Victoria is the Single Malt Capital of Canada

This weekend sees the 8th annual Whisky Festival in Victoria and once again it sold out early.  It is one of the reasons Victoria is the single malt capital of Canada.   Another example here in town is the Officers Mess of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) has a single malt selection that is possible the best in North America and I suspect one of the top ones in the world

This one of the food and drink events in this city that I think is more interesting than most because it is not something done everywhere by every location.   Wine tastings are dime a dozen but whisky tastings are not at all that common which is why the Whisky Festival is such a great event, the biggest problem is that the tickets sell out so early - I missed them again this year.

Tonight is Jim Murray giving a talk - Jim is the author of the Whisky Bible.  I really wish I could to the event tonight but there were only 90 tickets to the event and they sold out LONG ago.

I really need to get my act together for 2014, ideally I need to get my brother Nik to come to it with me, we are both whisky fanatics.

In the meantime I should join The International Order of the Companions of The Quaich but the Victoria Chapter is not taking new members, it is full.  There is a Westshore Chapter and Saanich Peninsula Chapter I could join.

A quaich is the traditional Scottish drinking vessel for whisky.

The International Order of the Companions of The Quaich is only in Canada, which is not really surprising given that about 7-8 million Canadians are of Scottish descent and only 5 million in Scotland.   Cape Breton was the last place to have a healthy gaelic language populatin.   The Quaish has 22 chapters of which 3 are in the Greater Victoria area - 1% of the country has 14% of the chapters.   Victoria really is the single malr whisky capital of Canada