Malt Mission 2007 #60

Linkwood 10yo
Premium Bottlers
46% abv
$68 (CAD)

(The Premium Bottlers story continued from yesterday)

Barry Bernstein explains the mandatory blending with domestic spirits regulation. "The 1% rule is mandated by the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act (IILA). It is a little confusing, but it essentially says that only provincial liquor authorities can import liquor, however there are certain exceptions. A holder of a federal Excise Spirits License (such as Premium Bottlers) can import bulk alcohol to bottle from certain countries like USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile. We can also import bulk alcohol from other places, but ONLY for the purposes of blending. The policy of the Canada Revenue Agency, the federal agency that administers our license, is that the addition of 1% domestic spirits is sufficient to satisfy the law. We have chosen to add 1% Canadian Malt Whisky (from an unnamed source!) that has been aged at least as long as the Scotch so that our product is still 100% Malt Whisky."

So, they learned that they would need to add 1% domestic spirit to their Scottish bottlings. Since they accepted that the law was not going to be changed any time soon, they sought an aged Canadian single malt whisky (barley spirit) and added 5 drops (1%) to every bottle of their single cask Scottish whisky. Experiments showed that the difference was completely unnoticeable. But the product cannot be called a single malt whisky, but rather a "pure" or "vatted" malt whisky. One problem solved, but the struggle was by no means over. They still needed their Federal and Provincial licenses.

After weeks of being passed around through phone and email from one bureaucrat to another, they learned that they needed a physical place of business before they could apply for their licenses. So they took yet another leap of faith, however this time it was an economic one. Without any licenses, any products, or any source of revenue, they leased an industrial unit north of Toronto. They have been paying rent there since September 2005.

They applied for and received their Excise Warehouse license and Excise Spirits License. They could now legally import spirits in to Canada. However they still could not sell a drop.

They applied for their Provincial licenses (each Province has a different license with different criteria and fees) and learned about product testing that was mandatory in certain provinces. They debated their label style and design and met legal criteria of font, sizing, information inclusion, etc. They secured cork-stopped bottles, a feature all whisky lovers appreciate.

When they could finally focus on sourcing, they discovered a few challenges with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). The SWA wanted to approve Premium Bottlers labels to ensure it met their guidelines, which is quite fair, but this added another few weeks to the whole process.

Other obstacles continue to present themselves, from getting notices from freight companies abroad and Canada Customs when their casks are refused at port "not allowed to import alcohol-only the LCBO can do that", to missing the ONE LCBO product call per year, but the dream is finally a reality. After $100,000 of personal investment, countless hours of research, negotiation, and stress, the first independent bottlers of malt whisky in Canada have products available.

Praise the Barrys!!! They are pioneers, passionate and ballsy, breaking the ice so that future whisky lovers don't have to wish they lived in a free country.

"Freedom and Whisky gang thegither" - Robbie Burns

PREMIUM BOTTLERS products are currently available in Alberta, will soon be in BC, and will be in Ontario by October. They never add colouring nor chill filter, and bottle at 46% abv.

LINK, Cask 1012

TASTING NOTES:

Divided nose, meatiness and maltiness. Horse barn and concrete, like getting off the streetcar at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Gouda cheese, white grapes, fax paper. Touch of smoke.

Pleasantly slick mouthfeel, not oily but slightly thick. Flavours of red plum skin, taste of the smell of vegetable oil, coriander seeds, Danish or German rye bread, and a little hot, stimulating the tongue like mint gum.

SUMMARY:

A slightly unusual sherry cask Linkwood, in my experience, but that is what makes single cask whisky so much fun! A perky whisky that could replace the late afternoon cup of tea as a pick-me-up. Not for me, of course. I would NEVER drink whisky in the afternoon...


Malt Mission #56
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Malt Mission #59

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Malt Mission 2007 #59

Scapa 10yo
Premium Bottlers
SCAP101 and SCAP102
46% abv
$67(CAD)

During one of the stretches of our North American Adventure when we were in Toronto, we had the privilege to meet two very passionate, if not totally crazy, whisky enthusiasts who have taken great risks and faced great challenges to be the first independent bottlers of Scotch whisky in Canada. They undertook this mission to address the lack of availability of independent single cask bottlings in Canada, and specifically at the LCBO. In turns fascinating and frustrating, their efforts are worth celebrating, and their story may take two days to tell...

Every resident in a state, province, or country that has a liquor monopoly has, at one time or another, fantasised about getting their hands on the glorious bounty they realised was available on their travels to Chile or Australia for wine, Eastern Europe and Russia for vodka, and Scotland for the glorious water of life, whisky. The reality is that if we all lived in a vacuum, without the internet or air travel, we would all be quite content with the limited lines of products available to us in the provinces of Ontario or British Columbia, the states of Washington or Pennsylvania, or the countries of Norway or Sweden, to name just a few examples of government-run liquor monopolies. But to visit Scotland just once and realise that the LCBO, for example, carries less than 5% of the 2500 different brands of Scottish whisky will invariably leave one eternally unsatisfied by a visit to the liquor store back home.

Now, while we have all thought about doing something about this, Barry Stein and Barry Bernstein have actually been determined (and brave) enough to take matters into their own hands. Neither Barry had any experience in the liquor industry but were united by a passion for Scottish whisky.

When they began their journey in 2004, they knew there would be legal challenges ahead, but they could never have imagined just how many obstacles would emerge in the quest to import and bottle spirits in Ontario. In Ontario, only the Liquor Control Board of Ontario(LCBO) can import and sell booze. If the Barrys wanted to sell to the LCBO they would need to be set up as agents of foreign suppliers, have their products purchased by the LCBO, and imported by the LCBO. This was not what they wanted to do; they wanted to source their own casks of single malt whisky and to be the primary suppliers of the stuff. Thus began a self-guided study of the Provincial and Federal Acts surrounding sale and import of alcohol in Canada. After months of research and conversations with bureaucrats they found out that they could import bulk spirits if they obtained a Federal Excise Distilling and Bonded Warehouse license, but they would first need to form a company, so in February 2005 Premium Bottlers, Inc. was born... on paper.

Their research also informed them that the federal regulations in the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act and the Food and Drug Act mandate that imported Scotch Whisky be blended with domestic spirits before packaging(!). This was obviously going to be a potential problem as their intention was to bottle SINGLE MALT whisky, so more research was needed.
(continued tomorrow...)

SCAP101

TASTING NOTES:

Sweet and perfumy. Plastic fruit basket, or fruit scented body lotion on a woman's neck. Warming vanilla like a hot beverage. Dry oakiness. Very appetising, pre-dinner malt.

Palate much deeper than the light perfumy features of the nose would suggest. Fleshy, carob, milk, Grape-nuts. Lemon zestiness.

SUMMARY:

A lively and enjoyable whisky with lots of distillery character from the unjustifiably overlooked Scapa. Water let out a lot more oak and wood characteristics. Tasty stuff.

SCAP102

TASTING NOTES:

Immediately creamy-effect in the nose, drying with oak in the back, and a flurry of impressions in between. Plain yoghurt, dry breakfast cereal, oil paints, apple juice, green peppers... Busy; I could go on.

Straight forward and confident (more like its nose than the 101): French toast, malted barley, citrus and raw vegetables. Slightly sour. Eggy, warming, and mouth coating in oak on the finish.

SUMMARY:

Great how Premium Bottlers have managed to find (and chosen to bottle) two very different Scapas. Not sure which one I prefer, tho. It is certainly a mood thing. This cask tastes older. The 101 has a new-make assertiveness, rich barley sweetness that is deeply appetising, and the 102 has more vegetables, green malt, and oak after the bourbon has all been sucked out. Overall, two excellent examples of Scapa from real pioneers in the independent bottling world.

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