SMWS.ca

[portwood]

I read about SMWS coming to Canada - or more specifically, Alberta? - in a post here (item #13 under "fall tasting schedule"):
http://www.allthingswhisky.com/

Does anyone have any advance knowledge of this?

[Pudge72]

Item #7 as well (for November; #13 is for the same event in December)...very cool

[portwood]

Item #7 as well (for November; #13 is for the same event in December)...very cool

Cool, but I suspect they will only be going into Alberta.
My guess is they would have a hard time selling anything in provinces where the liquor boards are monopolies!

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Depends...when I order from the SMWSA, they ship the bottles to a distributor in Massachusetts, who ship it to me, keeping everything on the up-and-up with the three-tier system in this state. I assume they satisfy legal requirements in the other 49, as well. That's a lot of legwork--ten provinces ought to be un morceau du gâteau. The tricky part would be getting the LCBO, SAQ, et al to play. I'm guessing the Massachusetts distributor gets compensated for services rendered, but likely far less than the cut they'd normally take. SMWS bottles aren't cheap, but if a theoretical SMWSC can deliver them to you for around the same price, you'll have a relative bargain, given what you're used to paying. I have my doubts as to whether the SMWS is actually contemplating expanding into Canada, but I hope for your sake it is.

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Well, I probably ought to read the stuff before I comment:

The Canadian branch of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is launching in October 2011!

Good on ya, mates--keep your fingers crossed re prices and provincial availability.

[Pudge72]

Item #7 as well (for November; #13 is for the same event in December)...very cool

Cool, but I suspect they will only be going into Alberta.
My guess is they would have a hard time selling anything in provinces where the liquor boards are monopolies!

The way the LCBO operates, I have a hard time disagreeing with the Alberta-only SMWS.

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Hi there-

Thanks for your curiosity. We have added you to our list of enthusiastic scotch drinkers and will be in touch soon with more exciting details about the arrival of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Canada. And while we are based in Calgary, the whisky will be available country-wide. Stay tuned for details!

Cheers,
The team at SMWS Canada

[Pudge72]

Hi there-

Thanks for your curiosity. We have added you to our list of enthusiastic scotch drinkers and will be in touch soon with more exciting details about the arrival of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Canada. And while we are based in Calgary, the whisky will be available country-wide. Stay tuned for details!

Cheers,
The team at SMWS Canada

(edit - I hope the old smilies are back soon!)

[Mr Tattie Heid]

I'm guessing there's an agreement to treat SMWS bottles as special orders through your friendly local monopoly. Undoubtedly they will get their cut. But here in the US, the price to the customer is the same nationwide...I will be interested to see if they are able to do the same in Canada. And I'll be interested to see if the prices are comparable to US prices.

[Drammed]

Just curious if anyone has gotten any update emails yet as October is Saturday?

[Mr Tattie Heid]

If October is Saturday, is November Sunday?

Relax...they said "launching in October." That means not until Saturday at the earliest, maybe not for thirty days after that, maybe longer, given that the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley. To answer your question, no, no updates yet. Why haven't you put your own name on the list? Then you'd know. I don't even live in Canada.

(Was that a little cranky? I've just been reading the insanity on a Red Sox message board. Torches and pitchforks and frothing at the mouth. It's a little hard sometimes to readjust mood and tone.)

[Drammed]

If October is Saturday, is November Sunday?

Relax...they said "launching in October." That means not until Saturday at the earliest, maybe not for thirty days after that, maybe longer, given that the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley. To answer your question, no, no updates yet. Why haven't you put your own name on the list? Then you'd know. I don't even live in Canada.

(Was that a little cranky? I've just been reading the insanity on a Red Sox message board. Torches and pitchforks and frothing at the mouth. It's a little hard sometimes to readjust mood and tone.)

Of course I have my name on the list but my email has been "quirky" the last few days so I was just trying to see if I missed anything.

*chill pill* - just for you MTH I don't follow baseball but I have heard of the ..er problems the bosox are having

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Chill pills all around, then....

[Pudge72]

(Was that a little cranky? I've just been reading the insanity on a Red Sox message board. Torches and pitchforks and frothing at the mouth. It's a little hard sometimes to readjust mood and tone.)

...and in related news, the entire state of Massachusetts has just gone up in a fireball...and Jonathan Papelbon has entered the witness protection program.

[Lawrence]

The launch party is the 17th and then they go live after that; the first whisky list has about 15 whiskies on it; I'm placing an order!! It's been a long wait.

[Drammed]

thanks for the update Lawrence

[portwood]

Received e-mail confirming the launch party on the 17th at Kensington Wine Market in Calgary.
Info will be up on website on the same date for those of us not able to attend.

With the current discussion in another thread I'm having second thoughts about joining.

[portwood]

Well, well, well...

The website has been updated and the SMWS of Canada is up and running.

Only one teensy, weensy little problem .... the society is based out of Kensington Wine Market.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, how the h-e-double-hockey-sticks does that make them available nationaly when inter-provincial Canadian law forbids shipping of alcohol between provinces?
I see no mention how they plan to send product outside alberta - maybe this will come later. If so, I would like to be a fly on the wall during discussions with the LCBO.

in additon, the lowest priced bottles are:
$103 for a 9yo Ardbeg (33.111)
$109 for a 9yo Port Charlotte (127.14)
$112 for an 11yo Glenfarclas (1.159)
This on top of the initiation fee of $230, and $120 annual

[Mr Tattie Heid]

What I found shocking was the initial fee of $230, which gets you a handsome membership kit that contains four 100ml bottles. That's slightly more than half a bottle! That just screams rip-off.

The bottle prices you mention really aren't too bad, canuckily speaking. If I were an Ontario resident, I'd probably want to go for it. But that initial membership extortion would really bug me. (Have they said what the annual renewal will be?)

I assume the conversation with the LCBO and the SAQ and the relevant federal authorities has long been settled--not anything for you and me to worry about. I'm sure they crossed their eyes and dotted their teas.

[ca_aok]

Their site makes absolutely no mention of the LCBO/SAQ/anything else though. I'd assume this is Alberta-only for the moment.

[portwood]

I assume the conversation with the LCBO and the SAQ and the relevant federal authorities has long been settled--not anything for you and me to worry about. I'm sure they crossed their eyes and dotted their teas.

I have sent them an email asking about shipments outside Alberta, so for the time being I'm just speculating.

I doubt they have the approval of the LCBO and SAQ. If they did, they would be making a press release in billboard-sized print anouncing the momentous change in goverment policy. Why/how would the provincial monopolies allow such a narrow exception - an individual supplier to make inter-provincial shipments?

For the time being the SMWS website states:
Alberta regulations require us to have a retail partner for all sales of memberships and bottlings.
Kensington Wine Market is our trusted retail partner, and purchases of Scotch Malt Whisky Society memberships and products must be handled through their store, either through their secure e-commerce web site, by phone or in person.

And ... AFAIK, KWM does not ship outside Alberta. So, unless there is more info coming, this is the "Scotch Malt Whisky Society of ALBERTA"

[Drammed]

Ok I called the store to find out all the details.

They will NOT ship anywhere else outside of alberta. They are not legally allowed to do that as they have not worked it out with the other provincial governments. There are other ways around the shipping that i'm sure people are using but they will not ship direct unless you are located in alberta.

Cheers

edit - damn beaten to the punch but yes it is the SMWS of Alberta

[portwood]

The bottle prices you mention really aren't too bad, canuckily speaking. If I were an Ontario resident, I'd probably want to go for it. But that initial membership extortion would really bug me. (Have they said what the annual renewal will be?)

To be fair, they put out cask strength bottlings. However, I wouldn't call an 11yo Glenfarclas at $132 (assuming one buys 6 bottles/year with the $120 annual fee) a bargain considering the 15yo 46% OB is $85.

[Mr Tattie Heid]

The bottle prices you mention really aren't too bad, canuckily speaking. If I were an Ontario resident, I'd probably want to go for it. But that initial membership extortion would really bug me. (Have they said what the annual renewal will be?)

To be fair, they put out cask strength bottlings. However, I wouldn't call an 11yo Glenfarclas at $132 (assuming one buys 6 bottles/year with the $120 annual fee) a bargain considering the 15yo 46% OB is $85.

Your talking apples and oranges. Single cask, cask-strength bottlings are just a different world from OB's.

As for nationwide availability, I'll repeat what they told me:

Hi there-

Thanks for your curiosity. We have added you to our list of enthusiastic scotch drinkers and will be in touch soon with more exciting details about the arrival of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Canada. And while we are based in Calgary, the whisky will be available country-wide. Stay tuned for details!

Cheers,
The team at SMWS Canada

I don't know how they intend to achieve this, but doubt they will need an act of parliament. There are ways around such things--I doubt, for example, that every brand of Caribbean rum is landed by plane in every single province, therefore somehow it is legally shipped from Montreal, say, to Saskatchewan. As I said above, if they can deal with fifty states, they'll find a way to deal with ten provinces.

[Mr Tattie Heid]

...but yes, the $120 annual fee (if that's what it is), like the $230 sign-up, is exorbitant. I questioned the $60 I paid last year in the US. If it goes up to $120, I'm out for sure. I only buy a few bottles a year.