Whisky Focus - An Evening of Scottish Virtuosity 2020

Once again guest writer, Murray Cohen, a Member of the International Order of the Companions of the Quaich in Canada and Scotch Malt Whisky Forum Member attended the annual Vintages/LCBO sponsored "An Evening of Scottish Virtuosity" event in Toronto, Canada which was presented this year by Stuart Brown, the first Canadian whisky ambassador for Johnnie Walker and Diageo whisky.

The much anticipated and oft-times recognized premier single malt event of the Toronto whisky scene "An Evening of Scottish Virtuosity" was held once again at the historic National Club on Bay St. and hosted by Vintages/LCBO. Special guest Stuart Brown, the first Canadian whisky ambassador for Johnnie Walker and Diageo whisky consultant led a structured tasting of the eight single malts from the 2019 "Rare by Nature" Cask Strength Collection. Stuart noted that Dr. Craig Wilson, Master of Malts for Diageo was intricately involved in the formulation of these whiskies.

Stuart introduced each of these eight whiskies from this collection with a retrospective regarding each distillery with tidbits of information not often known about them. Here are a few of his details and some of my own:

The Dalwhinnie Distillery is situated 1100 feet above sea level and hence is the highest altitude distillery in all of Scotland.

Glen Ord is the only remaining distillery on the Black Isle. In its early days, the distillery operated under the name of the Ord Distillery Company then Glen Oran and finally Glen Ord.

Cardhu distillery was started in 1824 by Helen Cummings. Actually, her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Cummings took over in 1872.

Cragganmore was founded in 1869 by John Smith and the location partly chosen because it was close to the Strathspey Railway.

Mortlach Distillery was founded in 1823 by James Findlater. It is also notable that the founder of Glenfiddich Distillery, William Grant, worked at Mortlach for twenty years prior.

Talisker was established in 1830 by Kenneth and Hugh MacAskill and is based in Carbost. It is noted that after the fire in 1960, five perfectly exact copies of the original stills were constructed to maintain the flavor dynamics of the originals.

Pittyvaich Distillery known as "Little Bay" was built by Arthur Bell & Sons and was one of the youngest Scottish distilleries during its years of operation. It closed in 1993 and was demolished, ergo its designation as a "ghost distillery".

The origin of Lagavulin Distillery dates back to 1816 and the efforts of Johnston & Brooks. I understand that there were originally two distilleries on the site and one of them became Lagavulin.

Besides the Rare by Nature collection of 8 whiskies, Stuart also presented a blended scotch whisky, John Walker & Sons King George V produced with some rarer single grains and single malts in combination.

The nine whiskies tasted on the night at an "Evening of Scottish Virtuosity 2020" were:

• Dalwhinnie 30 Year Cask Strength
   
• Singleton of Glen Ord 18 Year Cask Strength
   
• Cardhu 14 Year Cask Strength
   
• Cragganmore 12 Year Cask Strength
   
• Mortlach 26 Year Cask Strength
   
• Talisker 15 Cask Strength
   
• Pittyvaich 29 Year cask Strength
   
• Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength
   
• John Walker & Sons King George V

You will find my description of the nine single malts sampled on the evening below, along with my own detailed taste notes and score for each of the nine drams.

Most of the whiskies are available to buy from specialist online whisky shops such as  The Whisky Shop, The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt
 

• UK Shops
   
• USA Shops
   
• European Shops
  

Whisky Focus