Glenora was until recently Canada’s only single malt whisky (and the second, Shelter Point, doesn’t begin offering product until mid-2015). There’s been a great deal of buzz around this malt in the 15 years or so it’s been on the market. Part of this is from the praise given it by luminous whisky writers like Jim Murray and Ian Buxton. The other part is the nine-year legal battle Glenora fought with the Scotch Whisky Association, where the SWA sought to prevent the use of the word “Glen” in the whisky’s name. Eventually, the case was settled for Glenora (maybe the maple leaf helped differentiate) and to celebrate, they released a special bottling called – appropriately enough – “Battle of the Glen.” Glen Breton Rare also deserves special mention as the one Scotchology has gone the greatest lengths to obtain, an eight-hour round trip due to limited U.S. distribution.
World Whisky Day 2015
World Whisky Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May, or May 16 this year. It was founded in 2012 by Blair Bowman, a Scottish graduate student at the University of Aberdeen and whisky enthusiast. It initially started out as a Facebook page encouraging others to enjoy a wonderful drink. It soon struck a nerve (or taste bud) and by 2014 an estimated 250,000 people participated in hundreds of events in over 40 countries including China, New Zealand and Azerbaijan.