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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreEagle Rare, is in many ways, is the perfect bourbon for casual bourbon drinkers. There’s enough dramatic shift between the oaky-vanilla start and the oak-based-spicy finish to say yes, this is well-aged bourbon. It’s easy to drink, but not boring. There’s enough complexity that you can sit back and enjoy it, but it’s not so luxuriously priced that you feel bad for drinking it absently.
Read MoreMaker’s Mark 46 Cask Strength bourbon comes in a charming miniature bottle that has that “I snuck it out of the test lab” feeling to it. At the time of this writing, though, it’s only available at the Maker’s Mark Distillery gift store. There’s a good degree of bottle variation between releases. Proof levels will vary. The one reviewed here is bottled at 54.45% ABV.
Read MoreBeing a bourbon person, I often get asked for recommendations - a task I find very tricky because it can be such a personal thing. The last thing I want to do is send someone in the wrong direction in their bourbon consumption (the horror!). But, there are a few that I find myself coming back to as recommendations in certain scenarios. I’ve chosen bourbons that are relatively easy to find.
Read MoreRedbreast 12 is the exact opposite type of drink I reach for, and yet it continues to be one I always have around. This isn’t a ‘staying out at a loud bar’ whisky, but rather an ‘at home reading a book’ sipper.
Read MoreMany bourbon lovers rightfully obsess over Four Roses.*
The distillery uses five different yeast strains (yeast matters), and two mash-bills to create a total of ten different variations of high-rye bourbon. This allows for a lot of micro-variation and complexity in the blending process.
Read MoreColonel E.H. Taylor championed the Bottled-in-Bond act of 1897 that served to protect bourbon drinkers in an era where poisons, flavouring, and un-aged spirit were all common additives to whisky. The designation means the whisky has been aged at minimum of 4 years in a federally bonded warehouse, bottled at least 50% ABV, and made in the same distillery during the same year.
Read MoreOld Rip Van Winkle 10 represents the raw youthful bloodline of the Van Winkle line. This would be a whisky that’s easy to write-off in one sip, but with that branding, few would. It takes time to build a relationship with Old Rip Van Winkle 10 and experience the uniquely charismatic and sharp flavours.
Read MoreThe Van Winkle 12 Year Old is an utterly frustrating drink. Firstly, let’s get one thing out of the way—unless you really want a “Pappy” related product, this isn’t the one to get. At the retail price ($55 US), this is a pretty good purchase (★★☆☆). At the $200 to $300 retail range you’re likely to find this (and far more), it’s not worth considering. This is an example where the prestige of the whisky hurts its Whisky Cabinet Rating despite a high taste score. The rating is, after-all, the “Is this worth buying!?” rating.
Read MoreBarrel Proof, uncut, unfiltered. This is the sort of wonderfully chaotic whisky that grabs your attention and doesn’t let it go. It’s intensely loud from start to finish, and that’s no surprise—It’s over 64% ABV (ABV changes from release to release). When doing whisky tastings, the Colonel E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof is (using the baseball term) the “closer” whisky. At the end of the night, no matter what else that you’ve had, CEHT Barrel Proof will be the standout star (Unless, maybe, you’re drinking Stagg).
Read MoreThis whisky, in many ways, exemplifies a well-aged oaky bourbon—it’s the sort of bourbon I’d love ten years ago. Today’s whisky world has changed, though. I’m often forgetting about Elijah Craig’s existence in my whisky cabinet, which largely contributed to the low whisky cabinet rating. Subtle bourbons can be wonderful; but subtle should still be interesting.
Read MoreTo get the beauty of this drink, you need to nose it like a scotch drinker. That is, don’t breathe in, just let the vapours naturally come to you as you lift the glass to your nose. You can practically smell the soil the grain were grown in, the grains themselves, the fermentation process, and all those condensed flavours that were fortunate enough to survive distillation.
Read MoreI started out as a single malt scotch drinker. When drinking bourbons, nosing became less important. It’s not that bourbons don’t nose well, it’s just that they generally smell very similar. That’s not the case for this whisky. T
Read MoreThis whisky was once the secret darling of the whisky connoisseur, easily available and wonderfully enjoyed. It still is the latter, but with Weller 12’s association with Pappy Van Winkle, it’s no longer a secret. Like Pappy, Weller is a wheated bourbon that uses wheat as the second ingredient in place of rye (both whiskies are made at Buffalo Trace Distillery). Wheat offers a slightly thicker mouth feel, and without rye, those harsher spicy notes associated with rye are lacking. However, because this bourbon is aged for 12 years, you do get these softer peppery spice notes from the oak throughout the flavour profile that's quite wonderful.
Read MoreMy piece for Eater on the hot climate whiskies to try:
Wine aficionados have long debated hot climate versus cold climate wines. And this same dispute is emerging in the whisky world as distilleries from warmer zones like Australia, India, Taiwan and South Africa continue to rack up awards, challenging the old guard of the whisky world. Most of these new producers are mirroring Scotland, with a focus on malted barley as a primary grain. But bottles made in warmer weather take on specific terroir that yields unique flavors. Hot climate whiskies, often aged in previously used oak—as is true for scotch—display richer oaky notes (caramel, vanilla, spicy), but are not as flavor-forward as bourbons, which rest in new oak.
My summary of the Laphroaig line-up for Spotlight Toronto:
Each time I have sampled the line of Laphroaig whisky, I leave with the same conclusion—The Quarter Cask is wildly brilliant for the price-point, and the 18 Year Old is complex and hard hitting with flavour.
Check out the rest.
Georgia Moon Corn Spirit is bottled in a hipster-ish mason jar at 40% ABV, and, according to the bottle, it’s less than 30 days old. This moonshine sells in the US for between $6 to $12 (Instagram followers confirmed buying it for $6 in NYC!). It looks like it was made in the deep south at a rusty old distillery running out of someone's bathtub. Despite some misdirection, it’s actually made by Heaven Hill Distillery (behind incredible bourbons such as Evan Williams and Elijah Craig).
The Heaven Hill connection likely explains why Georgia Moon Corn has appeared on LCBO shelves. While it’s great to see the LCBO importing unique barely aged white dog, I do take issue with the price. In Ontario we’re accustomed to paying more for our liquor. Typically, though, the uplift is somewhere between 75% and 100% as compared to the same whisky sold in the US. The LCBO is charging a whopping $32.95 per bottle for Georgia Moon Corn. That's 5.5x more than the cheapest price in the US or 2.75 times the most expensive price.
Even by LCBO standards, selling a $6-$12 product for $32.95 seems excessive. As far as I can tell, the cheapest 750ml 40% ABV spirits available at the LCBO are Canadian Club and Cutty Shark. Surely Georgia Moon Corn Spirit could have been priced in that same $25 range. But would that even be the correct price?
Putting Georgia Moon Corn in the same pricing class as very affordable Canadian whiskies and blended scotches misrepresents the quality of this product. Ideally, private markets establish price based on competition. Government monopolies have no such burden. To me, that places the burden of pricing spirits correctly on the LCBO.
I don’t know how the LCBO decides on price. It is possible that there are existing agreements that prevent the price of Georgia Corn Spirit to go any lower. However, if that’s the case, do the consumer a favour and don’t include moonshine. At the current LCBO price-point, it’s ridiculous. In fact, I’m not even as annoyed at the price as I am at the fact that those same shelves could, instead, be filled by any number of excellent $18 whiskies uplifted to $32.95.
Are there other oddly priced spirits? Let me know bellow!
Side-note: The LCBO imported the cheaper 40% ABV Georgia Corn Spirit. There is a 50% ABV Georgia Corn Spirit that’s generally available for around $14 in the United States. The LCBO also included Georgia Moon Apple Pie Corn Spirit at $29.95 and bottled at 35% ABV.
