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For those who didn’t have a spare $269.99 kicking around earlier this month to attend the Winnipeg Whisky Festival at the RBC Convention Centre, good news: a new collection of relatively hard-to-find whiskies (at least in our market) is being released tomorrow (Saturday, March 21).
Most of the whiskies in the Liquor Marts’ Distinctions premium spirits release were poured at the fest, including drams from Sons of Vancouver (which is co-run by Winnipegger Jenna Diubaldo).
At this year’s fest, I discovered another former Winnipegger involved in the Canadian craft-distillery scene. Located in Victoria, Macaloney’s has a new-ish CEO in ex-Pegger Margaret Rygiel, who was pouring a few whiskies from the award-winning distillery, two of which are included in the Distinctions release. Everything I tasted from Macaloney’s was great — they do a few different peated whiskies, which are compelling, and are looking to get a foothold in the Manitoba market.
The Macaloney’s Peat Project whisky shown is aged in a Portuguese red wine barrel and smoked with peat from Washington state. Delicious. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
If you and some pals have some serious pocket change kicking around, you could always go in on a bottle of the J.P. Wiser’s 27-year-old mizunara oak Canadian whisky — a bottle of the stuff, which is aged in Japanese barrels, will set you back a cool $599.99 (although only 12 bottles are coming to our market in the release, all of which are heading to the Grant Park Liquor Mart). This was poured at the fest, and was incredibly smooth and flavourful.
All of which leads me to the question I’m asked most often about the Winnipeg Whisky Festival: whether it’s worth the price of admission. To be honest, it’s hard to say, and I’m maybe the wrong person to ask.
Full disclosure: I attended the Winnipeg Whisky Festival courtesy of organizers. Having attended a few times, would I pay $270 to go? I’d say yes, but given my income bracket, probably not every year.
The pros: There are hundreds of whiskies (and other spirits) sampled at the fest, many of which run triple digits per bottle — in other words, the chance to taste some pretty special whiskies without committing to a bottle. There’s also a decent buffet, and you get a souvenir Glencairn whisky glass and a voucher to help pay for some of your ride home.
But… the event runs for just two hours, meaning if you really wanted to get your money’s worth in whisky, you’d really have to stay focused and keep moving/tasting. The VIP ticket is a bit pricier, getting you into the room for an extra hour, but even this “pro” couldn’t manage to get through more than a few dozen whiskies (spitting a great many of them, to be clear).
Then there’s palate fatigue, which with spirits, particularly whisky, is a very real thing. Sample a couple of cask-strength whiskies (which run north of 60 per cent alcohol), add in a couple of peated scotches and suddenly your tongue is numb and your mouth feels highly flammable.
Anyway, you have many months to decide whether to splurge on next year’s fest — in the meantime, get your whisky-loving friends together, grab a couple of nice bottles from the Distinctions release or otherwise, and create your own DIY whisky fest. Heck, you might be inspired to start a scotch club.
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