Canada Day

[Ed Hamilton]

June 30th to July 3rd, I'll be joining the National Yacht Club in Toronto for the C&C sailing rendezvous and regatta. There will be rum, food, a jump up Saturday night and fun. If you're in Toronto come say hello and enjoy a little of my favorite drink.

[haresfur]

I'm a bit late for Canada Day but I'm celebrating with a Toronto 4:1:1 using cane syrup instead of simple.  Yeah even I would probably dial back the sweet a bit.  This is one that really needs the lemon twist.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm a bit late for Canada Day but I'm celebrating with a Toronto 4:1:1 using cane syrup instead of simple.  Yeah even I would probably dial back the sweet a bit.  This is one that really needs the lemon twist.

Tell us more about a Toronto 4:1:1

[Rafa]

I think he means a Toronto cocktail at a ratio of four parts rye / one part Fernet Branca / one part cane syrup.

[FrogPrincesse]

That sounds sweet indeed. I like mine a bit more Fernet-heavy. 2 oz rye : 3/4 oz Fernet-Branca : 1/4 oz simple syrup (Bartender's Choice app spec), with an orange twist.

[Kerry Beal]

Canadian Rye is the expected spirit?

[FrogPrincesse]

Kerry,

I am sure you have access to plenty of interesting Canadian rye whiskies, so of course that would be your first choice.

For those of us who don't, a good assertive American rye whiskey works great. Anything too gentle will get buried under the Fernet.

[haresfur]

I think American rye is the proper spirit for this one historically and taste-wise.  I am not anti Canadian rye but I can't see it standing up to the Fernet. I used nearly the last of my precious Rittenhouse.

 

Rafa is correct in his clarification of what I made.  This was the ratio listed in Kindred Cocktails although there is plenty of discussion about it. I used Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters.  I think the Fernet was about right for me.  It's there but this is a rye drink with Fernet Branca, not the other way around.

 

And on a happy side note, I made two but correctly guessed that my DB would like but not finish hers so I poured about 1 1/2 drinks worth for myself.

[mkayahara]

I've never really understood recipes that call for aromatic bitters as well as Fernet; the Fernet tends to clobber even Angostura.

 

I do, however, make my Toronto cocktails with Canadian whisky. I've had very successful versions with Alberta Premium Dark Horse, Forty Creek Barrel Select and Alberta Springs. (And will be trying with Lot No. 40 in the near future.) That said, you do need to dial the Fernet way back; I tend to go with something along the lines of 1.5 oz (sometimes 2 oz.) whisky, 1/4 oz. Fernet, 1/4 oz. 1:1 simple syrup. That kind of ratio gives voice to the Fernet while still allowing the whisky to shine. As a side benefit, it helps you stretch your bottle of Fernet further.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Does Whistlepig count as Canadian whisky?

[Kerry Beal]

Does Whistlepig count as Canadian whisky?

Doesn't look like it - looks like Whistlepig is 'real rye'.  But it does appear that it could be used in a Toronto cocktail.

 

I think tonight we shall try a Toronto with the Rittenhouse we have up here with us - over here on the Manitoulin Test Kitchen thread for those who haven't found us yet.

[EvergreenDan]

Are any Canadian ryes as assertive as the typical American rye? I'm ignorant.

 

The last Canadian I had was the blended Royal Crown Reserve, which someone pulled out of their trunk when the seaside crab shack we were eating at announced that they didn't have beer (gasp!). I was unimpressed, but it made me wonder about premium straight Canadian rye.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm going to let others answer that - they only Canadian Whiskey I've developed a taste for is the Forty Creek John's Private Cask - and that was a single run so no longer available.  It's smooth as silk and assertive is not how I would label it.  I did pick up a bottle of the Forty Creek Copper Pot but haven't broken in to it yet.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Kerry Beal (log)

[mkayahara]

Well, first of all, there's a nomenclature issue here: in Canada "rye" is the generic term for Canadian whisky, and some Canadian rye (including Crown Royal) contains no rye at all in the mash bill. (For more on the historical reasons for this, check out Davin's book Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert). There is no such thing under Canadian law as "straight" whisky; that's a term from American distilling.

 

That said, the law in Canada is pretty restrictive on what can be labelled Canadian whisky. In particular, there's a provision that it has to "possess the aroma, taste and character generally attributed to Canadian whisky," which I believe limits what Canadian distillers can do in terms of assertiveness. It's sort of like asking if there are any Puerto Rican rums that are as assertive as Jamaican rum.

 

Tl;dr: no, in my experience there are no Canadian ryes that are as assertive as American ryes.

[tanstaafl2]

Well, first of all, there's a nomenclature issue here: in Canada "rye" is the generic term for Canadian whisky, and some Canadian rye (including Crown Royal) contains no rye at all in the mash bill. (For more on the historical reasons for this, check out Davin's book Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert). There is no such thing under Canadian law as "straight" whisky; that's a term from American distilling.

 

That said, the law in Canada is pretty restrictive on what can be labelled Canadian whisky. In particular, there's a provision that it has to "possess the aroma, taste and character generally attributed to Canadian whisky," which I believe limits what Canadian distillers can do in terms of assertiveness. It's sort of like asking if there are any Puerto Rican rums that are as assertive as Jamaican rum.

 

Tl;dr: no, in my experience there are no Canadian ryes that are as assertive as American ryes.

 

There are however a number of American style ryes that are made in Canada. WhistlePig is perhaps the best known example of that. Early Jefferson Rye and the current Masterson's rye all reportedly came from the same source, Alberta Distillers Limited. It happened to be owned by Beam which of course is now owned by Suntory under the new name "Beam Suntory".

 

ADL certainly puts out other whiskey using its 100% straight rye whiskey as the base. I think Alberta Premium Dark Horse whiskey is mostly an American Style rye with some corn whiskey added that is mostly available only in Canada. The addition of corn whiskey blended into it is what gets it labeled as Canadian whiskey rather than a straight rye. If it didn't have that it could probably be called a straight rye whiskey under US rules.

[Kerry Beal]

I though Whistlepig was made in Vermont?

[tanstaafl2]

I though Whistlepig was made in Vermont?

 

Yes, WhistlePig would love for you to believe their little lie! But nothing is distilled in Vermont and never has been. It is presumably bottled there and there may be some whiskey aging out in the barn but all the whiskey they bottle comes from Alberta Distillers at least at present.

 

They claim they will eventually distill there but so far they have made no significant progress on building a distillery to my knowledge and then it would take them another 10 years to have an equivalently aged product to the current WhistlePig.

[Kerry Beal]

Yes, WhistlePig would love for you to believe their little lie! But nothing is distilled in Vermont and never has been. It is presumably bottled there and there may be some whiskey aging out in the barn but all the whiskey they bottle comes from Alberta Distillers at least at present.

 

They claim they will eventually distill there but so far they have made no significant progress on building a distillery to my knowledge and then it would take them another 10 years to have an equivalently aged product to the current WhistlePig.

And yet we can't buy it in Canada!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

But Kerry, you don't have to travel far!

 

I believe Whistlepig is the strangest spirit I have tasted.  Initially it was bitter and vile, but given some time it mutated into something quite lovely.  I still don't understand how this could happen.

[Kerry Beal]

I tasted Ardbeg in Scotland - the most vile mouthful of iodine I could ever imagine.  Then a strange thing happened - the iodine morphed into this rich sweet sherry like flavour that remained on my tongue for the longest time.  

[Kerry Beal]

By the way - binned my Toronto - didn't care for it.  

[haresfur]

What rye did you end up going with?  Well, now you know anyway.

[Kerry Beal]

Rittenhouse - might have enjoyed it with my smooth Canadian but then again maybe not!