Buffalo Trace Straight Bourbon Review - Buffalo's Sure Make Great Bourbon

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Buffalo Trace Straight Bourbon Review - Buffalo's Sure Make Great Bourbon

Buffalo Trace is stand-out in the category of available, higher-end, and affordable American bourbon. Perhaps Wild Turkey 101 has more character, and Maker’s Mark has an enjoyable smoothness through the middle, but Buffalo Trace is the ideal well-rounded bourbon. It’s light on rye, but there is spice, and it’s not too heavy on oak, but there’s sweetness from the start. If you don’t believe me, take the time to chew Buffalo Trace while tasting it. That’s right, do the Kentucky chew. Get all those flavours going. I can’t find a moment where this drink isn’t rewarding.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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