Any good Canadian Whiskey recommendations?

Saw some Crown Royal Monarch 75th Anniversary. I’m usually a Bourbon drinker but wondered about any Canadians I might be overlooking.

The thing about Canadian whiskies is that they are a lot milder but also generally smoother and creamier than most equivalent aged bourbons. They also take very well to cask finishes. I highly recommend the following:

Forty Creek Port Wood Reserve
Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve
Pike Creek Port Cask Finish
Century Reserve 21 Year Old

The latter in particular is a revelation: 21 year old corn whisky with no added barley or rye. Smooth, sweet and very light and full of vanilla and corn flavors. Almost like liquid Corn Pops cereal.

Collingwood 21yr old Rye

Heard good things about Lot 40

Whistle Pig. And Mastersons. :wink:

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Recently finished a bottle of Canadian Club Small Batch Classic 12 year old. As Tran said delicate, but nice complexity.

Not usually a fan, but tasted a very impressive small batch Rye & blended in the summer from an Ontario distiller named Stalk & Barrel.
They also did a single malt at both cask or bottle strength that was very interesting.

Another vote for Forty Creek.

Found a bottle of Monarch at the Sarnia Ontario duty free for $70 cdn. With a 15% exchange rate and no taxes, l couldn’t resist. Very smooth, but a bit disappointed in its limited complexity. I think that the 2 40 Creeks listed by Tran are the best Canadian Whiskies I have had, but no luck ever finding them for sale.

I think that I have one of these at home. Black label? It seemed worth a flyer at $20, but I really don’t care for it. It’s just sitting on the liquor shelf almost full.

Cheap for mixed drinks at Costco. $19.95 for 1500 ml.

Funny thing is that when we did the Bourbon trail, every distillery that talked about their Rye admitted that 100% of it was sourced from Germany. They all said non-GMO Rye basically doesn’t exist in the USA.


So, I am thinking less and less of the stuff we drink is coming from where we buy it.

Wow is that frightening. I knew that CORN was an issue which is why I will no longer eat the stuff but rye!?! Who knew.

JP Wiser 18yr is solid

Scott,

That is really interesting, but I can’t imagine that’s entirely true. For instance, all the micro-distillers in NY must use a majority of NY state sourced grains in their product, and many do source from small local farmers which I would imagine are not using GMO wheat.

Now with large producers in KY, TN or IN (or other places) I can understand how they might not be able to source enough rye on that scale and they might have to outsource, particularly if they need to have non-gmo wheat.

That leads to another topic of debate/discussion…Most small distillers I’ve had the pleasure to meet have told me that once a grain goes through the mash/distillation process, it really doesn’t matter if it’s organic or GMO, the distillate is transformed and that stuff has less meaning. What’s your take on that supposition?

HI Brent, my take is not all that clear, I generally just prefer less GMO istead of more. But I suppose your are right, that distilling might negate the effects of GMO.

The producers we spoke to were quite large…Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey - so yes, it could be a matter of needing a lot and the quantities locally are small. Not sure, these were small but not totally private tours, so I didn’t do a lot of Q&A. It just struck me that multiple distillers mentioned it.

From what I’ve read, the rules to call something bourbon don’t reference the origin of the grain, just:

Produced in the United States
Made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
Aged in new, charred oak barrels
Distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume)
Entered into the barrel for aging at no more than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume)
Bottled (like other whiskeys) at 80 proof or more (40% alcohol by volume)

So, I don’t think there are any rules against getting German rye to put in their bourbon.

Scott,

I believe you are correct about the grain sourcing. Does not have to be US. To promote the small distilling movement, NY state set up a special license which requires the small distillers who have that license to source at least 50% of their raw materials from New York. That might help you understand why I specifically mentioned that in the case of these distillers.

Understood Brent, and I am surprised I don’t seem to find any sourcing requirements for Bourbon. I would have expected some.

Interesting , i see quite a few NYS distillieries, any you think are really good? (sorry for the thread drift)

Pendleton 1910. Lovely stuff. Distilled and aged by ADL then finished in Oregon.