T-WATs Turns 20!
On June 18, 2025, the Thornhill Whisky Appreciators and Tasters (T-WATs.com) raised more than a few drams to celebrate our 20th anniversary!
Originally, the big event was meant to take place closer to our actual founding date—February 16, 2005—but in classic T-WATs fashion, we got there eventually… and we brought good whisky with us.
Our inaugural meeting was held at Rick’s place, joined by four other founding members: Athol, Louis, Dennis, Jack, and Michael (in the order they hosted those early gatherings). Membership was initially capped at 10—a number we figured matched the available chairs and attention spans. But as life does what life does—travel, work, general disappearances—it became clear that a little flexibility wouldn’t hurt. So we bumped up total membership to 12 and settled on a standing monthly meeting: the third Wednesday of every month. (With the occasional calendar shuffle for holidays and the like.)
As with any good club, members have come and gone, but three of our founding drammers—Dennis, Jack, and Athol—are still going strong and still joyfully imbibing.
A cherished T-WATs tradition is our December meeting, held at one of Toronto’s better whisky bars, complete with tasting and dinner. Over the years, we’ve had memorable evenings at The Caledonian, The Emmet Ray, Feathers, and, most recently, CC Lounge. (Some of us even remember getting home.)
For our 20th, eight of our twelve current members came together to enjoy three exceptional single malts:
- Old Pulteney 25 Year Old – Our featured bottle. Dennis generously put $200 toward the $500 cost, confirming both his generosity and that he didn’t realize how expensive it was when he offered.
- Glen Scotia – A bold dram with maritime swagger.
- Bowmore 15 – Sherry Cask Finish – A crowd-pleaser, and yes, someone did use the word “unctuous.”
To mark the milestone, custom Glencairn glasses were commissioned, engraved with:
T-WATs.com — Est. Feb 2005
And for the three founding members, the added distinction:
Founding Member
In our two decades of tasting, we’ve sampled 405 unique Scottish single malts—only a handful of repeats, usually when someone forgets what they brought the year before.
So here’s to 20 years of being a T-WAT—proudly, passionately, and occasionally precariously. Here’s to good whisky, great company, and the knowledge that the best dram is always the next one.
Slàinte!
Review, Held on Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Seven of our members gathered to try the offering of Scotch and Scotch Cocktails as a diversion from our regular monthly meetings. This was a “last minute” arranged get-together at the request of the members.
Athol had been doing some research on a potential outing and uncovered this small business that specialises in providing an “on-site” Scotch experience in the city.
After speaking with Bryan Brown, the owner of the business and getting an understanding of their offering we put this option to the members and they agreed to go ahead with this experience.
Their original presentation was to provide the Scotch Tasting and Cocktails paired with a charcuterie, cheese and fruit. We asked NSH to minimize the pork component of the charcuterie to satisfy those of us who prefer not to eat pork and they changed this to pairings with fruit and cheese and removed the meat entirely.
We started off with their Neat Godfather Ginger Cocktail, consisting of blended Scotch, Amaretto and Ginger Ale, with Maraschino Cherries. Very pleasant and sweet start.
The Single Malt Scotch Tasting were as follows:
Lagavulen 16 Year Old
Dalmore Cigar Malt
Glenlivet 18 Year Old
Balvenie 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask
It ended with their Neat Sour Ginger Cocktail consisting of Blended Scotch, NSH Sour Mix and Ginger Ale.
Everyone in attendance said they were very happy with the experience and enjoyed the evening.
Mike H: The program was very carefully prepared and nicely presented. The pairings were appropriate and enhanced the tasting experience. I would heartily recommend Brian to anyone looking for a pleasant and entertaining evening.
Peter: One of the ongoing discussions we have as a group is about what we really are. The consensus appears to be that we are a group of reasonably compatible guys who get together to gab about politics, the weather, our hobbies, travel and a variety of things. We use scotch as a kind of glue to keep that together. Nothing wrong with any of that… but it’s worth considering one’s roots from time to time. Ours are actually about sitting down and tasting scotch, discussing scotch, and infrequently trying to either celebrate a holiday or event with wives. No comment… let that just hang out there.
The experience with Neat Scotch House reminded me that our food choices could improve. First, the concept of pairing foods to Scotches has never been done by us in the way New Scotch House did. When one discusses a scotch like the Dalmore and highlights the buttery, toffee-like finish, what an amazing experience to be served Scottish shortbread that actually mirrors those tastes. Same with mango and pear coupled with Balvenie Caribbean Cask. I, for one, truly enjoyed the experience. I have done professional scotch tastings before and found them generally interesting but presented dully by some distillery rep co plate with Scottish brogue. I found that Bryan was a pin easygoing guy, knowledgeable, ready to inform and dialogue, and appeared to have fun doing it
There was a time when we did the tastings with a bit of a lecture based on study by the host, distribution of a one or two paragraph support doc on the scotches presented, and minimalist food like crackers and (perhaps) a little cheese. I think we might want to consider a rethink based on last evening’s event. We do not need pros to come in regularly but perhaps once in winter and once in summer. We might want to discuss the idea of asking each guy to add a tiny amount of effort…research the scotch, pair it with so,e smallish amount of accompanying food. While the cocktails were great, not sure regular meetings need them but I highly favour the approach for ‘special’ meetings. As for meat playing a part, it did not in deference to those who maintain dietary restrictions…but nobody of that description attended in the end. I have served a range of meats at one of the meetings at my home. Not a slice remained…and that’s good. Those who don’t engage simply don’t… no big deal.
Dennis: The choice of scotches and the order of tasting really helped to emphasize the differences in each as regards nose, taste and finish. The evening was made very enjoyable by the different food pairings for each one, that were carefully selected to bring out and complement the taste of each scotch
RyeLaw Scottish Rye Whisky, InchDairnie Distilleries
– an explanation
Good morning and many thanks for your e-mail about our Scottish Rye Whisky, RyeLaw. I have copied your mail below for reference. Your question is a very interesting and one that requires some detailed explanation, there is some legal stuff around it. Please forward my explanation to anyone you think who may find it useful. I have copied in Scott who is our sales manager for your part of the world and Katie who is our brand manager. If you have any other questions or comments one of us will pick it up.
It is a legal requirement that all Scotch Whiskies must indicate in a prominent place on the front label the specific whisky category it falls into. There are five Scotch whisky category descriptions.
‘Malt Scotch Whisky’, ‘Blended Malt Scotch Whisky’, ‘Grain Scotch Whisky’, ‘Blended Grain Scotch Whisky’ and ‘Blended Scotch Whisky’.
Our RyeLaw is made exactly to the American rules for Rye Whisky, 53% malted rye, distilled at 72.0%alc, reduced to 62.5%alc before going into100% new oak charred casks. However, there is no category description for rye whisky made in Scotland which is a great frustration for us. Our RyeLaw falls into the grain whisky category. It does so because it is not made from 100% malted barley.
Two of the category descriptions above can have in front of them the word ‘single’, Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Single Grain Scotch Whisky. The word ‘single’ in this context identifies the whisky as being produced at only one distillery, a single distillery. In our case our RyeLaw is produced only at the InchDairnie Distillery here in Fife Scotland, so it is a Single Grain Scotch Whisky. The word single does not refer to the number of different grains used in its production. Almost all grain whiskies produced in Scotland are made from at least two different grains, one grain always must be malted barley. Usually, they are produced from wheat or corn and malted barley. Confusingly there is one single grain produced from 100% malted barley but in this case, it is a single grain scotch whisky because it is not distilled in a batch still but a continuous column still.
I hope the above helps in explaining why our Scottish Rye Whisky, RyeLaw, is identified as a Single Grain Scotch Whisky. We have tried to persuade the legal people to create a new category for Scottish Rye Whisky for exactly the reason your question was asked, but they have refused to do so. In our opinion this whole matter is causing confusion which is never a good thing.