Dillon's Single Cask Rye

The Niagara Peninsula, with its mild microclimate and unique soil, has been a hotbed of fruit and wine production for decades. And where there's wine, distilleries have soon blossomed alongside. Like the nearby Forty Creek Distillery, Dillon's made their name working with local fruit to create high quality liqueurs, aperitifs, gin, bitters, and whatever else they can experiment with. Since its genesis 2012, the growth of the distillery has been impressive and they now earn high praise worldwide. Industrious and focused, Dillon's is consistently among the most innovative distilleries in Canada, and they retain a local feel in all they produce. 

And on this blog, they are certainly kindred spirits with their loving focus on 100% rye whisky. They churn out their Three Grain standard bottling, found throughout the province, but for a true taste of what Dillon's can distill, fans need to act quickly to get one of their single cask bottlings. 

Once a year, usually in early winter, Dillon's will release a cask strength look at their whisky. This review, Cask No. 114, was the exceptional 2019 release. It features a pot-distilled blend of 90% unmalted and 10% malted rye. It's aged in new oak for a little under 4 years and bottled in 200mL glass, ensuring everyone can get a taste without breaking the bank. It's really, really good whisky! I can't wait for the next release.

Dillon's Rye Whisky - Single Cask (#114)

57.2% alc./vol.

200mL bottle for $19.25 at LCBO

Something different for today's tasting, we have a guest review from Lokesh Khismatrao. Lokesh is a friend of mine and fellow graduate of Niagara College's Artisan Distilling programme. The tasting notes are his but the scoring is mine, from my own tasting notes, along the same scoring standard as the other reviews on this blog. 

-Robbie

Nose: Sweet fruity, wood, chocolate, nutmeg, slight smoke note.

Palate: Big, quite rich. First vanilla, allspice, a hint of coriander, and then surprisingly a hit of maple. That was a pleasant surprise. Lots of hot rye underneath and a creamy texture.

Finish: Warm, spicy rye and some maple sweetness linger for a good length, finally into wood spices.

Heatseeker Score: 92

Category Score: 89

Characteristic: Baking spice

Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve

Forty Creek holds a special place in the history of Canadian whisky. Founded in 1992, at a global low point for whisky, the plucky startup had to take on the big Canadian players and the crushing LCBO monopoly without any support from today's craft spirits industry. Being located on the wine producing Niagara Peninsula, the distillery originally focused on grape spirits. Kittling Ridge, as it was exclusively known then, undertook a rebranding and pivoted to whisky, and the rest became history. Forty Creek can rightly claim to be something of a pioneer in small-batch whisky not only in Canada but in the world. 

Today, the distillery is owned by Campari, largely as a North American production facility for global spirits brands. Led by founder John Hall and blender Bill Ashburn, a range of whiskies from everyday to rare releases have come from Forty Creek in recent years earning them the plaudits they well deserve. They produce a number of non-whisky spirits including Kingsgate fortified wines; a super cheap guilty pleasure. 

Forty Creek's whisky lineup steps up nicely from base level Barrel Select to intermediate whiskies like Double Barrel, then up to the high end bottlings like Confederation Oak, Unity, and Victory. At this intermediate level, Double Barrel Reserve takes the standard three grain whiskies (rye, corn, and barley) and gives them a second aging period in ex-Bourbon barrels. These barrels are specifically selected for the taste profile required and John Hall apparently spends time in Kentucky every year picking out barrels just for this whisky.

Appropriately for a distillery in wine country,  blender John Hall refers to those three grains as his 'meritage' when he blends them in these barrels and allows them to spend time picking up subtle oak influences and marrying their grain flavours.  With the differing barrels for each batch of this whisky, there can be some subtle variation in flavour, so if you're interested, the lot number I sampled is 240. Either way the taste profile should be relatively similar year to year. 

Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve

40% alc./vol.

$40 at LCBO

The nose immediately presents rich and oily with strong oak and dark fruit. I detect prune alongside a subtle caramel and dry baking spices that crescendo with the briefest hit of tinglingly spicy rye. 

The oily viscosity continues on the palate with an initial impression of creaminess and a grainy character. Restrained rye comes across with notes of dill and caraway. There's a nice caramel that doesn't feel like the cheap butterscotch note you can sometimes get. In comes a pronounced vegetal note that reminds me of fresh corn on the cob. It's met with quite tannic oak and warming rye, all quite smooth without any rough edges.

The finish continues to be warming and is long with a few subtleties; bitter citrus, a red apple note, some cinnamon, and caramel. Mainly it's the warming oakiness present on the tail though. 

I'm really a fan of the interplay between cask and grain influences. There are some reviews online which deride this bottle as a one-trick pony of Bourbon-y sweetness, but I'm not finding that at all, at least in this batch. It's flavourful but extremely smooth.

The extra time spent marrying in the Bourbon casks went a long way to providing balance. There's not too much spice, grain, or oak but there are good amounts of each. I'm a fan. At its slightly elevated price, Double Barrel begins to compete with some very good whiskies and, while it's not the most complex bottle at this price point, it's a definite crowd pleaser for its lush creaminess and smoothly integrated flavours. I can't find anything wrong with this dram and would describe it in a word as pleasant. This is a definite daily sipper that will wow novice rye drinkers but still keep experience whisky fans interested. 

Heatseeker Score: 86

Category Score: 86

Characteristic: Creamy

Gibson's Finest Bold

Gibson's Finest is one of those Canadian labels you see everywhere, whether out or at someone's home. And for good reason, they were the first to focus specifically on longer aging for their blends and made it the centrepiece of the Gibson's brand. Some great TV commercials, especially during CFL broadcasts, have made the "taste, fully aged" slogan a memorable one. With the distinctive and attractive bottle designs, Gibson's products lend a masculine feel to a whisky bar.

In fact, Gibson's history goes back to the 1850s when Irish spirits merchant John Gibson opened his own distillery in Pennsylvania. Like many of the distillers who's names now grace Canadian whisky history, Mr. Gibson's fortunes were shattered by the onset of Prohibition in the United States. Rather than move his operations to Canada, like many of his contemporaries, he was forced to shut down entirely. 

By 1945, the Gibson's Finest brand had been purchased by American spirits conglomerate Schenley Industries. At the time they were constructing the Valleyfield Distillery in Quebec, and later began producing whisky with the Gibson's name from there. That distillery grew, eventually becoming one of North America's largest, home to the Seagram's VO label (check out our review of VO Gold here).

Eventually, the brand was bought by Scotch giant William Grant and Sons and production of most bottles moved to the Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, North America's largest. 

Bold, their newest release, is 8 years old and is still sourced from Valleyfield barrels. It was designed especially for mixing with cola, which apparently accounts for a significant amount of rye sales. To that end, the whisky has an amped up flavour profile at 46% which allows it to stand out in an overwhelmingly sweet cola mixed drink. 46% is a notable strength for whisky, as it tends to be the lowest strength for non-chill filtered whiskies (a practice primarily used for higher quality bottles to preserve complexity). So far as I can tell Gibson's doesn't make use of this practice, which is fair as subtleties are usually lost in a sweet mixed drink anyway. 

Still, the higher strength adds mouthfeel and flavour. And though this whisky included a new oak-aged component, it's exaggerated dark colour is surely achieved through liberal use of caramel colour rather than barrel char. As for the liquid itself, it's a blend of light corn base and some rich rye and malted barley flavouring whiskies. 

Like the other Gibson's whiskies, this is a perfectly solid dram. Unlike its younger and older brothers, Bold is targeted at a specific mixed drink, and perhaps sacrifices some balance in order to achieve that profile. It remains, however, an enjoyable and easy sipper in its own right, and at an attractive price point to boot. 

Gibson's Finest Bold

46% alc./vol.

$34 at LCBO (750mL)

The nose begins with suggestions of cola; vanilla, brown sugar, some orange even. A rich molasses and hints of new oak take over with some maple sweetness too.

On the palate, the higher strength is evident in an oaky, intensely rich rye that rises from a spiced rum-like sweetness. The sweet component of this palate is a good echo of the nose; some orange, some sugar, lots of vanilla, and more cola flavour. The rye is not overpoweingly spicy but relentlessly drives forward the sweeter flavours with its rich, peppery, oaky force.

The finish is medium length and straightforward, with warming rye and pronounced bitter citrus.

After writing this, I looked at the reviews on some other blogs and was surprised to see that they were all extremely similar. What I tasted quite closely agrees with multiple other bloggers and even the official description from Gibson's. Rarely do multiple tasters agree on the description and almost never with what the marketing team provide, but this is the rare exception. That, and the fact the taste profile would seem to work well with a cola mix, suggests the blending here is absolutely spot on. In short, this whisky achieves exactly what its creators set out to do. 

Gibson's Finest Bold is a sipper with a luscious, oaky rye heart surrounded by a bottle of Coke. I like to taste this alongside Pike Creek 10 year, which is finished in rum casks. It's a great taste analogue. Whether or not you choose to mix it, it's a big and finely balanced dram at a terrific price. It's not the most complex whisky on the market, and that colour is still quite aggresive, but from the first taste it's evident this is a distinctive, high-quality bottling that would do Mr. Gibson proud.

Heatseeker Score: 86

Category Score: 94              

Characteristic: Sweet and Rich

Please also enjoy our review of Gibson's Finest Rare.

Forty Creek Barrel Select

Forty Creek holds a special place in the history of Canadian whisky. Founded in 1992, at a global low point for whisky, the plucky startup had to take on the big Canadian players and the crushing LCBO monopoly without any support from today's craft spirits industry. Being located on the Niagara Peninsula, the distillery originally focused on grape spirits. Kittling Ridge, as it was exclusively known then, undertook a rebranding and pivoted to whisky, and the rest became history. Forty Creek can rightly claim to be something of a pioneer in small-batch whisky not only in Canada but in the world. 

Today, the distillery is owned by Campari, largely as a North American production facility for global spirits brands. Led by founder John Hall and blender Bill Ashburn, a range of whiskies from everyday to rare releases have come from Forty Creek in recent years earning them the plaudits they well deserve. They produce a number of non-whisky spirits including Kingsgate fortified wines; a fabulously affordable sweet sipper.

Within the whisky community, well-circulated speculation that much of Forty Creek's whisky is created at Windsor's Hiram Walker Distillery persists. Regardless, this isn't something to be ashamed of nor is it a black mark against Forty Creek. With Canadian whisky, the emphasis is so heavily on single-grain aging and then blending; the creative work is certainly done in Niagara even if the distilling is done in Windsor. More power to them if they're sourcing distillate and aging it themselves, much of the best world whisky is sourced from one distillery or another. 

This bottling is the standard, entry-level Forty Creek found all over Canada and abroad. It's a solid baseline Eastern Canadian rye (by which I mean it features a healthy dose of base corn whisky). The corn is blended with rye and also barley for complexity. Most of the whisky in here is aged 6-10 years and sherry cask finished. Pretty good for a sub-$30 whisky, and evidence that rye is still laughably underpriced in the whisky world. This is not a bottle that will blow anyone away but is perfectly solid for the price point and extremely versatile. Nothing wrong with that!

Forty Creek Barrel Select

40% ABV

$27.75 at the LCBO

The nose carries some dusty rye and a healthy dose of vanilla-y American oak. Quite a few subtle fruit and floral notes there as well - one conjures the vineyards that surround this distillery. 

On the palate, the oaky notes are strong. It's a vanilla forward taste, with plenty of toasted barrel influence. The sweetness betrays the double-distilled corn that forms the base here, before the rye comes through late. Not a tonne of rye on the palate, but it's in there, suspended between the corn and some subtle malty notes. Sweetness is the name of the game here.  A viscous sherry sweetness of dark fruit and marzipan comes through in hints, leading into the straightforward finish. 

More vanillin and oak come through on the finish, with a little rye spice. Short and with a touch of bitterness, the finish doesn't verge far from what came on the palate. Pleasant dusty rye lingers a little, with some maple sweetness.

In all, it's a fairly simple, sweet, oaky whisky. It's a little above what you'd expect at the price and is perfectly pleasant for a sip and great as a blender. Certainly one of the finer sub-$30 whiskies out there and from a trailblazing distillery no less. A great alternative to one of the mainstream entry-level ryes, and certainly a more interesting bottle to break out for casual drinks with friends.

Heatseeker Score: 82

Category Score: 88

Characteristic: Sweet and Oaky

Please also enjoy our review of Forty Creek's Double Barrel Reserve here.