a sugar detox for a month. At the time I worked at a software lab, and sugar was a regular part of my diet. The headaches from fully detoxing from sugar were horrendous. While I couldn’t stay sugar-free for the entirety of that month, I learned a great deal about myself.

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The Challenges Of "Do-it-Yourself" Whisky Maturation

The Challenges Of "Do-it-Yourself" Whisky Maturation

In almost every legal definition of whisky, there are two factors—the first is a strict control on what one can and can’t do to the whisky from fermentation to bottling. Secondly, there’s the soul of what makes whisky: the law simply states “it must taste like the attributes generally associated with whisky.”

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Gooderham & Worts 4 Grain - Canadian Tradition & Innovation In One Bottle

Gooderham & Worts 4 Grain - Canadian Tradition & Innovation In One Bottle

In 1900, Gooderham & Worts was the largest distillery in the world. It was located in what is now Toronto’s historic Distillery District. The company was started by James Worts, a Englishman that opened up a prominent windmill in Canada. He went into business with his brother-in-law, William Gooderham.

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Airport Limo Driver Asks About My Favourite Johnnie Walker

Airport Limo Driver Asks About My Favourite Johnnie Walker

These days, I’m far less likely to be asked the question of what my favourite whisky might be. Instead, people ask me what I think of their favourite (or least favourite) whisky. It’s an excellent question because it instantly establishes a challenge—do you like what I like?

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Sazerac 18 Rye, Ethyl Carbamate, and The Failed Test in Ontario

Sazerac 18 Rye, Ethyl Carbamate, and The Failed Test in Ontario

Sazerac 18 rye, one of the five Buffalo Trace Antique Collection releases this year, failed LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) lab testing. The rumour is the levels of ethyl carbamate were above the LCBO’s limit. This was the probable reason given to me, and others, when calling the helloLCBO number. However, an LCBO spokesperson told me that the results are proprietary and would not confirm the reason behind the failed results.

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TEDx Toronto with Powers Whiskey

TEDx Toronto with Powers Whiskey

There’s an easy joy I find when writing about whisky. I’ve often said that while there might be disagreements in the whisky community (NAS vs age statements, labeling, etc..), our debates are not profoundly important—they’re the definition of first-world problems. On the other hand, many of the whisky people I know are well adjusted intelligent contributors to society that take that same zest for their careers and place it into their passion for whisky. As I said in my book, if someone wants to get drunk, there are lots of cheap options. Whisky drinkers are in it for the experience. While it’s rare that whisky drinking brings me greater clarity in life, the whisky community certainly does.

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First Impressions Drinking from a Norlan Whisky Glass

First Impressions Drinking from a Norlan Whisky Glass

I sat down with Shane Bahng, the COO of Norlan Glass, the newly funded Kickstarter project. Their glass was developed using 3D printers and a select group of Scotland’s whisky industry experts that offered feedback on the 90 or so design choices they started with. The design selected is intended to be a beautiful tumbler-style glass that offers a better nosing experience.

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Wholesalers, Retailers, and The Aftermark - Who's profiting from skyrocketing whisky prices?

Wholesalers, Retailers, and The Aftermark - Who's profiting from skyrocketing whisky prices?

With murder, theft, and bribery highjacking the whisky news, this year’s headlines have read like they were ripped straight out of the latest Netflix crime drama. Just last week, there was a fatal stabbing over a box of bourbon. Earlier in this year trucks carrying Pappy Van Winkle were stalked as they left wholesalers with drivers being offered bribes for cases of whisky.

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Comet Expels 125 Bottles of Spirit Every Second

Comet Expels 125 Bottles of Spirit Every Second

"We found that comet Lovejoy was releasing as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak activity," said Nicolas Biver, of Paris. If a scientist from Scotland or Kentucky had made this discovery, it would have been quoted in whisky. That’s probably about 125 bottles of spirit every second.

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Collectibility Pushes Whisky Prices Higher with The Balvenie DCS £125,000 Compendium

Collectibility Pushes Whisky Prices Higher with The Balvenie DCS £125,000 Compendium

Balvenie announced the release of the David Charles Stewart Compendium of whiskies. Five chapters, each with five single cask selections from five decades honouring David’s 50 years in the whisky business. That’s a total of 25 whiskies, and they’re priced at over £125,000 for the set. Individual bottles range from £400 to £19,000. At these prices, the question to ask is, what is the whisky worth? 

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