Good whisky shop in Calgary please

by **Peatlover** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 1:55 am

We are heading to Calgary this summer on a whisky run (well, OK, to visit my brother, but sounds way may more exciting, almost illegal!). The prices and selection are so much better in Alberta than BC. And there is the debate about Laphroaig 10 yo.....see posting in this category.

What is the best whisky shop in Calgary? My brother actually lives in Hinton, so if there is an exceptional store in Edmonton/Banff/Jasper please also let me know.

Cheers!

by **Dan G** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:36 pm

There are several good liquor stores in Edmonton. If you are looking for cheap, try Great Canadian Liquor Store first (3 or 4 of them in town). Selection isn't great, but if they have it, it will be the best price. Next would be Sobey's Western Cellars (again, several in town).

For selection, Chateau Louis is great. Vines is my local, more of a specialist wine shop but very good single malt selection too. Grapes and Grains has 3 outlets that also have pretty good selection but probably not as good as CL or Vines.

Because of the private stores, you might have to shop around to find a particular item, and also have to be careful about pricing. The same item will cost different amount depending on store.

by **plainly jane** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:44 pm

Welcome to the forum, Peatlover.

My favourite single malt shop is the Kensington Wine Market. I live about 500 m away from it. I am a regular, so is my 4 lb Yorkie, Alasdair. Andrew Ferguson is the scotch guy there and is always very helpful.

http://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com

The other shop that has a good selection is Willowpark Wine and Liquor. It is in the south part of the city so I do not get there that often. The service is pretty good as long as you do not get the short fellow who prefers to talk about himself.

I think both shops have a better selection that that of the Chateau Louis (it still is worth going there, though).

If you wish, then let me know when you are coming. Maybe we can share notes. If Andrew is in town at that time, I am certain we will be able to sample some of the open bottles he has "in the back".

by **Peatlover** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:20 pm

THank you both for the info. Once we get our itinerary figured out we will let you know!

Cheers!

by **Peatlover** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:57 pm

Well, we are back from the "booze run" - we didn't make it to Calgary or to Edmonton. We did discover a good selection in the Derrick Liquor store in Edson, Alberta, with some good prices - Laphroaig QC was $53.49 compared to the $78 we are being gouged in BC. They also had some of the Macallan 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s replicas. These appeared breifly in BC, and we featured them at one of our tastings. Our fave was the 30s. We stocked up!

We also came accross an amazing liquor store in Jasper, Alberta - the Jasper Liquor Store and Wine Cellar. Go downstaris into the wine celler, and take a look behind the cage-door. What an incredible collection....better than the 39th & Cambie Liquor store by a mile! He even had three bottles of Laphroig 10 yo but I couldn't convince him to part with one!

Some examples - Bruichladdich 1986 (Scotts); Linlithgow (also Scotts), Macallan 1841, Macallan 21 fine oak; 17yo Glenhaven; Tandhu 1982; glenmorangie 1977........etc. They had a Leapfrog 1987 - don't know where that is from, or if it is worth the $181.95? Anyone know?

We had a great trip and increased our inventory :thumbsup:

Cheeeeeers!

by **Deactivated Member** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:49 am

Surely you can guess Leapfrog from the name. Kind of surprised that's still around, the Mac Travel Series, too.

by **Peatlover** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:30 pm

Laphroaig? I should have guessed. At C$181.95, it was too much to buy "unknown".

Yes, i was surprised to see the travel Macallans too - love the thirties

by **Dan G** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:39 pm

The Macalllan Travel series is pretty common here in Edmonton still. I've been in a few stores where it is sort of on clearance.

It doesn't surprise me that the Derrick has a good selection - it is part of the big chain that is pretty much taking over all the stores in the province. So much for privatization...why have a government monopoly when you can have a private one.

And yeah, that store in Jasper is quite good. A few years ago, I would take my own wine and beer with me when I went up on vacation, but now that it has opened the selection and price are as good as in Edmonton pretty much. Not quite as broad, but good enough for when you are in the mountains.