Queued up outdoors early one recent morning at Park Royal South, I felt like I was camping for tickets to a top-tier concert.
There was an undeniable anticipatory electricity emanating from the crowd that surrounded me. Many people clutched a number in their hands, a required token for entry to this unique affair. At one stage, an event official addressed us, explaining how things were going to unfold in order to maintain both order and fairness.
Had Drake and Adele just announced their engagement and subsequent worldwide joint concert tour, kicking off right here in West Vancouver, supported by Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, with stage help from Kate Middleton, Lionel Messi and Oprah Winfrey? Nope.
The crowd had gathered for superstars of a different, but equally admired, variety. The event was the official 2015 release of rare spirits at the Park Royal BC Liquor Store, a first-come, first-served limited engagement in which highly prized bottles are made available to eager collectors and consumers.
I differentiate these two latter categories because for some, rare spirits are storied treasures to be acquired, kept or traded; for this set, opening the bottles releases their magic. For others, like me, an uncommonly special bottle (exceedingly rare in my home, to be sure) is something to be savoured and shared, most certainly enjoyed within my lifetime so that I may be richer for the experience rather than richer for the ownership. If I ever found myself pinned underneath a fallen meteor on the frigid plains of Siberia, the last thing I want to be thinking about is how that 1978 Romanée-Conti would have tasted.
The BCLDB’s annual rare spirits release showcases limited quantities of prized bottles from illustrious brands, with whiskies dominating in both volume and buyer interest.
The numbers issued to those lined up outside the Park Royal BC Liquor Store that morning were accompanied by an order form for available rare spirits inventory; only 40 numbers were given out. If you had a number (which is to say, if you lined up very early that morning), you could complete the order form with the quantity of product you wanted (many spirits had a one bottle maximum order) and be guaranteed that quantity. If you were not one of the 40 number holders, you simply had to choose from what remained of the inventory.
The Park Royal Liquor Store receives the second largest allocation of these exclusive products in the entire province, behind only the Cambie Street location, so while tremendously rare bottles were sold out immediately, good quantities of interesting product still remain available for purchase today. If you are passionate about a good dram, like I am, it is well worth your time to browse the selection before it is, eventually, depleted entirely.
I was able to sample a number of fascinating products under the guidance of product consultant Kitt Johnson, who appeared to be well known by store regulars, whom she directed to products based on her knowledge of their specific tastes. Despite what ostensibly should have been a highly competitive enterprise, the vibe in the store was intimate, friendly and familiar, and ultimately distilled down to a group of people united in their love of storied spirits.
This familiar interaction reminded me a lot of my experiences in some of the smaller, private shops on the North Shore in which knowledgeable staff guide patrons to noteworthy products. I didn’t expect it at a large, government-run store, to be honest, and was pleasantly surprised by the personalized consultation I witnessed.
Of the samples I tried, a special release by premium bourbon producer Woodford was especially refined and profoundly satisfying. The Reserve Pinot Noir Finish, in which the bourbon enjoys a period of extended maturation in French oak casks once used to age California-based winery Sonoma Cutrer’s much-lauded pinot noir, takes on a bright, copper colour and reveals very subtle hints of cherry on the palate.
I suppose technically this release cannot be called bourbon, given that spirit’s regulated requirement to be aged in new American oak, but Woodford’s maturation experiment is a success in my opinion, and after all, a bourbon by any other name. . . . At $135 (pre-tax) per bottle, it’s an investment, to be sure, but well worth it as a special occasion sipper.
I purchased a bottle of Bunnahabhain’s special heavily peated release, Ceobanach, priced at $100. The Islay Scotch whisky producer is one of my consistent favourites, but this particular release is a dramatic departure from the style the distiller currently favours.
Harking back to the distillery’s earliest approach to whisky, the Ceobanach has a fairly straightforward profile, boasting a breathtakingly smoky nose and palate that rivals some of the most notoriously peated drams from the same region, like Ardbeg or Lagavulin.
Ceobanach is an intense, after-dinner malt, best cut with a splash of cool water and consumed as the final spirit of the evening; your palate will be hard pressed to recover from this dram. Other readily available bottles (at the time of this article, at least) include special edition whiskies from Caol Ila, Laphraoiag, Ben Riach, Suntory, and even Flying Fairy, the flagship, high-end grain spirit from Chinese state-run producer Kweichow Moutai.
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
