Crown Royal Black

Crown Royal's popularity seemingly knows no bounds, especially in North America. You'll be hard-pressed to find a back bar anywhere, from fine steakhouse to neighbourhood Chinese takeaway, that doesn't feature the distinctive bottle.

But as tastes have changed, the smooth and sweet whisky in the famous purple bag has been slowly losing market share. It now lines up next to increasingly premium releases but it was back in 2010 when the first big nod to flavour emerged for Manitoba's most famous export. 

Crown Royal Black, though far from a premium whisky, was designed to target the loud, oaky flavours of American rye and many bourbons. Like these American whiskies aged, by law, in charred new American oak casks, Crown Black is aged mainly in barrels with heavy char. It is also bottled at a meaningfully elevated 45%. 

These factors combine to bring what the label calls 'robust and full bodied' flavours. That description is apt; this bottle packs in as much flavour as its famous sibling Northern Harvest, if not more. It all comes at a price not much higher than the standard Crown bottling, which represents tremendous value for the amount of flavour and elevated strength. It will surely divide opinion, as whisky this big must necessarily do, but it promises a full-on experience for any drinker.

Crown Royal Black

45% alc./vol.

$35 at LCBO 

On the nose, sweet notes take the lead with vanilla, toffee, and lots of molasses-like cola. But there is plenty of spice too, with a crackling black pepper that rides above a dry hay note.

The palate continues with the big sweet and spicy profile, carried on a rich, oily body. There is immediately brittle, hot rye spice with an undercurrent of cola as well as a creamy butterscotch that is complimented well by the full mouthfeel. The flavours are integrated and it remains sippable, in spite of the heat.

On the finish, things turn up in a big way! White hot rye first punches and then barehandedly slaps you across the face in lavalike waves. That second wave is bone-dry, like licking a burning barrel. An absolute scorcher, the Prairie rye comes across like a much more ornery Alberta Springs 10 year. As the blaze calms down a little, sweet dried apple moves in to quell the fire, though warmth lingers on and on. As things fade, though, an unfortunate overripe grapefruit bitterness builds. That rancio note is a distraction that can only be corrected by another fiery sip.

Wow, lots to unpack after a taste of this. By design, the flavours are untamed; they eventually blow past the creamy body and explode into a supernova of heat on the finish. Although the flavours are big from top to bottom, the rye burst on the finish will divide drinkers more than any other aspect. 

If you particularly enjoy spicy rye, like me, you'll find as much as you can handle and then some. If you're looking for subtlety,  this was never the whisky for you. I quite enjoy the rye explosion, personally, and think it's right on target for this blend. But where the finish will let just about everyone down is the lingering bitter offnote that closes out. If Crown Royal could find a way to blend that out, this rye could be in Northern Harvest territory as one of the greats. 

Still, I'm very pleased with this purchase. The price point is simply fantastic for the elevated abv and unchained flavour. If you like the sweet, creamy aspect of Crown Royal but want something more interesting, Black dials up the flavour to 110 without sacrificing the mouthfeel. For American rye and bourbon drinkers drawn to the loud flavours of charred new oak, this is the Crown for you - and at a fraction of the cost of many American whiskies.

In sum, this bottle won't be everyone's favourite, but it will replace the purple bag as the go-to for millions who now crave bigger flavour. The offnote brings down the score but this is still a most intriguing, exciting, explosive whisky that will be a staple on my bar.

Score: 84

Category Score: 92

Characteristic: Spicy

Forty Creek Resolve

Melissa Bernais is back with another guest review of a 2020 Forty Creek limited release. A fellow Niagara College distilling grad and experienced Forty Creek-er, she also contributed a review of Three Grain. I haven't tried either of these bottles yet (tragically), so no scores for now but I'll be sure to add them when I finally get my hands on some.

---

Tasting Resolve alongside Three Grain, the line from then to now is impossible to miss! Fruit forward, lush spice...it's all here, but is also absolutely a unique thing unto itself.

Resolve is the 14th annual limited edition release for Forty Creek, and the final installment in Master Distiller Bill Ashburn's triptych exploring the effects of barrel finishes. Unity (2018) was finished with mocha-forward staves, Victory (2019) showcased the effects of vanilla-toned oak, while Resolve absolutely doubles down on spice. Like Unity and Victory, Resolve also includes a small measure of aged starboard wine - a fortified red, similar to port - that Bill made back in 1999, tying the three bottles together in an unmistakable way. 

Hands down, this bottle is my fav Forty Creek limited release (sorry, Confederation Oak!). While showcasing spice, the baking spice and pepper-heat are in no way overwhelming - they're complex and assertive, showcased and tempered by sweet, lush elements that make this bottle intensely sippable. I seriously would've sold a butt tonne of this to anyone walking through the door - and it's probably better that I'm not there anymore, because this is where all my tip money would go!

Forty Creek Resolve

43% alc./vol.

$80 at LCBO

Nose: Barley and barley.  Did I say barley? There's a lot of sweet cereal on that first sniff. It's quickly followed by a tonne of gorgeous, complex notes: Raisin and ripe plum. Vanilla, a little bit of cocoa, and caramelized sugar. Nutmeg and cinnamon. And more delightfully, a complex undernote of barrel char. 

Palate: Following its nose, the first expression here is a lush sweet cereal grain, followed quickly by peppery heat and baking spices. A deep, red wine lives in the heart of this sip, bringing lovely round, jammy notes. Vanilla asserts itself, with a nice little explosion of cinnamon, and a hot, complex spiciness that lingers, and swings back to say HELLO! again, just so you don't forget it (how could you, really, though?)

Yep, these two bottles. They're very, very good. You need them. Trust.

Characteristic: Spicy and Fruity

Man, I need to try this one! -Robbie

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

The Wild North

For perhaps the first time, this blog gets to blaze a trail as the first to review a new release. Which is great, but also means your humble correspondent must do all the digging on his own. No matter, there's a glass of whisky to help with that. 

That whisky, it turns out, is a bottle that's recently hit Québec shelves called The Wild North. Suffused with lumberjack iconography and an attractive bottle, this prominently-labelled rye carries an age statement of 5 years. The description on the back states that the liquid is actually a blend of 5 and 7 year whiskies. An educated guess is that the whiskies are corn - probably from Valleyfield Distillery - and rye. The label mentions these whiskies are aged onsite in "our own cellars."

Determining where exactly these cellars are requires a little digging and, as is usual with whisky, more educated guesstimations. If I find out more information, I'll be sure to update the review, but for now, let's trace back the origins of The Wild North through its distributor to its producer. According to the SAQ website, Wild North is produced by Mondia Alliance, which actually doesn't exist as a brand anymore. That's because, as part of a merger, it is now called Station 22.  Who, it turns out, are behind some well known labels including Spicebox spiced whiskies and the iconic Sortilège whisky liqueurs. 

Right then. We can assume Wild North is aged alongside the component whiskies in those blended products. Where exactly is it distilled and in which barrels is it aged? I have a pretty good guess based on taste but I'll have to get back to you on that. 

Either way, this whisky was released in Québec's SAQ a couple weeks ago, in mid-August. So as possibly the first Ontarian get his hands on this bottle, I'm keen to pour myself a dram or two and see what comes out.

The Wild North Rye 5 Years Old

43% alc./vol.

$39 at SAQ

The nose brings fruit and sweetness quite prominently. Actually, this reminds a lot of another Montréal product, Seagram's VO Gold. There's a citrus-y florality and linalool (Fruit Loops), with the overall sweet profile of corn whisky distillate. There's also a musty note that comes through early on. 

The palate brings much of the sweetness with a pronounced citrus character. Some butterscotch continues the dessert whisky taste until it's met by a rising, warm rye. Throughout, a full mouthfeel is the result of the elevated bottling strength. That 43% also gives a warming heft which nicely offsets the light citrus notes.

The finish is where the rye component really comes into its own. The whisky turns warming here, with white pepper and bitter grapefruit pith. There is some drying and oak, and the effect is sort of like Tabasco sauce. But it all wraps up on lingering maple.

Well, I was intrigued by the lumberjack branding and the reasonable midrange price point (as well as the forbidden fruit of a bottle you can't get in Ontario). And I wasn't disappointed, with a solid rye that runs to sweet and then spicy. It initially follows VO Gold, but takes the turn toward spice into the finish, and brings the warming 43% body. 

A solid all-rounder, let's say, and a whisky that should do quite well with consumers and mixologists. Simplistic but enjoyable, the sweet moves easily into the spicy and on a wintry Montréal day, one dram could quickly move into a lengthy session. I'm glad I find myself with a bottle of this and would certainly keep one on hand as a crowdpleasing warmer.

Heatseeker Score: 85

Category Score: 88

Characteristic: Sweet and Warming

Rangeland

Albertans have it good when it comes to drinks in this country. Unencumbered from the repressive government sales structures that somehow still exist in the East, and with an abundant grain crop, they enjoy terrific whisky at value that is unfathomably good for those of us elsewhere in Canada. Cheap but enjoyable bottles populate the bottom shelves of the province's many bottle shops, perfect for sipping, mixing, or shooting cowboy-style. 

Rangeland Rye, from Highwood Distillery, is a definite cowboy whisky. It is produced as an own label brand for Alcanna-owned bottle shops and comes in as an entry level whisky in a plastic bottle. But beside the Prairie branding, Rangeland is an Albertan whisky through and through.

Highwood, who also produce bargain favourite Centennial, are unique as one of the only distilleries in the world who primarily use wheat as their base distillate. If rye is known for spiciness, wheat is known to brig a soft, supple mouthfeel. On top of this gentle wheaten base, a healthy dollop of blistering Prairie rye heats things up, and there may also be some corn distillate as well for sweetness. It is aged, presumably for the legal three years, in charred American oak barrels, presumably ex-Bourbon. 

Rangeland is a bargain whisky and though it won't in any global awards, it is an absolute mouthful of Alberta, and a delightful shooter or mixer. With ginger ale, with coffee, or straight out of a cowboy boot, this is the everyman's Prairie rye and a Stampede staple, even for city slickers.

*Photo courtesy drizly.com

Rangeland Rye Whisky

40% alc./vol.

$20 at Liquor Depot

The nose presents an initial caramel and vanilla sweet profile along with subtle dry oak. There's a slight herbaceousness as classic, dusty Alberta rye heats up. 

On the palate, this is definitely a rye spirit with heat from the get-go. White pepper leads but is followed by some straight alcohol fire. This is offset somewhat by bitter citrus and a hint of butterscotch. Although the body is thin, the mouthfeel benefits from the supple wheat base, which softens the sharpest notes of this young rye. Wood and even a subtle leathery note come through late, beside the bitter grapefruit rind and a touch of sweet vanilla.

The finish is short but manages to be warming without too much burn. The term might be smooth. There is some oak, a little rye grain, and some bitterness. Like the nose and palate, the finish is simplistic but enjoyable.

This whisky, ideally as a shooter or mixer, is not only great value but a perfectly enjoyable bottle. It's an unpretentious and accessible rye to have on hand at home, or on the ranch as the case may be. This would be lovely with some Canada Dry for a sweet-spice combination that is sure to please. This is yet another Albertan entry level offering that will pleasantly surprised any drinker by being plainly enjoyable. 

And at $20 and change, it makes for an affordable addition to your Calgary Stampede, line dancing confidence, or cattle wrangling. With this bottle on hand, you'll have money left over for your white hat and boots.

Heatseeker Score: 82

Category Score: 92

Characteristic: Spicy

^A Highwood Barrel on display at the Calgary Stampede

J.P. Wiser's Triple Barrel Rye

One cannot discuss Canadian spirits without looking to Canada's most versatile producer, by far; Windsor's Hiram Walker Distillery. More than just whisky, this truly massive distillery churns out millions upon millions of bottles every year ranging from brown to clear to all kinds of coloured liqueurs. There are few bottle shops on earth that don't sell something which passed through a still, warehouse, or bottling line in this mild corner of Southwestern Ontario. 

As a Canadian distillery, though, the public focus is invariably on the whisky they make here, and they make a lot of it too. Whiskies from Canadian Club, Gibson's Finest, and other brands are made here, but today the distillery is first and foremost the home of J.P. Wiser's wide portfolio of whisky.

Founded in 1857, Wiser's can make the claim to be Canada's oldest extant whisky brand, beating out Canadian Club by one year! As with the namesake of the distillery, John Philip Wiser was an American who crossed into what would become Canada to distill whisky. He started in Prescott, Ontario and grew the distillery into a massive produced at home and for export. As Wiser's distillery grew, they became trailblazers in offering whisky for sale by the bottle at a time when whole-cask sales were common. In time, the distillery would be incorporated into Canadian spirits company Corby and, along with Gooderham and Worts, moved production to Windsor. 

 

From entry level bottlings like Special Blend and Deluxe up to increasingly audacious efforts (a 23 year old blend at cask strength!), this age old brand has repositioned itself at the forefront of innovation in the country. Frequent one-off and regional releases tend to garner critical praise as the brand has wholeheartedly embraced the new direction of the whisky market. Much of this is due to the work of Master Blender, Dr. Don Livermore, who has taken on a public role as ambassador not only for his distillery but for Canadian whisky in general. 

Toward the value end of the Wiser's lineup, Triple Barrel Rye is a response to ballooning demand for rye-forward whisky. Variations of this bottling exist for Europe, Australia, and the US, but here at home this is a blend of pot- and column-distilled rye. The former highlights the spicy side of rye with the latter more grain-forward. The namesake three barrels are new American oak with a relatively light char, first fill ex-Bourbon casks (meaning they were used once in Kentucky before being sent to Canada), and older multiuse barrels from amongst the millions on hand. The blend is bottled at the slightly elevated 43.4% and comes in a thoughtfully ergonomic bottle perfect for gripping and pouring. It's an entry level big rye and is a terrific jumping off point for those looking to explore the grain.

J.P. Wiser's Triple Barrel Rye 

(Canadian edition)

43.4% alc./vol.

$33 at LCBO

The nose is oaky with pronounced sweet prune. Grainy rye, biscuit notes, and florality are also in there. There's a warm spiciness and some honey to round out the luscious bouquet.

On the palate, there is initial manuka honey bringing floral sweetness and a warming, oaky rye spice undertone. That sweet honey note becomes delicately floral, suggesting rose petals. Beneath, the rye becomes sharper and hotter, graduating to a flash of white hot pepper. This is slightly tempered by well-integrated oak and it's subtle vanilla sweetness. It's all set against the florality and subtle honeydew and clove notes.

The finish is short but focused, with plenty of hot rye. Cinnamon and white pepper bring the heat, set against tannic oak that imparts almost a red wine richness. The finish fades quickly but has already brought plenty of heat.

All in all, Triple Barrel is a straightforward, but very well balanced whisky that doesn't shy away from big rye flavours. It has that raw electricity that only rye can give, but it's so nicely integrated. It would be my go-to for rye cocktails, with its dusty heat and subtle sweetness. As a sipper, this will please those who enjoy their rye on the hot side, like Alberta Springs 10 year.

Compared to that bottle, Triple Barrel is more floral but less tart. The two compare quite nicely; I'd definitely recommend tasting them side by side. Compared to Canadian Club 100% Rye, Triple Barrel has less of a bitter citrus note. The sweetness here is more subtly fruity and floral, rather than the butterscotch of the CC. 

This is a very nice, budget friendly, rye-forward bottling from J.P. Wiser's. It's a go-to for cocktailing but also an enjoyable sipper for those who like their rye sharp and hot. Not terribly complex, but balanced and focused, this is a great budget bottle that I'd keep on hand any time.

Heatseeker Score: 85

Category Score: 88

Characteristic: Spicy and Floral

^ Customised transport trucks bring barrels to the Walkerville bottling facility from the warehouses in the suburb of Pike Creek, and back again.

Crown Royal Northern Harvest

As with the iconic purple-bagged Crown Royal De Luxe, no Canadian whisky discussion can ignore Crown's Northern Harvest Rye bottling. Or at least not since 2016, when it was awarded World Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, the foremost authority on whisky rankings. Enthusiasts were surprised, to say the least, that a $30 whisky from Canada beat out ancient single malts. In Scotland, there were howls of outrage that Mr. Murray had betrayed his nation and whisky fans worldwide greeted the decision with anything from excitement to indignation. 

Still, Northern Harvest flew off every shelf across Canada and bottles were listed for resale on the international secondary market for tens of thousands of dollars. Now, there's something to be said, and that's the reality that the first release which Jim Murray tried is not the same as subsequent releases in which Crown Royal scrambled to meet unlimited demand. Though this bottle didn't start the trend toward big, rye-forward Canadian whisky, it certainly kicked it into high gear.

The bottle now widely available is 90% rye and retails Canada-wide for under $40. Is this bottling the best whisky in the world? Probably not. But is it the best whisky in the world under $40? That's quite possible. 

Since Northern Harvest won its 2016 award, the trend toward big rye-forward whisky has only picked up steam, and there are now plenty of options at this price point and above. Some will point to Lot 40 as being the superior affordable big rye, but Northern Harvest continues to win legions of fans and global awards alike. Whether or not it's the best whisky on Earth, it's absolutely worth picking up and enjoying, so that every rye fan can judge for themself. 

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

40% alc./vol.

$36 at LCBO

On the nose, Northern Harvest doesn't open with the spice notes you might expect from such a prominent rye. Instead, dark stone fruit, sweet butterscotch, pear, and even bright citrus. The rye comes in a little later as a dry, sharp heat and the suggestion of dill, but it isn't the dominant note by any stretch. 

The palate is quite buttery and viscous. Strong butterscotch flavours emerge first before the awaited rye explodes in a flash of heat. I don't find this burst of rye to be as complex as in Alberta Springs, for example, it's mostly just hot at first. It's quite a jarring start to a tasting but Northern Harvest soon settles in and rewards our patience. 

Compelling ginger and baking spices lead the reinvention of this whisky as a balanced, complex dram. The heat quickly dims to a background glow and the butterscotch falls into balance as a nice undertone to vanilla and oak. The now-restrained spice is complimented by nutmeg, clove, black liquorice, and dried orange - it's Christmas!  

The heat picks up again on the finish. Mostly that's in the form of cinnamon but there is a slight, off-putting alcohol burn. Very slight though. The oak comes to the fore alongside dry grain character, which finally brings the dusty, dry Prairie character you might expect throughout. A touch of bitter citrus rind joins in but the finish is mostly a drying, hot, and long one, and it leaves you wanting another sip.

So, is this the best whisky in the world? Probably not. It's not even the best whisky in Canada. But it's easily one of the best whiskies in the world under $40. And it's certainly one of the biggest, most intense drams you can find. If you can get past the challenging first sip, you're in for a rewarding rye bursting with warmth and midwinter flavour. 

So it may not be the best in the world, but it is fantastic whisky. Most people think 'smooth' when they think Crown, which makes sense. This bottle, though, is the exact opposite; there's none of Crown's devotion to smoothness, only to the intensity of flavour readily on display. This is a demanding and rewarding whisky and for less than $40, I dont know of any bottle packing in quite so much. For the drinker looking to awaken their tastebuds, this is your whisky. Such big, brash flavours usually only come to those who shell out for cask strength bottlings, certainly not value-priced bottles like this one.

If Crown Royal decided one day to release an older Northern Harvest with more time to smooth out the youthful brashness then look out world, you may have found the real best in show. But until then, this is the affordable whisky that delivers massive flavour to those ready for it.

Heatseeker Score: 87

Category Score: 93

Characteristic: Warming

Alberta Premium Cask Strength

- UPDATE: This bottle was named best in the world in Jim Murray's influential 2020 Whisky Bible. How fantastic to see Alberta Distillers getting the credit they've long deserved, but good luck finding a bottle of this for $65 now! -

Calgary's Alberta Distillers should be famous amongst whisky enthusiasts as the world's foremost distiller of rye. The grain, though it flourishes in Canada, is generally considered the most difficult and expensive to work with. It's strong husk and low starch content make rye hardy enough for the worst weather, but also increase the amount of doing needed to mash and ferment it. It frequently gums up equipment and it's yields are quite low relative to other whisky grains. Of course, what it lacks in efficiency it more than makes up for by packing the most substantial flavour of any grain.

Because of the relative difficulty of working with it, Alberta Distillers are doubly deserving the praise their whiskies often get. However, because a great deal of their best distillate is shipped to the US to be bottled by independent American brands, the credit often passes Alberta by. This humble approach has benefitted consumers, though, as we pay a pittance when we pick up bottles of whisky worth way more than they retail for. 

Finally, though, we are seeing some of Alberta Distillers' best whisky bottled with their own name on the package. The much-loved Alberta Premium has benefitted from premium brand extensions in the past (the Dark Horse bottling and some limited well-aged releases) but today's most coveted bottle joins the 'cask strength' trend that's worked it's way over from Scotland. 

Cask strength bottling is a simple concept that, like everything in whisky, can't actually be described without great complexity. In short, cask strength means the whisky is bottled without any dilution; it is bottled at the strength it comes out of the barrel at. As with age statements, though, this doesn't actually tell you everything. There's no law about which exact barrel is referred to, whether it's the barrel it spent years in, a finishing barrel, or a marrying vat. Really, we don't know these things, but we do know cask strength means this whisky is substantially stronger than most bottlings.

In this case, we get whisky presented at a whopping 65.1% , a great deal more potent than the standard 40% Alberta Premium. This means the same Alberta Premium flavours are massively amped up, without any dilution. But it can also be difficult to discern some of those flavours in the face of so much hot alcohol. For that reason, many choose to add water to cask strength whisky, but depending on the water used, the flavours can change in the glass. Reverse osmosis or distilled water would be the most "correct" to preserve flavours without adding minerals, but the most fun thing is to try and pair the whisky to water from its local area. Personally, I enjoy cask strength rye at cask strength, with no added water. Perhaps it's a mix of pain and pleasure, but so is much of drinking spirits. 

At this high strength and limited availability, this bottle is significantly more expensive than its standard Alberta Premium brother. Still, it's about the best deal on cask strength whisky anywhere, as you might expect from this distillery. Similarly potent bottlings from Scotland or Kentucky can easily run into the hundreds of dollars so at under $70, this is a real bargain. To pass savings on to us, the distillery packaged it in the standard Alberta Premium bottle, albeit presented in a cardboard box featuring tasting notes. It's a wollop of flavour that will only be appreciated by enthusiasts but wow, what a treat it is for us!

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye

65.1% alc./vol.

$65 at Co-Op World of Whisky in Calgary

First, a note of warning for those trying their first cask strength whisky: small sips! There's a lot of hot, hot alcohol here and this isn't a drink to quench your thirst. You've been warned!

Now, on the nose, the warmth rises up to greet with loads of oak, vanilla, and black pepper spice. The rich breezes seem almost to suck you in with their fullness.

Taking the first tentative sip, the first brief hit is maple sweetness for an instant before the heat begins to rise. Yeeeeooouuu that's a slap of hot rye! It's not just spice, though, like drinking hot sauce. It's an actual warming sensation on the tongue that almost takes your breath away for a moment. Now a new oak flavour profile comes in with lots of tannic influence, causing a drying sensation in the mouth. Here's some cinnamon coming in. Now the heat keeps building with a crashing wave of salt. The wave sweeps toward the back of the palate with blackberry, banana, and nutmeg. As the heat peaks, a new set of dill and caraway flavours arise along with fresh baked bread. A dollop of tobacco arrives late and, when combined with the heat, gives the feel of smoking a cigar.

The finish is, as is to be expected, lasts ages. It's still quite hot, but moreso puckeringly tannic. There's a rising bitter citrus and more caraway, all yielding eventually to some green apple sweetness, maple, oak, and grainy rye. And still lots more heat!

Well, basking in the lingering warm afterglow, it's time to try and decode the rollercoaster ride of this cask strength whisky. The heat is there, of course, but is perfectly complimented by the dusty, hot rye. It's complex heat rather than just ethanol like in most vodka. 

Like all cask strength whisky, there's tremendous potential for flavour and its all there. This whisky doesnt have any age statement and doesn't have the complexity of longer-aged drams, but it's not anything approaching simplistic. Like other cask strength whiskies, it demands respect. It must be sipped tentatively because it delivers its waves of flavour with tremendous force. Alberta ryes are rarely subtle even at 40% and here, even a half finger's pour can provide an hour's sipping. The enthusiast will enjoy the massive flavours but will also relish the opportunity to mentally deconstruct the experience of sipping, allowing for a healthy dose of amazement at how much flavour can exist in so little liquid.

The most notable aspect of this dram is its structure; the heat washes over the palate, growing as it marshals an orderly parade of sweet, salty, spicy, fruity, and doughy. Coupled with a great finish, this cask strength version of Alberta Premium is a world apart from its standard sibling. It shares the trademark extreme value of so many whiskies from this province, though, and is a fantastic choice for the rye lover looking to reach a new level of flavour altogether.

Heatseeker Score: 93

Category Score: 94

Characteristic: Spicy

We're reviewing five different ryes produced at Alberta Distillers as part of a series. We invite you to check out the other reviews and find your favourite.

Alberta Springs 10 Year

Canadian Club 100% Rye

Snake River Stampede 8 year
Alberta Premium (standard bottling)

Snake River Stampede

Calgary's Alberta Distillers has long shipped bulk quantities of single grain rye to the States to be bottled by high-end American brands. Most of the time, this top-class whisky ends up being something of an open secret; few of these American labels like to reveal that their beloved whiskies are actually imports. Those in the know, however, should gravitate to Alberta's signature dusty hot distillates. 

Snake River Stampede is one of a couple whiskies from the northwestern American states that highlight rodeo culture. The Pendleton brand comes to mind as perhaps the best known. This one is bottled by Oregon-based Indio Spirits but commemorates its namesake rodeo held in Idaho. (Of course, the biggest rodeo of them all, Calgary Stampede, takes place just a short gallop up the road from where this whisky is made!)

Snake River Stampede spends eight years in ex-bourbon American oak casks before being finished in sherry casks, imparting the sweetness found in this whisky. That sweetness is balanced with a dusty rye profile that is the signature of Alberta Distillers. After its time in the barrel, it goes to Oregon for bottling. Usually priced in the mid-$30 range in Canada, though something of a rare find, it's great value for a spicy sipper that goes down easy. This is definitely a staple of my home bar and a rye I'll pour for anyone looking to explore the style. In spite of its American label, this is a very good look at Albertan whisky.

Snake River Stampede 8 year old

40% alc. / vol.

Found for US$26 in California, 

~C$35-40 in Alberta

This smells like cowboy whisky! On the nose it's the dusty Alberta rye signature along with hot ginger spice. There's some ethanol too, but the more intriguing hot note is reminiscent of hot pickled onions (Hayward's anyone?) and perhaps sushi ginger. It's a savoury, spicy, slightly earthy backdrop to the hot prairie rye. Very intriguing. 

On the palate, it's a balance between the powder-dry rye and sweet caramel. The sweetness takes over with fairly simplistic maple-caramel and brown sugar. It's just shy of cloying, helped by the smouldering rye just underneath. The straightforward interplay is perhaps a little underwhelming after the complex heat from the nose but a building bitter citrus and white pepper heat fully redeem things heading into the finish 

The finish is medium-length but brings the bitter citrus and rye spice to the fore. The whisky leaves with an echo of the flaming rye and the burning desire for another sip. 

A standard 40% bottling strength and likely chill filtration may have stripped some complexity out of this whisky, but it's simplicity doesn't diminish the achievement of this bottling. It's a dram very easily taken neat as a sipper or shooter; its rye spice compliments its smooth profile, rather than being diluted to achieve an easier profile.

In this case, what's in the bottle matches the label and those who like Alberta's powder-dry rye spice have found an easy sipper at a solid price. This is a bottle I always seek out when in Alberta and a definite recommendation for rye lovers. 

Heatseeker Score: 87

Category Score: 87

Characteristic: Spicy

We're reviewing five different ryes produced at Alberta Distillers as part of a series. We invite you to check out the other reviews and find your favourite.

Alberta Springs 10 Year

Canadian Club 100% Rye

Alberta Premium (standard bottling)
Alberta Premium Cask Strength

Canadian Club Chairman's Select (2016)

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.

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.

 Fast forward to the mid-2010's, when the rye boom hit. Canadian Club, now owned by Beam Suntory, needed to source massive stocks of single grain rye whisky and at the time, they couldn't find enough in Ontario. Conveniently, Beam Suntory also own Alberta Distillers in Calgary, renowned as the world's foremost rye grain distillery. To meet the demand for spicy rye whiskies, CC introduced Chairman's Select as a single grain offering in line with their value approach using whisky sourced from Alberta.

A name change followed with 'Chairman's Select' dropped so that now it's known simply as Canadian Club 100% Rye; straight to the point. It competes alongside numerous rye-heavy value offerings from Alberta Distillers and remains a key extension of the Canadian Club brand, even as CC ventures into premium long-aged bottlings (approaching fifty years now!). CC 100% Rye is a very good cocktail base but is also widely enjoyed as an easily-sipped introduction to the world of single rye whisky.

Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye

40% alc./vol.

$30 at LCBO

^The current design makes a few tweaks to the original Chairman's Select label.

On the nose, lots of oak and butterscotch with the expected dusty rye spice. More vanilla-forward than similar Alberta Distillers rye, and keeping more in line with Canadian Club blends. There's a subtle sour citrusy note that keeps the rye spice restrained.

Taking a sip, the characteristic Alberta rye of dry, dusty, white pepper is there, but not as aggresively as in their other bottlings. There's quite a bit of maple but the most pronounced flavour here is mixed citrus fruit. Bitter orange carries the middles along with plenty of oak. A distinctive marzipan flavour also comes in to balance the bitterness and spice, leading to a balanced trifecta of spice, sweetness, and bitterness. There's a brief but quite nice hit of drying, warming tannins at the tail end. 

The finish is short but returns to the hot cinnamon spice of the rye. The heat is matched by some maple before yielding to pronounced bitter citrus. Short and light but beckoning another sip.

Chairman's Select, or CC 100% Rye as it's become known, is a solid entry-level single rye. It's tailor-made for those who want proper rye spice but without any face melting heat. For me, I find this whisky's similarly affordable cousin Alberta Springs offers more complexity and unabashed rye heat, but this is a lighter alternative that's still definitely single rye. It's just a bit thin for me when I compare it to some other bottles, but others will surely appreciate its balance between rye heat and CC smoothness. This is definitely the bottle for someone just getting into rye but is also perfect as a casual sipper or with some ginger ale.

It's very widely available in Canada and also found fairly easily in a growing number of international markets. I recommend tasting this alongside Crown Royal Northern Harvest to see which of these mid-decade trendsetters you prefer. 

Overall, this is a rock-solid whisky that should be an easy staple on any bar. It's ideal for mixing or sipping and was one of the first big name releases of last decade's rye renaissance. It achieves great balance between East and West as a Canadian whisky, with both fiery rye and restrained sweetness and is unlikely to find many detractors. Another winner from Alberta Distillers that carries the iconic Canadian Club label.

Heatseeker Score: 85

Category Score: 89

Characteristic: Spicy

We're reviewing five different ryes produced at Alberta Distillers as part of a series. We invite you to check out the other reviews and find your favourite.

Alberta Springs 10 year

Snake River Stampede 8 Year

Alberta Premium (standard bottling)
Alberta Premium Cask Strength

And please enjoy our reviews of Canadian Club 1858 and Classic 12 Year.

Alberta Springs

Alberta Distillers, in Calgary, produce some of the absolute most and least affordable whiskies in North America. Specialising in the difficult rye grain production process, whisky made here has gone to feature in Canadian staple value brands just as often as super premium American brands.

Though they've been frequently criticised for obscuring it, a good deal of Whistlepig's popular 'Vermont farm whiskies' are bottlings of Alberta rye. Other expensive and awarded American rye whiskey (with a conspicuous e) is actually produced here, such as Masterson's 10 year old.

The Alberta Springs bottling is another ten year bottling from this distillery, probably coming from casks that spent the decade next to those used by Masterson's, Whistlepig, and others. However, like it's cousin Alberta Premium, Alberta Springs remains one of the most affordable bottles available domestically. Like Highwood's Centennial, those who know how good this whisky is must feel almost guilty about how affordable it is. Its just another example of an extremely enjoyable Alberta whisky being sold domestically for peanuts.

To see it on the shelf, it can be easy to pass by what may seem another cheap, mixing whisky. That would be a huge mistake, however, as Alberta Springs is a complex, spicy rye that could easily be sold for three times as much with a different label. 

Originally, this bottling was single rye, like most of what comes out of this distillery, but there has since been small additions of corn, which is more efficient to distill, in order to keep costs down. Still, the profile is all Alberta rye, full of hot, fresh spice.  

This is unabashedly rye for rye lovers and a pure taste of the Alberta distillery style. It demands to be sipped, not just because of its overwhelming heat but because of its ten years of complexity. 

Alberta Springs Aged 10 Years

40% alc./vol.

$20-$27 across Western Canada

Lots of oak on the nose, dusty and hot in the Alberta Distillers style. There's a hint of butterscotch to temper this just a bit. Clove, cardamon, and some green apple round out the typical rye forward, western aromas. A really nice, complex nose that makes you immediately crave a sip.

On the palate, more of the same with dry, spicy rye leading throughout. Caramel and brown sugar sweetness is tempered by the blistering heat of the rye. That comes as cinnamon and acrolein - think mustard powder and a dollop of ginger. It's also present as super tart red currant, which makes your mouth water and contributes to the moreishness of this dram. There are some vegetal and earthy notes late, though the relative lightness of the palate means these are fleeting. 

The finish sweeps in with a flash of tannic, drying rye spice. It's like licking the inside of a well-charred barrel. There's a touch of the saccharine corn influence but it's very much about the rye here. Dusty and hot, and with a medium length, it eventually yields to just the slightest caramel sweetness, ginger, slight bitter lemon, and a vegetal note I'd describe as cucumber. Still, that dryness is leaving me desperately wanting another sip. 

Wow, all this in a bottom-shelf bottle?! Even among the greatly underpriced whiskies from this distillery, Alberta Springs is an absolute steal. All that seems to separate this whisky from the Whistlepigs and Masterson's of the world is a richer mouthfeel that allows the flavours in those bittles to shine a bit more. Well, that and a couple hundred dollars (and a healthy dose of misleading advertising, in Whistlepig's case).

For those who like a sweet or gentle whisky, stay away. Probably best avoid Alberta Distillers alltogether, but for lovers of the rye grain in its dusty, spicy form, no other distillery has yet come close. The combination of the dryness of the Calgary climate, the stills, the cask selection, and the blending skill evident lead to a house style that many have fallen for head over heals, even if they aren't aware they're drinking Alberta product. Bone-dry and flaming hot, this whisky packs ten years of complexity into an absurdly cheap bottle. 

If the price of this bottle was doubled, it would still be good value, but as it stands, no other bottle can touch this. More aggresively rye-forward than many of its peers, this is a gem of a sipper disguised as a bottom shelf mixer. Pair it with aged cheese, sip it slowly, or just throw it in with ginger ale because for the price, you might as well. A true Alberta rye and a true steal at the bottle shop, this is a whisky you can't afford to ignore. 

Heatseeker Score: 87

Category Score: 96

Characteristic: Spicy

We're reviewing five different ryes produced at Alberta Distillers as part of a series. We invite you to check out the reviews and find your favourite.

Canadian Club 100% Rye

Snake River Stampede 8 year

Alberta Premium (standard bottling)
Alberta Premium Cask Strength