Canadian Whisky

[beans]

I think it has been voiced here somewhere before, that Crown stinks, blah, blah, blah!

Hrumph!

I enjoy Canadian whisky!

For a yearly holiday tradition we used to purchase and promptly consume a new bottle of Crown Royal Reserve. (What to do with those nice velvet bags with nice silk tassels? They are far too lovely to be disposable!)

And those burly, rugged, outdoorsy types of Alaskan men -- they drank whisky! No wimpy, foo-foo Chocolate Martinis! In fact, that was the only time I worked in a bar that had the awkward sized, gigantic 1.75 litre bottles of Crown in two separate set ups. We did sell/pour the stuff like just like it was surely raining outside!

So for the sake of variety, I managed to choke down a Canadian Club Reserve or two.... (a nice 10 year old -- The stuff has a pleasing aroma to savour and is very smooth, warming and smokey. What's not to love?)

Well, here is an Adams Beverage Group, Beverage Dynamics article, Northern Exposure: Sales of Canadian Whisky are Finally on the Upswing, and the Market will Continue to Benefit as Brands Develop New Ways to Expand Their Consumer Franchises, by Howard Riell.

[i like the Northern Exposure part of that title -- *big* fan of that old tv show].

"The Canadian whisky category is fueled by the ease of the drink and the resurgence of the classic cocktail," said Joe Karcz, group product director for Jim Beam Brands Co., which markets Windsor and Kessler brands. "Canadian whiskies have long been known for their smooth, light flavor, making them ideal for cocktails."

Anyone enjoy this brown beverage too? Which ones and how?

Cheers!

[chromedome]

My father-in-law is a Crown Royal man. I find it a titch too sweet (which tells you I'm not a keen bourbon drinker, either); I prefer Gibson's Finest (the gold label, not the silver) which I find dryer.

I used to really enjoy the Hudson's Bay Company whisky (remember those stoneware bottles?) but I haven't seen it anywhere for some time.

[JAZ]

Although I've never been a fan of Canadian (I prefer Scotch, Irish, rye, and bourbon, in that order, before Canadian), I do have great memories of standing around under a full moon with a couple of friends outside a ski cabin, pouring Crown Royal over packed snow for a very adult snowcone.

[Marlene]

Crown Royal and Canadian Club are ryes, at least here in Canada. No body calls them whiskey . Yes, yes I know, rye whiskey, but in Canada, whiskey usually means. They are considered premium brands in most bars, with house brand usually being Segram's.

We've long been a fan of CC, and occassionally Crown Royal. One of the best things to do with the CR purple velvet bag is to store your son's marbles in them .

The 10 year old CC is relatively new, and there's also a nice 12 year old, Canadian Club classic.

This year, Crown Royal came in a beautifully finished wooden case for gift giving.

[Jason Perlow]

I mentioned this as well on the Rye thread but there are several Canadian whiskeys which will give single malt and premium blended Scotch and small batch bourbons a run for their money.

http://www.lewbryson.com/tribcand.htm

I have the Wiser's Very Old (18 year) as well as "Century 21", a 21 year old whiskey, which I purchased on a trip to Ottawa in 2002.

[Marlene]

There is also a new Canadian "Scotch" "Cape Breton", a single malt whiskey.

[budrichard]

Looking at the Canadian $ versas the Euro, I can see lot of Canadian whiskey or rye or whatever being drunk! -Dick

[DrinkBoy]

CanadianWhisky != Rye;

Ok... perhaps I'm flogging the proverbial horse, but it just "bothers" me when I see people interchanging "Rye" and "Canadian Whisky". I understand that in Canada they call Canadian Whisky "Rye", but in truth there are very, very, very, few (ie. I think only two) Whiskies made in Canada which use Rye as their primary ingredient.

As I'm sure I've brought up before, the "confusion" took hold during prohibition when American whiskey distillars shut down, and thereby made true Rye (which at that time was the more common version of American whiskey) unavailable. Our friends to the north however were more then happy to fill the gap and Canadian whisky was substituted for drinks that would otherwise have been made with Rye (or Bourbon). So when a customer came in and asked for a Rye... the bartender handed them the closest thing they had, which was a Candian whisky.

When Prohibition was over, the American distillers were getting ready to fire up their stills, and they switched over to making a majority of Bourbon instead of Rye, since the American public now (mistakenly) thought that their Rye was coming from Canada, and the American distillers knew that they were going to have a bit of a struggle anyway, so chose to focus on the whiskey that was "missing"... Bourbon.

-Robert

www.DrinkBoy.com

[Marlene]

I was curious, so I asked the LCBO the difference between whiskey and scotch if there was one. Yes, yes, I'm sure most of you know this stuff, but I didn't!

Here is their reply:

Thank you for your inquiry.

Whiskey is made from grain.  Any grain may be used, in America the important ones are corn, and rye with

some millet, sorghum and barley.  Scotch whiskey is merely the product of  mainly barley, yeast and Scottish water.

Only whiskey produced in Scotland can be labelled Scotch whiskey.

The other difference between Scotch and other whiskies is that whilst the majority of whiskies are the product

of a single distillery, since the middle of the 19th century, Scotch whiskey has generally been the result of

blending the product of a number of distilleries together. In addition, there are two distinct types of whiskey

used in that blend; malty whiskies, the result of a pot still distillation using malted barley as the raw material,

and grain whiskey, from patent stills using mainly maize.

Thank you for contacting the LCBO

On fo the things I didn't realize was that, like champagne can only be called champagne if it comes from that region, was that scotch can only be called scotch if it comes from Scotland.

[chromedome]

There is also a new Canadian "Scotch"  "Cape Breton", a single malt whiskey.

You would be referring to Glen Breton Rare, produced in Nova Scotia's Highlands in the style of a Scotch whisky. They are currently importing peated malt from Scotland, but have run a test batch with Alberta barley and are awaiting the result.

They are currently marketing a ten-year-old whisky, with plans to add more-aged bottlings as the passage of time permits.

For more information, you may wish to check out the website of the Glenora Distillery. There is a very decent restaurant onsite, and good lodgings available in the area.

[Chef Fowke]

Let me try to remember my youth, I grew up both on the prairies of Canada and in Ontario...

Never used the term Canadian Whiskey, it was always brand specific...you drank Crown or Cub (very class specific).

On the prairies it was Crown and coke and back east it was Crown and ginger.

I am glad to see a comeback in popularity. I have not had a Crown Royal in years, but I do remember it tasting great!

[mrbigjas]

Aight, I'm dragging this topic back up because I'm sitting here drinking some of that Wiser's Oldest. 1) this stuff is tasty, and 2) this stuff is SWEET.

So let's clarify: Canadian whiskey (usually) uses corn as its main ingredient, right? Because this tastes more like bourbon or tennessee than ryes I've had.

[jayhay]

Ah yes, Canadian Club & Canada Dry gingerale...with a marachino cherry of course. Meant it was Christmas time when I was young!

[prasantrin]

Revisting an old topic...

I'm headed back to Canada for the summer, and want to pick up a gift of Canadian whiskey. I first thought of Crown Royal, in part because it's....distilled? brewed? in Manitoba and that's where I'm from. However, the gift is for a rather discriminating whiskey drinker, and from what I've read about Crown Royal, she probably won't care for it too much (I read it was a bit sweet, and she doesn't really care for sweetness). I don't know what brand she usually drinks, though, so I can't offer any hints as to preferences in flavour profiles.

I'm not looking to spend a fortune--preferably $30-40, $50 tops. It should be more than just drinkable, but it need not be out of this world (and I'm sure at my price point, it won't be). Any suggestions?

[Peter Green]

For a yearly holiday tradition we used to purchase and promptly consume a new bottle of Crown Royal Reserve.  (What to do with those nice velvet bags with nice silk tassels?  They are far too lovely to be disposable!)

We'd use those bags for our regulators when we were diving. They were great for keeping the sand out.

[300rwhp]

Has anyone played with alberta premium? i much prefer it to pikesville and even rittenhouse

[dsoneil]

There are a couple of Canadian whiskies that are well worth the purchase. I'm really liking the Alberta Premium 25 Year Old 100% rye whisky. It sells for about $30 a bottle, a genuine steal for the age. If you can, pick up a bottle of Forty Creek, it regularly beats Crown Royal in taste test, and it's only $25 per bottle.

There are three other whiskies that would make great gifts. Gibson's Finest Rare (18 Year) which sell for $40, very smooth, slightly sweet. Wiser's Very Old (18 year) which goes for $40 also. It has a deeper flavour with more of an charred oak flavour. And if you had your eye's set on Crown Royal, look at the Crown Royal Special Reserve, which is about $55 per bottle.

Alberta Premium and Gibson's are probably the hardest to find outside of Canada.

Hope that helps.

[300rwhp]

You know what is funny Darcy, I live in Victoria generally but am spending my summer in Calgary and guess what you can not get a hold of the 25 year old in alberta.

[prasantrin]

There are a couple of Canadian whiskies that are well worth the purchase. I'm really liking the Alberta Premium 25 Year Old 100% rye whisky. It sells for about $30 a bottle, a genuine steal for the age. If you can, pick up a bottle of Forty Creek, it regularly beats Crown Royal in taste test, and it's only $25 per bottle.

There are three other whiskies that would make great gifts. Gibson's Finest Rare (18 Year) which sell for $40, very smooth, slightly sweet. Wiser's Very Old (18 year) which goes for $40 also. It has a deeper flavour with more of an charred oak flavour. And if you had your eye's set on Crown Royal, look at the Crown Royal Special Reserve, which is about $55 per bottle.

Alberta Premium and Gibson's are probably the hardest to find outside of Canada.

Hope that helps.

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Thanks! I looked at the MLCC website, and they carry all of those brands, so I'll have a good selection to choose from. I'll take a look around my local stores, first, to see which ones (if any) I can find here, then choose one of the ones I can't find.

Thanks again! You've been a big help!

[Marlene]

There is also one more, Danfield's. I believe distilled in Alberta that is a lovely sipping rye whiskey all on it's own.

[prasantrin]

There is also one more, Danfield's.  I believe distilled in Alberta that is a lovely sipping rye whiskey all on it's own.

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Thanks! She usually drinks her whiskey straight, so that might be a good choice, too. Is there a particular one that's better than the others? MLCC only has danfield's private res whisky-williams and churchill. Does that sound right? It's just over $20.

[Marlene]

There is also one more, Danfield's.  I believe distilled in Alberta that is a lovely sipping rye whiskey all on it's own.

←

Thanks! She usually drinks her whiskey straight, so that might be a good choice, too. Is there a particular one that's better than the others? MLCC only has danfield's private res whisky-williams and churchill. Does that sound right? It's just over $20.

←

That sounds like it. It looks like this

[jayt90]

Revisting an old topic...

I'm headed back to Canada for the summer, and want to pick up a gift of Canadian whiskey.    Any suggestions?

←

There will be a Sept. 1 release of Forty Creek Special Reserve. I don't know the price but doubt if it will reach $50. It is a blend of barrels that the whiskey maker, John Hall, has set aside over the last few years. You can register with Forty Creek for a numbered bottle, with a name and date (your choice) on the label. I don't know if you can wait that long, but a liquor store manager might be able to get shipment in the latter part of August.

Apparently Mr. Hall distills his grains separately, rather than mixing the mash. He seems to have a unique approach and has done well in competitions, when many older Candian whiskey has not fared so well.

[prasantrin]

Revisting an old topic...

I'm headed back to Canada for the summer, and want to pick up a gift of Canadian whiskey.    Any suggestions?

←

There will be a Sept. 1 release of Forty Creek Special Reserve. I don't know the price but doubt if it will reach $50. It is a blend of barrels that the whiskey maker, John Hall, has set aside over the last few years. You can register with Forty Creek for a numbered bottle, with a name and date (your choice) on the label. I don't know if you can wait that long, but a liquor store manager might be able to get shipment in the latter part of August.

Apparently Mr. Hall distills his grains separately, rather than mixing the mash. He seems to have a unique approach and has done well in competitions, when many older Candian whiskey has not fared so well.

←

I did a bit of research. It sounds very promising, and the price isn't too much above my limit, so it would be do-able. But you have to pick it up at the distillery (in Grimsby, ON)! According to the info on their website, it got the highest rating of any Canadian whiskey. The tasting notes make me want to try some, and I don't even like whiskey!

As an aside, even though I'm Canadian, I write "whiskey", but according to Forty Creek, that spelling is the American spelling, though the Irish also now use that spelling, as well, while Canadians and Scots use "Whisky". It's different from the usual American vs British spellings, where the British spellings usually have the extra letter(s). Odd, I think...

[eje]

I do like the 40 Creek Barrel Select, especially for mixing.

It's a great, easy going whisky for cocktails where you don't want the spirit to blow the other ingredients out of the water. It's also a pretty good sipper, and compares well to many whisk(e)ys in its price range.

I really haven't tasted a wide enough variety of other Canadian Whiskys to know how it compares to Crown Royal, Canadian Club, or whatever.

I'd love to give that Alberta Premium a try some time. 100% Rye makes it sound awfully appealing.