Canadian Club 1858

Canadian Club needs no introduction as one of Canada's best known exports and a staple of bars across the country. Alongside Crown Royal, 'CC' is a wildly popular brand based around a value blend. It's history goes back to the 1850s in Detroit, Michigan. Hiram Walker, a grocer, began distilling but was forced out when the state, along with many others, enacted Prohibition. Not wishing to see his burgeoning enterprise thwarted, Mr. Walker moved his distillery across the river - and across the border. 

He founded Windsor's Walkerville neighbourhood and opened what would eventually become one of the world's largest distilleries. It's location just across the river from the United States meant it was a perfect place for rum runners to smuggle barrels into Michigan, and onto the rest of the country.

His whisky eventually became known as 'Club Whisky' due to its popularity in gentlemen's clubs across North America. Distillers in the States grew angry at the lost market share and convinced the government to force Mr. Walker to label his whisky as 'Canadian,' in hopes American customers would reject it. The move backfired, however, and both Canadian Club's new name and Canada's whisky style became the symbol of smooth, enjoyable whisky for millions of fans. Interestingly, and in spite of its Royally-named rival, Canadian Club remains the only whisky from outside the UK to have been granted Royal Warrants, having enjoyed them from Queen Victoria onward to Queen Elizabeth.

The world-famous flagship bottling is known as '1858' though most simply know it as Canadian Club. A recent redesign cleaned up the label and highlights the '1858' name, but this will always be what comes when you call for a CC at the bar.

However you order it, this whisky consists of a blend of malted and unmalted rye, malted barley, and corn, aged for about six years in multiuse American oak barrels, some of which can be many decades old. The cask influence is not going to be particularly strong on this whisky, but the added couple years in oak compensates for that.

The Canadian Club brand is now enjoyed in over 150 countries and has always been a Canadian staple. Its popular in Australia and Japan (extremely so, apparently), and has enjoyed a big boost in the States due to its prevalence on TV's Mad Men. It's one of those whiskies that forms the bedrock of the Canadian category as an affordable, smooth blend with the requisite hint of rye spice. It will work in any whisky cocktail and is perfectly enjoyable as an easy sipper too - a solid bet at bars anywhere in the world.

Canadian Club 1858
40% alc./vol.
$25-$29 widely available across Canada

The nose opens sweet with linalool (like Froot Loops) and lots of florality, not unlike a light, citrusy gin. There's some peppery oak, dark fruit, and butterscotch. I get some marmalade and a whisper of rye spice. 

The palate brings a typically sweet butterscotch opening but things get interesting afterward. When recording tasting notes, I found myself drawing an upward trendline and that's exactly how I'd describe the experience once sipped. Everything builds upward toward a rising, brisk rye finish. Along the way, orange zest, caramel, tobacco, bitter citrus rind, and a fleeting fresh forest-y note. Then the rye hits with brief, scorching flash of habanero heat before settling only a little into the finish.

The medium length of the finish brings more bitter notes, some caramel, and tongue-tingling heat from the rye. 

For a basic, massively-produced whisky, this is surprisingly complex and bold. Actually looking back, I suspect the recipe may have been tweaked somewhat in recent years to amp up some of the clean oak and rye spice. Whether or not that's true, this is terrific whisky. 

You could call it smooth if you wanted to, as a compliment, but you wouldn't use smooth to insult this whisky. What do I mean by that? In the enthusiast community, smooth often means simplistic and overly sweet; easy to drink because it doesn't challenge the palate. It's more often a term of derision than anything, and one that might be leveled at CC's shelfmates (Crown, Black Velvet, Canadian Mist, VO) rightly or wrongly. But Canadian Club isn't too simplistic or sweet. It actually provides a sipping experience that is more intriguing than you'd expect for a ubiquitous entry-level bottle. 

Let's not overstate It; this doesn't pack the bargain basement punch of Alberta Springs nor the complexity of decades-old bottlings - and of course it doesn't. But it is a very enjoyable whisky that offers substantially more intrigue than you'd expect. For that reason, it's a bottle I'll always keep on hand, just like every bar in the country.

Heatseeker Score: 84

Category Score: 88

Characteristic: Floral

Please also enjoy our reviews of Canadian Club 100% Rye and Classic 12 Year.