A recent very excellent birth day present, two tickets to Whiskey Ottawa, thanks Hillary! A massive event with a good 3-400 people and looooots of different whiskeys and whiskies. So much scotch, such tiny glasses. For the sake of it not taking half a year to publish, and because the notes are short and get […]
Steve is a tricky palate. He likes things other people don’t, and doesn’t like much of what we’d consider “the good stuff”, except for the odd time he really likes the really good stuff. This is one of those times. Unibroue is one of Quebec’s more interesting large brewers – they have the curiosity to […]
Dominion City Brewing in Ottawa does a lot of interesting stuff, but Davey and I couldn’t agree on whether this was one of them. As stouts go, it’s great for people who don’t like stouts. Whether it’s for you is yours to discover, here’s what we thought: nose Davey – 70% dark chocolate, acai Simon […]
This one is going to be a very short review. We had this beer with Christmas dinner (not quite 6 months ago), so we weren’t able to take traditional notes. I was hoping for something that might cut the savoury with enough structure and flavours of its own to compete. The Collective Arts Bourbon Barrel […]
It’s been an interesting spring, and May 2-4 weekend found yours truly ping-ponging around The Drive-Thru Province, traditional home of the Irving family, land of seafood, craft beer and more seafood, New Brunswick. My local fixer Hillary, political ninja and tour guide to the stars, planned several days of family and friends, seeing sights like […]
We don’t usually do wine here on iScotch but my buddy Davey started working at the Wine… Shop? Store? Wine Bunker..? Nono, the Wine-o-Rama, in the Sobey’s on Metcalfe. He gave me some great recommendations for wines for gifts/supplies over the holidays. Black Cellar Whisky Oak Aged Shiraz-Cabarnet Blend #5 comes highly recommended. Davey says […]
The Continuing Weird Beer Adventures Of Innis & Gunn – Don’s Choice Black IPA with Coconut & Rhubarb. The definition of too many things – a barrel-aged black IPA with coconut & rhubarb which is the result of a “landslide” winning contest suggestion from a Canadian, the aforementioned Don. I think I know a hundred […]
Another holiday bottle where you pay more for extra packaging! It’s okay – I’m using it as a riser for my scotch display back row now. Sleeman Sparkling Ale was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the brewery. That’s all the website has to say, aside form calling it “brilliantly filtered” and I don’t […]
This one appears to have slipped through the cracks – Yip Cider from Long Reach, New Brunswick. I know I know – it’s the middle of winter, this is from last summer’s tour of Eastern Canada and Western Ontario, this is a cider review? Off brand! Yeah fair enough. Barging forward anyway. It was a […]
Aviation Gin, The American Gin Owned By A Canadian. So says the video spot starring & voiced by the professionally handsome recent gin brand purchaser, Ryan Reynolds: It works because really, all any of us want is to be purchased by a celebrity. Especially a Canadian celebrity who would send us on very polite maple […]
When a lovely birthday present isn’t a lovely whisky – Thanks Steph! Caribou Crossing Single Barrel whisky – a birthday gift that has turned into a bit of a public service announcement. We’ve talked before about the Box Tax, well, this whisky makes you pay all the taxes. The Box Tax. The Swank Velvet Bag […]
Spicebox spiced whisky – “real prohibition rye whisky” marked “spices” to help smuggling. There’s a great story on their website that seems to have zero relationship with this product other than them calling it “real prohibition rye whisky”. Maybe this booze is specifically banned somewhere, otherwise I don’t understand how that works. Since spicing for […]
I could’ve sworn we’d had a Pike Creek before, but a quick search for “creek” only pings Forty, Knob and Corner. So add another creek to the… uh.. pile? of creeks? Not creaks, creeks. This particular creek is where Pike Creek ages their whisky, in this case in Rum Casks. Altho the website only mentions […]
Aww yeah ten and a half months later finally get to my Christmas present from Dan – Twelve Barrels Canadian Whisky. The story of this bottle is a little amazing. A high school bootlegger making prison wine under his bed in his parent’s home, pitches the story to distilleries all over the world, lands a […]
Odd Society Wallflower Oaken Gin. 100% British Columbian grown gin, aged in oak barrels. A pretty interesting idea. One issue we see a lot with craft gins is the mash/swamp factor. That same sort of distillate distaste you get with tequila, moonshine and young whisky, and what is likely one of the reasons we age […]
This one’s going to be a little messy. Steph, Dan & I reviewed the Founder’s Original – Dan discovered he does not like Old Fashioneds and bowed out of the Barchef review – fair dinkum. Steph suggested we have some people by – these things are made for parties. So we invited some interesting Ottawa […]
We’re in the middle of tornado recovery here in Ottawa, so this week’s review is limited by data plans and battery life. Which is fine because there isn’t too much to say about this product. I had thought that Maple3 Maple Water was basically maple syrup leftovers. When you make maple syrup you boil off the […]
A new Nova Scotian whisk(e)y (the spelling is inconsistent across their website), I hadn’t heard of Glynnevan before Dan’s friend Matt brought a bottle over. The Glynnevan Double Barrelled Rye is a genuinely pan-Canadian whisky. Distilled “in the west” and then carted across the country to age next to the sea in the Maritimes. We’ve […]
Flavoured whisky, man. Why do we keep doing this? Forty Creek Spike Honey Spice. It’s like honey only no not really. Not at all actually. It’s what a computer’s idea of a bee makes for honey. It’s what wasp honey probably tastes like. Like if honey was made from scorpions maybe. But this was a […]
Just a quick review this week. It has been hot as hell here for too long and I am up to my beer gut in chores that need doing. So in the name of both refreshment and productivity here’s Coffin Ridge Winery’s Forbidden Dry Cider. Here’s what I thought: nose – slight jolly rancher taste […]
The LCBO is still open and you can still go pick up party fuel for Canada Day tomorrow. With that in mind and in the vein of a public service announcement: don’t buy Liquormen’s Ol’ Dirty Whisky. Don’t do it to yourself, and don’t serve it to your friends. Canada Day is about coming together […]
Another big bottled, high abv, milestone-celebrating weird beer here, with a twist – it’s actually good! A lot of times these large format beers can be.. um.. challenging. A lot of hops to make big flavour can make something undrinkable or a lot of yeast to kick up the alcohol content can make things a […]
From just outside Prescott, here’s King’s Lock Craft Distillery‘s WhiskyJack Rye. 100% rye, same as their Prescott White Rye. “Aged on oak”, which doesn’t necessarily conjure images of barrels. If I spill moonshine on a hardwood floor and leave it for the weekend is that “aged on oak”? Possibly oak chips? Possibly some kind of […]
Man, am I a sucker for packaging. I think it stems from being a deeply superficial person, pun intended superficially. I will 100% cop to the gold label grabbing me on this one(*) – it hit the same button as those foil-wrapped “collector’s” cards when we were kids. If they ever put a hologram on […]
