Early Christmas, November 2025
Christmas came early for SOWTS at our festively themed tasting event on 30 November 2025.
The idea was to enjoy some great whiskeys in a way that enabled mingling and socializing, and we landed on a new format to do this. Tasters were split into four groups (Christmas trees, Reindeers, Mittens and Snowflakes) who took turns to visit different tasting rooms – each with a different whiskey and a different presenter.
This format proved to be a hit, with some very positive feedback on the smaller groups, the selection of whiskeys, the wonderful Christmas food – and of course the talented presenters.
Tasters voted the Aberlour A’Bunadh as favourite whiskey of the event, followed closely by the GlenDronach Port Wood, and with the Macallan Night on Earth in Jerez and Ardbeg BizarreBQ sharing joint third place.
Thanksgiving, October 2025
O Canada … what nice single malts we have here!
In celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving, this was the first ever SOWTS tasting event to feature an all-Canadian whiskey line-up.
We were fortunate to have Grant Stevely – the owner of Dubh Glas distillery in Oliver – as the guest presenter at this event. We all benefitted from his knowledge and experience of distilling spirits in BC, and enjoyed a few interesting stories from Grant’s whiskey world.
This event focused on a selection of BC single malt whiskeys, featuring three from Grant’s Dubh Glas distillery, two from Shelter Point on Vancouver Island, and two from the Devine distillery in Victoria, which sadly closed recently. We finished with the award-winning Grainhenge Arrowwood rye whiskey from Red Deer Alberta.
All the whiskeys – and Grant’s presentation – were very well received by an enthusiastic audience.
SOWTS AGM, May 2025
The SOWTS 2025 AGM featured a wide range of whiskeys in an open-air setting with lots of sunshine.
Four whiskies were presented in the first half of the tasting, the first three of which were sourced from the November 2024 BC Liquor Premium Spirits Release. We started with the Glenmorangie “Tale of Ice Cream”, and then changed it up with an early release from the Isle of Raasay distillery. The next two whiskies from GlenAllachie were very well received – the GlenAllachie 12 year old cask strength 2012 Single Cask Oloroso puncheon, and the McNair’s “Lum Reek” – a blended malt containing GlenAllachie and some Islay peated whiskies.
In the second half of the tasting, we revisited heels left over from the last year’s events as we mingled in a more social setting, with live background music.
French Whisky, April 2025
Oh la la …
As a radical departure from our normal Sunday afternoon routine, in April 2025 we hosted an evening tasting event. Equally radically, we dedicated the evening to French whiskies.
This was a “bonus” event for SOWTS members only and was limited to just 30
tasters.
Following a suitably French-themed dinner of Beef Bourguignon, our Tasting
Coordinator Darin Paterson presented five whiskies purchased during a recent trip to France. Along with the whiskies, Darin provided a very interesting account of his visits to four whisky distilleries in the Grenoble region of the French Alps and to a sales agent in Paris.
St. Paddy’s Day, March 2025
Irish whiskeys and cask finishing provided the dual themes for our Paddy’s Day tasting event in March 2025, with whiskeys presented by our VP Karen Yeung.
We enjoyed learning about the ageing process of a range of Irish whiskeys including sampling the Jameson 5 Oak Cask release, The Irishman Founders Reserve Caribbean Cask Finish (St Lucia rum barrel) and the Writers Tears Japanese Cask Finish.
Three Scotch whiskies were also featured including Dewar’s 21 year-old blend aged in Mizunara oak, and the SWMS “Magic Flying Table” aged in an ex-bourbon hogshead, and finished in a first fill ex PX cask.
Robbie Burns Night, January 2025
SOWTS members and guests sampled some excellent Scottish single malt whiskies at our Burns Night celebration in January 2025, kicking the whisky year off to a great start.
A total of eight whiskies were tasted, four of which were sourced from the recent BC Liquor Premium Spirit Release in November 2024. The four whiskies tasted before dinner took us on a tour of Campeltown, the Highlands and Speyside. Peat was more prevalent after dinner, with three Islay malts rounded off by a cask strength Highland Park. It really was a great line-up of whiskies.
As always, we followed Scottish tradition for Burns Night, with some stirring tunes on the bagpipes and a rousing address to the haggis. In addition to this fine delicacy, we also enjoyed Scotch eggs in what was a very impressive Burns supper.
The standout whiskies at the event were Glen Scotia Victoriana, Macallan Harmony Collection Vibrant Oak, Bruichladdich Octomore 14.3 and the Highland Park Cask Strength Release No 5.
Whiskey Trivia, November 2024
Whiskeys, turkey, and trivia were on the menu for the November 2024 tasting event, which featured a selection of American whiskeys in celebration of Thanksgiving.
This event included the first-ever SOWTS whiskey trivia challenge, presented by President Graham Allen. Each table played as a team, and a short round of whiskey-related questions followed the presentation of each whiskey.
Several bourbons were served before the Thanksgiving dinner. After turkey, we moved on to some Scottish single malts, including the Benromach Speyside Air Dried Virgin Oak Cask and Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2023.