Queen's · Western

The Reserve Circle

Undergraduate wine and social societies, at two universities only.

Events

Evenings with a subject

Tastings, dinners and trips, each built around one producer, one region or one spirit.

Education

Taught glass in hand

Winemakers, sommeliers and distillers present their own work. No lecture hall.

Venues

Rooms worth the trip

A barrel cellar, a private estate, a rooftop sixty-five floors up, a vineyard.

Discover the Circle

The Idea

Build one society properly, and bring it only to the best schools.

The Reserve Circle is the parent of two chapters. Its founders set out to create something that did not yet exist on campus: private gatherings, historic venues, and a standard that holds from one evening to the next. They chose to keep it to Queen's and Western.

The two chapters

What We Do

A new kind of education.

Most students learn about wine and spirits from a label, or never. We teach it in the room, with the people who make it. It is approachable, and you remember it.

Gather

Events

Tastings, dinners and trips through the year. Each one has a single subject, so the evening has a point.

Learn

Education

Members leave knowing what is in the glass and why it tastes the way it does, from the people who made it.

Taste

Spirits

Wine and champagne first. Then Scotch, tequila and cigars, each given its own evening.

Explore

Venues

Rooms chosen to suit what is poured: a barrel cellar, a private estate, a rooftop, a vineyard lawn.

Travel

Abroad

Winery visits in Bourgogne, Bordeaux and Champagne, and three days under sail off the south of France.

The Founders

Macgregor Armstrong and Jonn Reid

They met in their first year at Queen's and agreed on one thing early. The social scene was lively, but it had no room for refinement. They founded The Reserve Circle to build that room, and to leave it standing for the students who came after them.

Comm '25

Macgregor Armstrong

Macgregor grew up in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where wine is a way of life. He brought a respect for the history and craft of the industry.

Arts '25

Jonn Reid

Jonn cares about the architecture of an evening. He holds that small details, done properly, add up to an atmosphere that changes the people inside it.

The Chapters

Two schools. One standard.

Kingston

Queen's Reserve Circle

The original chapter, founded at Queen's University by Macgregor Armstrong and Jonn Reid.

London

Western Reserve Circle

The second chapter, built at Western University by Andrew McLeod.

Portrait of Andrew McLeod — Andrew McLeodWestern Reserve Circle

How Western Began

Two schools with a great deal in common.

Macgregor and Jonn knew Western well. Its social scene looked a lot like the one at Queen's, and the two schools had always felt alike.

So they spoke to their friend Andrew McLeod. Andrew took the idea to London and grew the Western Reserve Circle into a very successful chapter of its own.

The two chapters have since hosted joint events together.