Canadian Club 100% Rye

I'm still looking for good, affordable, available whiskey and it's hard to get more affordable than this. Canadian Club's 100% rye is distilled at Alberta Distillers (the distillery that makes most of the Canadian rye available in the US - Whistlepig, Masterson's, Jefferson's, Alberta Premium Dark Batch, etc.). This one comes from the actual owner of the distillery: Beam Suntory, and I picked it up for a whopping $13.

Canadian Club 100% Rye, 40% abv ($13)

The nose is botanical with lots of herbal notes and some honey sweetness. The palate is very light with some black tea, a very slight mint note and pepper leading into a peppery finish.  Overall it's quite bland.

This is a very light and soft compared to the bold mint and pickle notes in the American bottlings of Alberta rye. My guess would be that this is a blend. (You can have a 100% rye blend because Canadian blends combine base whiskies distilled to a very high proof with lower proof, more flavorful whiskeys). This could even be one of those base whiskeys. There's just not much to it. The saving grace is that I'm only out $13, as opposed to the $85 I frittered away on the WhistlePig Farmstock.

Vermont Whiskey at Last: WhistlePig Farmstock Rye

Seven years or so after coming onto the market, WhistlePig finally has made some of their own whiskey. Since its founding, most of WhistlePig's product has been Canadian rye made at Alberta Distillers, though they have also bottled some MGP rye from Indiana. Farmstock, their newest product, includes both of these but also some Vermont rye, presumably made at their own farm distillery.

WhistlePig's Farmstock whiskey is made up of 49% five year old Alberta rye, 31% 12 year old MGP rye and 20% one year old Vermont rye (and kudos to WhistlePig for disclosing all of this right on the label).

WhistlePig Farmstock Rye, Crop 001, 43% abv ($85)

The nose is typical WhistlePig and very nice, spicy with some pickle juice notes. The palate starts with some spice but very quickly turns bitter with raw wood notes which lead to a bitter finish.

This stuff is pretty bad. The nose has some nice qualities but the palate is flat and bitter like many craft whiskeys.  If you are going to drink it, give it lots of air, which takes off some of the rougher edges.

Dear WhistlePig, if this is what your Vermont distillate tastes like, please go back to sourcing your whiskey.

Sincerely,

Sku

Only in Canada: Gibson's Finest Rare & Alberta Premium Dark Horse

While the US gets more Canadian Whiskey than it used to, there are tons of well respected Canadians that still never make it down south.  Today, I will review two Canadian blends that are only available in Canada (though one is now in the US under a different name).

Gibson's Finest Rare, 18 yo, 40% abv ($65 Canadian)

A former American brand that moved north during prohibition, Gibson's is currently owned by William Grant and distilled at Hiram Walker. The older Gibson's expressions, like this one, were distilled at an old Schenley distillery in Quebec.

The nose is very light with green grapes and rubbing alcohol. On the palate, it is quite light and sweet with strong alcohol notes. The finish is short and a bit medicinal with a touch of anise. Yuck!  It's light and alcoholy and just unpleasant.  Too bad, as I had heard a lot of good things about it and was really looking forward to trying it.


Alberta Premium Dark Horse, 45% abv ($30 Canadian)

Beam Suntory's Alberta Distillers is one of the most well regarded distilleries in Canada.  Aside from being responsible for most of the Canadian straight rye that makes it to the US (WhistlePig, Masterson's, Jefferson's, etc.), they make a Canada-only line of blended whiskeys under the Alberta Premium label.

Dark Horse is a blend of a 12 year old high proof rye (i.e., the base whiskey), a six year old lower proof rye (the flavor whiskey), 8% bourbon (Old Grand-Dad) and a small measure of sherry. While Dark Horse is not available in the US, Beam recently introduced a whiskey called Alberta Rye Dark Batch to the US market which appears to be the same stuff.

The nose is fruity, and the palate, at first taste, is light and fruity. Light wine notes emerge in the middle and then a strong grain whiskey profile dominates the later palate and finish. It's not terrible, but very grainy; more of a light horse, if you ask me.


I have to say, every time I taste one of these well regarded Candian blends, I feel disappointed.  The light, grainy notes that seem to characterize them just aren't my cup of tea.