Welcome to Andrew Hilton Wine
Andrew Hilton Wine and Spirits is Southen Alberta's destination for fine wines, spirits and beer since 1985. In addition to having Southern Alberta's Largest and Best Wine Selection, we endeavor to provide a fun, relaxed, and educational approach to help you find what you're looking for.
- Over 1900 wines from around the world, many of which are exclusives. From the classics to the truly eclectic, we truly have something for every palate.
- Southern Alberta's largest selection of Single Malt Whiskey, with 190+ different whiskies available year-round.
- A full range of Domestic, Import, and Micro-brewed beers.
Welcome to 2012!
So I've just spent the last couple weeks doing som e serious housekeeping on the site:
On the Wine page, we've added our Top Ten Wines of 2011, with our new #1 Wine being the St. Clair Pioneer Block Sauvignon Blanc
On the Beer Page, I've written my annual wrap-up for the beer year that was.
On the Whiskeys side of things, there is a similar wrap-up piece.
Events should be updated fully by the end of the day, so should the Calendar.
Man, I'm glad it's Friday!
New Arrivals, and Scotch Season is in Full Swing!
The fall season is upon us, and with it comes a whole slew of new and exciting products:
The new whiskies just keep rolling in, with new offerings from Old Pulteney, An Cnoc, Blair Athol, Dalmore, and Springbank, among the more exciting we have tasted so far. Our fall Whiskey Tastings Series is off to a fantastic start as usual, with the usual packed house every Friday night, and with Saturday filling up to a degree we haven't seen before. It's not quite the madhouse we have had in previous years, but I think we may quietly set an attendance record this year for our Whiskey Tasting Series.
The wine tastings have been really popular as well, and we should have tastings through mid-November posted by the end of today (October 14th). I'd like to thank everyone who has come out for our wine tastings the past few months, as our tasting bar has rarely been so well-attended, which is always fantastic for us! New arrivals of late have included the wonderful Dominio Dostares series from Castilla Y Leon, our new Soligo line of Proseccos, and a restock of our incredibly popular Quinta do Coa from Portugal. So much to taste, so much to try, so much to be excited about.
The beer fridge is also in excellent shape, a we are getting into one of my favorite times of the year: Pumpkin Beer Season! This year looks really promising, as St. Ambroise is releasing their excellent Pumkin-brew into Alberta this year! This along with the Sam Adams Octoberfest (always a favorite), the Muskoka Harvest Ale, and the arrival of the Ommegang beers, this should be a great fall for those who love the barley.
Free Fall Whiskey Weekends Schedule Released!
As promised, the Free Fall Whiskey Weekends schedule for 2011 has been released! This is an excellent tasting series this year once again, with some unprecedented support coming from the whiskey industry. As always, the series stretches across 12 weeks, and 72 scheduled whiskeys (and as you know, there are always a few surprise whiskeys as we go along, as well), making it a fairly complete "picture in a glass" of the whiskey world at large.
Of note this year, I have broken the Highlands into 3 categories: The North Highlands, Seyside, and the Eastern/Central highlands, each with its own tasting. Otherwise, you'll recognize several old favorites, and almost 20 new whiskies for this year. 12 weeks in all, starting September 23d!
Down load the schedule for the Free Fall Whiskey Weekends 2011 HERE
Wine Tasting September 17th: Serge Leveque
Just a Quick Link...
One of the most entertaining, and entirely true pieces of wine writing I've read in a very long time, I just had to share this one...
Sloshed: Maybe We Should Be Judging Wine By Their Labels
New Wines from Some Young Punks Are Here!
The latest batch of wines have just arrived from our favorite masters of frivolous labels and serious wine: Some Young Punks. We've had several of their previous wines through the store in the past: Drink n' Stick and The Squid's Fist to name just two. Check out our Wine page for more information!
Back to Work, and Tons of Exciting News!
So I'm back to work again, and there's always tons to do after some time off, so the website gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. But there have been some really phenomenal new releases thorughout the store, so I'll get straight to those:
Wine: Two winery clearouts are presently going on, both of which were such insane deals that I couldn't possibly pass them up! First up, we have the Metala Black Label Shiraz 2002, formerly a $50-60 bottle of super-premium Australian red. Pure Langhorne Creek fruit, velvety soft, and yet with a profound aroma and massive body. Because we bought all of the stock they had left, and they were looking to get it off the books, we managed to get this one for $24.95 including Gst. It's selling fast, but there are still a few cases left!
Selling even faster is the 2003 Mount Ida Shiraz; which is from the Heathcote region this time around. For only $14.95, with an MRSP of $50, you can understand why we're nearly down to our last bottle on this one!
Beer: Very important Mikkeller release, including the incredible Beer Geek Bacon, which doesn't actually include real bacon, but is a smoked version of their standard Beer Geek Breakfast Coffee/Oatmeal Stout. Coffee, Oatmeal, Bacon? Mmmmmm.... Otherwise, you'll find a MASSIVE list of new releases on our Beer page.
Scotch: Our new shipment of Cooper's Choice will arrive in the first week of April. This is going to be an incredible release, with a tasting to follow, so stay tuned on this one. There will also be a new exclusive Single Malt for our store on this shipment.
I'm Gone for a Week...
Just to let everyone know that website updates will be scarce over the next week to 10 days, as I'm taking a few days off to attend the release of Half Pint's Sellout Stout in Winnipeg, as well as the Ratebeer Winter Gathering Beer Festival and Tasting in Phoenix, AZ. I'll have an article on both for the Beer page once I'm back. The March Newsletters should still go out on time, and the tastings through the end of March should be updated before I go as well. I'm also working on a very special tasting for the end of March or beginning of April, more news on that once I'm back.
Cheers
Kyle
It's Funny What You Find When You Clean The Office...
So we were cleaning out the back of a cabinet yesterday, and this was a Blast from the Past! When we first opened back in 1985, and were limited to wine-only sales, the ALCB felt concerned that the new Independant wine stores were going to use "ruthless pricecutting" to put the ALCB Government Stores out of business. So many of the wines on our shelves (we found over a hundred of these little guys) were non-discountable BY LAW. An absolutely unthinkable circumstance nowadays, but a reminder of just how far our store, and Alberta in general, has come in 25 years.
Top Ten of 2010, Two New Articles, and Updated Tastings:
We have released our list for the Top Ten Wines of 2010, which can be found on the Wine page, under the article on Argentine wines.
Further, the Tastings page has been updated with all of our events through the end of February, plenty of Free Friday Tastings to experience. Also, check out our Wine page for a short article on Argentine Wine Vocabulary, and our Beer page for my 2010 Year in Review.
Introducing Two New Exclusive Argentine Wineries:
Bodegas Durigutti and Sur de los Andes, New AND On Sale!
Just in Time for Christmas!
New Exclusive Gifts for the Wine-Lover in Your Life!
Paving is Done. We have parking again!
Two Events in Early November!
That's right folks! We have not one, but two Special Events scheduled for this fall.
First off, on November 2nd, we are pleased to announce that we will have a Single Malt Scotch Tasting, hosted by a pair of representatives from Burn Stewart International, owners of Tobermory, Bunnahabhain, and Deanston. Burn Stewart has been around since the 1950s, and has over the past 50 years, quietly acquired 3 high-quality Single-malt distilleries. Now owning a high-quality distillery is a great first step, but as most of you know, the real make-or-break work is done long after the whiskey leaves the stills. Burn Stewart has consitently shown that they are willing to buy quality casks, they do not over-caramel their whiskies, and they have recently committed to removing chill-filtration from all of their whiskies. This event will be November 2nd, at 7PM, check our Events page for more information.
Second - We will be hosting a Super Tuscan tasting here at Andrew Hilton, with wines like Fontalloro, Ghaie della Furba, Riecine 'La Gioia", and Tignanello, this is THE Premier Tasting Event of the Fall! We will be tasting seven wines in all, with hot appetizers prepared by Coco Pazzo, designed to pair with the wines. Srill rather nebulous at present, will have more details before Wednesday. Keep your eyes peeled for an email in the coming days.
Scotch Schedule for Fall is Finished!
Scotch Season officially starts on September 24th, with the series running 13 weeks this year. The full schedule is available for download here, or you can check out the full lineup either on our Tastings page, or on our Calendar.
Holy Smoke! Andrew Hilton is featured on the Bordoverview Blog!
An excellent article on Canadian liquor laws and privatization is posted on the Bordoverview Blog, with our store as an example of how Canadian privatization can work! Check it out!
Holidays Over... Back to Work for Me!
Alright, so 3 weeks holidays was great! The Michigan Summer Beer Fest was an incredible time! For anyone who lives in Alberta, it's a massive culture shock going to just about any pub in Michigan, as the local Brewers Guild has done an amazing job promoting not only great beer (which there is a TON of in Michigan), but also a phenominal beer cluture which has embraced and promoted the ideal of real beer to an extent that rivals even Portland and Seattle. For anyone thinking of going out to Michigan, I cannot recommend enough that you check out Bell's, Dark Horse, Founder's, Jolly Pumpkin, Kuhnhenn's, Leelanau, The Livery, New Holland, and Short's beers, none of these are (sadly) sold here, and all of them are absolutely stunning breweries.
In further news, we're gearing up for our Fall Scotch Series again this year, I have meetings all next week getting that all set up, so I hope to have a schedule put together by September 1st-ish, thought that may be alittle ambitious. The series WILL start on September the 17th, so be ready!
Finally, we have a HUGE calendar of wine events lined up for fall, along with a large number of exciting new wines, not the least of which will be the exceptional Alpha Box & Dice wines, which will be released in early September.
I'm pressed for time, so website updates will be sporadic at best, but I should have everything up-to-date by this time next week.
Cheers
Kyle
Summertime!
Well, summer's here, so I'll be in and out of the store, and website updates will be a bit more sporadic, but I'll try to keep the website as well updated as I can. On the Wine page, I've included a Summer Wines Guide that I originally wrote up for The Lethbridge Journal, and my Summer Beers Guide, which was in the latest Brew News is posted on the Beers page. There will be no Beer Society events or other formal tastings until September, apart from the Monthly Mocha Tastings and our Free Friday Tastings, those are updated on both the Calendar and on the Tastings page. In Scotch news, I've gotten a sample bottle from the Murray McDavid folks of our Edition #4 Mortlach, which is pretty stunning, and the new Octomore Orpheus Edition is also pretty outstanding! News on both of these is posted on the Scotch page.
Have a fantastic summer everyone!
Cheers
Kyle
Last Few Tastings for the Spring are Coming Up:
We are almost finished our Spring Series for Tasting Events, and it's been a fine season: Our Two Winemakers Weekend was a roaring success and attendance at all of our tastings this spring has been way up, which has made for some truly outstanding events. All good things must come to an end, and we will soon be breaking for summer, as we do every year, but before that there are still a few great tastings to come!
May 14th-15th: Free Friday Tasting: Wines of Summer
May 20th: Beer Society: The Lighter Side of Belgium
May 21st-22nd: Free Friday Tasting: Super-Premium New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
May 27th -28th: Free Friday Tasting: Elyse Release Tasting
June 4th-5th: Free Friday Tasting: Keepin' it Local: Affordable BC Reds
June 7th: Monthly Mocha Tasting: Think Pink: Why Rosé Isn't Always a Dirty Word
June 11th-12th: Free Friday Tasting: Malbec-based Blends
June 17th: Father's Day Scotch Tasting & Release Party for Andrew Hilton Edition #4:Mortlach
June 18th -19th: Free Friday Tasting: Pinot Noir Around the World
June 25th-26th: Free Friday Tasting: Aromatic Whites
All of these events are also posted on our Calendar.
Other than that, we hae some very exciting new releases just arrived; the new vintage (and packaging) of the La Joya Gran Reserve Carmenere, which was our runner-up for Wine of the Year has arrived, as has another release from Some Young Punks Wines, including their latest creation: The Squid's Fist! Along with these, we have a fantastic new 100% Roussanne Cotes du Rhone Blanc from Chateau Trignon, a great new New Zealnd red from Mill's Reef, which is a Merlot/Malbec that I think you'll find particularly exciting, and a new Shiraz/Viognier from Alkoomi. Further details on these wines can be found on our Wine page.
In Scotch News, the big news is our Father's Days Scotch Tasting, which will be accompanied by a series of new releases, including our very own Andrew Hilton Edition #4: Royal Brackla, which is the first Edition to be bottled at Cask Strength since Edition #1! More news will follow in the next few days as this event comes together. When we get more information both on the tasting, and on the new releases, it will be posted to our Scotch page.
Beer-wise, there are several great new beers about to hit shelves, including some from B.C.'s Central City Brewery, including their fantastic Red Racer IPA. Plus, we are starting to see Alley Kat's 15th Anniversary series, starting with a Smoked Porter, and a Belgian Tripel, both in 650mL bottles. And a few other neat brews have been showing up as well, such as Anchor Porter, and the Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen. As always, new arrivals are posted on our Beer page.Also of note to local Beer Geeks, the annual CamRA Calgary Foothills Hospital Burn Unit Fundraiser is coming right up, on May 15th. Riley and I will both be going, if you plan on attending give me a shout at the store, and we'll meet up for lunch.
And hey, no more blizzards, so let Spring begin!
Kyle Baines
It's Spring! Which means... Website Updates?
Yes, it's time for some serious website updates, which is difficult as I haven't had a ton of time to spare lately. But it's one heck of an exciting time right now:
In Wine: Mr Black's Concoction is back, and the new vintage is even better than the last one, which is awesome! Also the new pricing on Spencer Rolosen's Tempranillo is incredible this year, and that wine is drinking very well at just 5 years old! We are awash is first-rate Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand right now, as we have the Ata Rangi, Cloudy Bay, a pair of gems from Saint Clair, and of course the excellent 12,000 Miles as well. Also, we are completely ready for spring, with a wide assortment of Dry Patio-Ready Rose wines from Sicily, the South of France, and Australia, which is great too!
We also have a pair of winemakers visiting us in May: First up Chris Pfeiffer of Carlyle/Pfeiffer Wines will be joining us for an evening tasting on May 7th, as part of our contiunuing series of Free Friday Tastings. Also, just 3 days later, Viv Thomson of Best's Wines will be hosting a reception on the Patio at Mocha Cabana, on Monday May 10th. News on these events will be posted as it comes in on our Tastings/Events page.
In Beer: Where to begin.... I thought 2009 was an unbeatable year for micro-brewed beer in Alberta, but 2010 is already blowing it off the charts! I mean Cantillon!?!?!? Here? Really? Unreal! that makes the year in and of itself. But there's more; Tree, Pike, Wild Rose, Alley Kat, Charlevoix and other ALL hace exciting new seasonals out already, and there's more in the works! Don't forget to check out our Tastings page to see the upcoming Beer Society events, as well as a special beer-themed tasting at Mocha Cabana in May.
In Scotch: Things have been quiet, this is, after all, NOT scotch season at all, no super-exciting new releases, no major outages, things are just coasting along la-di-da.
Under Construction - New Floors Complete!
If you've been by the store anytime in the last 10 days, you'll have noticed that things hae been a bit of a mess, as we have ripped up our horrid old green carpet, and replaced it with new laminate flooring. The store is just about back to where it was before, and we're pretty darned happy with the results. Thanks to everyone for bearing with us through this project:
Welcome to 2010!
Well, 2009 was an exciting and fun year, with the Free Fall Whiskey Weekends being easily the biggest to date, a trio of incredible Masterclass Tastings, and a brand-new focus on Microbrewed beers, it's a year that's going to be hard to top, but we'll give it our best shot. This is an important milestone for us as well, as it marks our 25th Anniversary, which we will celebrate towards the end of the year. Further, we are already seeing some great new releases starting to come in, such as:
Yering Station Wines: When Max was in Australia, he remarked that their Merlot was once of the finest he'd had in his life, we brought it in briefly, and then, as things so often do, it got complicated. An Eastern-Canadian company bought the rights to Yering Station nationwide, which meant that we couldn't bring it in anymore, BUT they also had no interest in distributing it out west, so it simply disappeared. It came back earlier this month, with both a solid Shiraz/Viognier blend, plus a stunning Marsanne-Roussanne-Viognier blend that is possibly the best white in the store at $20.
Your Choice: $19.95 incl. GST
Mt Langi Ghiran 'Billi Billi' Shiraz: Speaking of Blasts From the Past, this little darling of a wine has popped back onto our radar screens this month, similar story to the Yering Station, but prices have actually gone DOWN since we last had an opportunity to buy this 6 or 7 years ago. A little gem of a Shiraz, and by little I mean, huge, spicy, and mouthfilling.
Our Price: $16.25 incl. GST
New Vintages of Mitolo: The new Mitolo shipment has just arrived, 2006 G.A.M, and 2007 Serpico, Reiver, and Savitar are all available in limited quantities.
In non-wine related news, we are anticipating a pair of Bruichladdich releases in the first part of the year, plus the usual restocking of the Scotch shelves post-Christmas, so new items will be showing up over the next few weeks. Also, in major beer news, the Cantillon shipment is only about a month out, so stay tuned on that front.
Two New Tastings Posted:
We have posted 2 more tasting events for this fall, one in November, and one in December.
The November event (November 19th) is a Beer & Cheese tasting hosted by critically acclaimed beer writer Mike Tessier. Mike is a well-regarded expert on beer, having travelled the world in search of the world's finest and often rarest beers. He has been published in Beer Advocate, All About Beer, and has a twice monthly article in FFWD magazine. This tasting will revolve around seven world class Belgian ales, across a great many styles, including Saison, Sour Ale, Kriek, Wit, Tripel, and others. This is a rare opportunity to learn about the world of beer from a true master. A great introductory class to Belgian beer for the beginner, but informative enough for the best informed beer geeks. Tickets are $35, available at Andrew Hilton. More information, as always, is available on our Tastings/Events page.
The December event is our Silent Stills Tasting on December the 3rd. This tasting will be of some of the very rarest Single Malts in the world, pulling from distilleries that have been closed, demolished, or dismantled in years pst. Stocks of these whiskies are very limited, and we have managed to source some of the very rarest of these. This includes some of the ultra-rare whiskies produced during the Lomond Still trials of the 1950s-1980s,now considered among the hardest to find whiskies in the world. Further, we will be tasting Dallas Dhu, a distillery closed in 1983 and now converted into a museum, and Inverleven, the hidden Lowland Distillery that once ran at the heart of the giant Dumbarton grain distillery, now lost. This tasting is $30, tickets available at Andrew Hilton. More info on the Tastings/Events page.
It's Gonna Be A Busy Fall...
As promised, I have finished the Free Fall Whiskey Weekends tasting schedule, and a week early to boot! You can download a copy here or we have them printed up in the store as well. Also, you really need to see our Tastings/Events and Calendar pages, as there are a huge number of events coming up, including:
4 Monthly Mocha Tastings - A full series on French wines.
A Release Party and Tasting for Red Car Wines on September 18th.
4 Beer Society Meetings
Our First-Ever Beer Dinner
Details on all 12 of our Free Fall Whiskey Tastings
A Masterclass Tasting October 7th of Corton Charlemagne
...and that's just the tastings I have finished so far!
Well, I'm Back...
After 2 wonderful weeks off, I'm back to work, and very exciting work it is too. Not the website updates per se, as they are somewhat repetitive, and while enjoyable and certainly a creative outlet, are not particularly exciting. No I'm talking about planning all of the Tastings and Events we have coming up this fall:
We of course are coming into the Free Fall Whiskey Weekends, which is in its 12th year, and new whiskies are starting to come in, just check out the Whiskey page. A schedule should be up for the Free Fall Tastings, both on our Calendar, and in-store, about the 10th of September, with the Weekends themselves getting rolling on the 25th.
For wine tastings, I don't want to tip my hand too soon, but I have rumblings about a couple of winemakers that may be in the area this fall, and I would look for at least one Winemakers Dinner, as well as a couple of Masterclass Tastings, plus a sprinkling of more casual events throughout the fall. I will also be continuing my Monthly Mocha Tastings, at Mocha Cabana, the first Monday of every month. Tickets are nearly always $20, and more information can be found here. We also have some exciting new wines and wineries coming available this fall. The Red Car wines just arrived, and our first tastes of these have been promising, I'll have a mini-release tasting coming up for these in early September, plus there's more information available on the Wine page.
Beer-wise, the fall looks particularly bright, as the Beer Society is really getting to be a good time, and has really grown in the three short months of its existence. I am hoping to have a homebrew day (or two, depending on how many people are interested), where we start with naught but barley, hops, water, and yeast and finish with (hopefully) a very tasty beer. For someone who has never gone through the process of Crush-Mash-Lauter-Boil-Pitch, it's a great learning experience, and teaches you a great deal about beer. We will of course be continuing our monthly meetings, the 3rd Thursday of every month, at the Wooden Kilt, and either late this fall, or early next spring I am hoping to hold our first Beer Dinner. In addition, Alberta continues to be inundated with new breweries and beers at an unprecedented pace, with some real winners like the DdC! Aphrodisiaque and the Half Pints Humulus Ludicrous just over the horizon.
Otherwise, things are much the same as always, new products are always arriving faster than I can post them here, there's always something happening, and that's just how I like it. I think this fall is going to be incredibly exciting, I hope you will find it so as well
Cheers
Kyle Baines