First though I should clear up a common semantic question. Canadian whisky is usually colloquially referred to as "rye", even though there may be very little or even no actual rye grain or mash content. The majority of ryes in this country are predominantly corn based with small amounts of barley, wheat and/or, yes, rye added. Alberta Premium is the only whisky that is 100% rye. Is more rye content better? You're about to find out.
For this "Blame Canada!" event we assembled the aforementioned Alberta Premium, a Wiser's Small Batch, a classic Crown Royal, a Crown Royal Special Reserve and a Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve and tasted them in exactly that order. The Alberta Premium was interesting, but certainly did not win accolades. No one spit it out either, but the consensus was that there was too much bite along the margins of the palate and that there was very little else there - no body, no nuance, no finish, just "wham, here's the rye". So much of how you feel about something depends though on what you compare it to. Here the Alberta Premium had the great good fortune of being immediately before the Wiser's Small Batch. In short, it's a good thing they only made a small batch. This is a mixing whisky and nothing more. At least the Alberta Premium was interesting and had something that could be called character. The Wiser's was generic, bland, forgettable and... well, let's just say that it does not have a home in the Cabinet.
On to the winners then. The Crown Royals were of interest because it is one of the best selling Canadian whiskies of all time and it is distilled an hour north of here at the 1,000,000 barrel Seagram's facility in Gimli. Both were very pleasantly balanced sipping whiskies with a lot of toffee on the nose and smoothness on the palate with just enough bite to get your attention. My impression was that the Special Reserve was a bit more complex and had a fuller body, but both were certainly eminently drinkable, if not exactly stellar. That then brings us to the Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve. "Stellar" is probably hyperbole, but using the principle of comparison again, it was entirely in a class of its own last night. This is what Canadian rye whisky should be and clearly can be. The Kittling Ridge distillery that makes this is the pioneer in bringing a whole new level of craftsmanship to the Canadian industry. We can only hope that others will follow. Read about the interesting story behind this whisky here:http://www.fortycreekwhisky.com/whatsnew/default.asp
It had a complexity, body and balance that was well beyond what the others offered and most of all had a very pleasant, long and lingering finish. This is a whisky that will be interesting to drink alongside some of our scotches and bourbons at a future meeting.
While all this was going we enjoyed a marvelous ginger chocolate cake ("rye and ginger"....), aged cheddar, olives and the usual array of crackers, including of course the traditional rough oat cakes. Mmm, rough... We also gratefully accepted the donation of a bottle of Oban from Ivan, which was prescient as the next meeting is likely to be themed "Salt and Maritime Whiskies". This meeting will be at the beginning of April and the "Maritime" element may take on an ironic bent as both Ivan and I could well be in flood-fighting mode then... In other business we discussed a possibly summer field trip to the Gimli distillery and obtaining a grant to make a Cabinet film. The latter discussion may have been the whisky talking...
Slainte!
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