Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

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So. If you were told that in two days you would no longer have a job, what would be the first thing you’d do? For me it was go buy beer. Even though I had been looking to leave for some time, it was still a shock to actually have it happen. It seemed like a beer sort of night because if it had been a bourbon sort of night, I might have needed to call in the next day…

Come to think of it that might have been funny, in hindsight.

But as I always do, I wandered over to the whiskey aisle. And in this case, my wandering was rewarded. You see, sitting about half-way up Total Wine’s Rye section was Crown Royal’s new rye whiskey. I looked at it, looked at my wife, looked back at the shelf, saw there was no price tag, hesitated and then…watched her grab it. 

I love my wife.

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

Purchase Info: $24.99. 750 mL. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV, 90% Rye Whiskey, “Fine Blended Canadian Whiskey”

Nose: Initially it was alcohol, mint, and cedar. After spending a bit of time with it, I was able to also tease out lime zest as well.

Mouth: Tingly. Much more tingle than I would expect to come from Canada. It’s sweet, but not overly so, with mint,  cloves and some grassiness in the mouth.

Finish: Nice and warm. That tingle lasts awhile along with the mint, cedar and cloves.

Thoughts: I like this one. It’s got an interesting tingle and enough sweetness underneath to make me want to come back again. Toss in those rye notes and you’ve got something well worth the $24-$30 it sells for here in the Twin Cities. Even if you don’t normally like Crown Royal, give this a try.

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Highwood Ninety 20 Year Old

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Due north of Glacier National Park (and basically due south of Calgary) sits High River, Alberta. Wikipedia tells me that it’s a town of about 13,000 people. So roughly six times the size of the town I grew up in. In the whisky world it’s best known for being the home of Highwood Distillers. Who, outside of Canada is best know for losing some of their bottled whisky when the Highwood River (and other area rivers) flooded and the town was evacuated. 

Before tonight I only dimly remembered all of that. What I did remember was that my friend Rick thought enough of this whisky to send it to me as an alternative to the Canadian Club Rye in that massive whisky box he sent me. 

My research tells me this is 100% corn and the bottle tells me that it is aged for 20 years.

Highwood Ninety 20 year old

Purchase Info: Another gift from a friend. (Available at LCBO for $50 Canadian for 750 mL) 

Details: 45% ABV. 20 years old.

Nose: Thick, rich butterscotch. Corn silage, dried orange peal, maple

Mouth: Werther’s Original candy, cloves, orange and a nice peppery tingle.

Finish: Long and warm with lingering sweetness and cloves.

Thoughts: This is a very sweet whisky. But it has a really nice tingle to go along with it. And it’s a tingle, not a burn. This feels sophisticated. It knows what it is and doesn’t need to punch you in the mouth. It’s just darn good.

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Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye

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In early October, Whisky Advocate ran a story by Canadian Whisky expert Davin De Kergommeaux about a new 100% Rye being released by Canadian Club. In the story, Davin mentioned that like many of the 100% Rye Canadian whiskies this was a product of Alberta Distillers. Well, that perked my curiosity. I’ve discovered that I like this particular style of whisky. But then I noticed that it wasn’t being released in the US. 

Drat.

So I did what any self respecting man would do. I went online and whined about it. Of course, I expected that next summer when I travel to Canada I would try to bring some home. But still, you always want what you can’t have. And then I was reminded of something. My Canadian friends are amazing people. 

See, some time passed. I went to work and back. I bought some Christmas gifts and had them delivered. But one day when I got home from work, I noticed a box on my front step when I didn’t remember ordering anything. Upon opening it, I saw it was an amazing Christmas gift from my friend Rick. Inside were two bottles of Canadian whisky only available in Canada and the little mini I reviewed last week.

One of those whiskies was Canadian Club 100% Rye. Though there isn’t an age statement on the bottle, Davin says it is aged for 7 years. That got me to thinking, this comes from Alberta Distillers. I still have a little of that 1910 rumored to come from there at 12 years old. And after doing a little digging in my samples I found a sample of the Alberta Premium 30 year old. I had to test these next to one another.

This was not a fair test. 

In my opinion, it just got better as it got older. The 1910 12 year was better than the Canadian Club, the 30 year was better than the 12. Ok so intuition was correct, but how does it do when it isn’t being unfairly tested. I mean, this is a $25 whisky. It would be extremely unusual if it could hang with $40 and $50 versions.

Canadian Club Chairman’s Select 100% Rye

Purchase Info: A very generous Christmas gift from my friend Rick. Available at LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) for ~$25 Canadian

Details: 40% ABV. Distilled and aged at Alberta Distillers.

Nose: Initial caramel that fades to reveal pine, brown sugar, ethanol, and green cardamom pods

Mouth: Thin. White sugar, spearmint, oak, cinnamon, clove and then caramel as it moves to the back of the mouth.

Finish: Medium length. Warm with lingering spearmint, cinnamon and clove.

Thoughts: This is your classic good, but not great situation. It’s delicate, I get a bit more minty ethanol than I’d like. But the sweetness and spice are decent enough. I feel like there are better options both in the Canadian Whisky and in the Rye realms.

That said, it was fun to taste something that I can’t buy in the US and to share that with friends. Sadly if it was available, I probably wouldn’t find myself buying it very often. There is nothing wrong with this whisky. I mean, I wouldn’t turn down a pour. There just isn’t much that’s drawing me in. It’s good. Not great.

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A gift from a friend: Canadian Club, Classic 12

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Friends. Friends are great things to have. Friends are there to console you when you are sad. Celebrate with you when you are happy. They know to spend time with you when you are lonely and when to stay away when you need space. Friends pay attention to you, your needs and your wants. Sometimes, friends even give you gifts.

It was almost a month ago now that I was whining on twitter about really wanting to try a certain 100% Rye whisky that appeared only in the Canadian marketplace. It was about two weeks later that a surprise Christmas gift from a Canadian friend showed up on my doorstep. Inside that were three  whiskies. Two only available in Canada and this one, Canadian Club Classic 12 which is available in vast quantities in Minnesota. Available, yet somehow neither my wife nor I had never tried it.

When you look on the store shelf, the bottle looks remarkably like the Canadian Club Sherry Cask that we explored a while back. Maybe this was the source of my overlooking it for so long. It’s either that or even after all the experience that tells me otherwise, maybe I still suffer from a hint of a bias against inexpensive Canadian whisky due to past experiences from younger days. If that’s the case, shame on me. Especially since I even kinda enjoyed the regular Canadian Club.

So let’s see if this is one that should have stayed overlooked or if there has been a great value just sitting there waiting for us to find it.

Canadian Club Classic 12

Purchase info: Gift, though it is available for around $18 for a 750 mL in Minnesota

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Cedar and butterscotch initially. After a bit, pencil shavings and brief hints of cinnamon and acetone are added.

Mouth: Rich butterscotch, honey, black pepper, baking spices and vanilla cake.

Finish: Lingering warmth with butterscotch, black pepper and vanilla cake.

Thoughts: If, like me, you like rich sweet whiskies, this is for you. It’s inexpensive, sweet, and has a much nicer finish than I am used to from an 80 proof Canadian whisky. I may have received this small bottle as a gift, but I’m certainly going to be buying a big bottle soon.

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A Happy 2015 Cocktail

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It’s New Year’s Eve. The one night of the year when tradition says that you need to break out the cheap bubbly wine and raise a glass to the fact that you survived yet another turning of the world’s odometer. 

And before you get all: “Wait just a damn minute. I like bourbon. I want bourbon. There is very little I like more in this world than bourbon and dammit I’m going to ring in the New Year with bourbon.” Let me reassure you, I’m with you. But, no one but a killjoy would tell you that on New Year’s Eve, you can’t have both. 

In fact, I took it upon myself to come up with at least one way you might want to try to combine them into one glass. This specific recipe uses the Cranberry Apple Shrub I made from the Shrubs book I reviewed a couple weeks ago. But the idea can be adapted much wider.

A Happy 2015 Cocktail

2 oz Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
1 oz Cranberry Apple Shrub
Aromatic bitters (use your favorite, a few dashes, I used 1821 bitters from Atlanta)

• stir ingredients in a mixing glass with ice 
• pour into a wine glass or wide mouth cocktail glass and top with 3 oz or so of sparkling white wine.

My basic idea here was to use a classic whiskey cocktail as a base and move forward from there. I love a Manhattan so that’s where I started. But I really liked the way that the shrub and bourbon played together. Topping it off with champagne made it a bit more delicate and a bit more fun. The fruit and vinegar flavors in the shrub were easier to pick out, but at the same time subdued enough that they weren't overpowering. 

Could you use vermouth? Orange bitters? Sure! In fact why stop there? Maybe you’re a rye whiskey fan? Maybe mix up a Sazerac and pour it into a absinthe-rinsed cocktail or wine glass and top with sparkling wine. My wife loved this one. I had a cold so I needed to trust her judgement. 

Maybe you are a Canadian whisky or Irish whiskey fan and like the occasional whisky and ginger-ale highball? Make up some ginger syrup, squeeze some lemon juice in there and mix with the whiskey or whisky of your choice. Top that with the bubbly society wants you to consume and enjoy.

The point is to have fun with it. And if you are into this sort of thing, all of these drinks feel just a little bit more sophisticated than that five dollar four-pack of mini bottles of “champagne” that you bought from the liquor store end cap (even though I bought the same stuff when shopping for these).

1910 Canadian Rye Whisky (from the importers of Pendleton whisky)

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“Now that is a beautiful bottle,” I told myself the first time I encountered a bottle of Pendleton 1910 Canadian Rye Whisky. “Too bad it’s over $40.”

Fast forward a little bit and I’m at a family reunion, talking with a cousin of mine who lives in Wyoming. He brought a bottle of whisky to the gathering and we shared a little bit of it as we sat and talked about all the things that relatives that have only seen each other a few times talk about. One of the things we talked about was what was in our glasses. In this case he brought one of his favorites, Pendleton Blended Canadian Whisky. I enjoyed it for what it was, non-offensive and easy to drink. But it reminded me of that 1910 12 year old version in the pretty bottle and got me to thinking.

Fast forward again to last fall. I’m spending the evening in Toronto. We are sipping on a 30 year old 100% rye whisky from Alberta Premium. I get a literal chill down my spine while drinking it. I’m reminded of that pretty bottle of 12 year old 100% rye that is sitting on the shelf of my local liquor store. Rumors have it that it is from the same distillery. No one can or will say for sure.

I looked at it every time I went shopping and every time I passed it by. Finally last month I gave up. It was on sale at my local liquor emporium and I pulled the trigger. It is amazing what a nice excuse saving $2 is for doing something that you wanted to do anyway.

By the time I got around to making my purchase, one thing had changed. The bottle was still pretty, but the name was now just 1910. No Pendleton. I looked online and all the reviews were for Pendleton 1910. I checked Davin’s site and it still said Pendleton. But the official page for the whisky was the same bottle as mine. I’m guessing there is a story there. Though since it probably has something to do with trademarks and naming rights, I doubt I’m that interested in finding out what it is.

1910 Canadian Rye Whisky

Purchase info: $41.99 for a 750mL at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV Beautiful dark copper color.

Nose: Thick, rich butterscotch. Cardamom. Dried grass. Mint. Wet slate.

Mouth: Soft and sweet with a gentle spice. Major butterscotch with hints of allspice, black pepper and cardamom.

Finish: Fairly short with refined sugar and gentle spices.

Thoughts: This is an uncomplicated whisky. It’s an easy drinking sipper that complements other activities instead of demanding your full attention. It tastes good and I enjoyed it. If you are not the type of person that likes to describe their whisky as “soft,” you might want to pass on this but to all others I’d recommend giving it a try.

Bargain hunting: Rich & Rare Reserve

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September: it’s National Bourbon Heritage Month here in the US, it’s also the month that BourbonFest is held in Bardstown, KY and when a lot of the Fall bourbon releases come out. Add in the facts that it’s also the month of my birthday, my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary and you get a month that’s great for a vacation.

I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a shopping problem. Last time I spent more than an overnight in Kentucky I came home with 35 bottles of bourbon. I had to find a new place to store the overflow. In fact, some of those bottles are still waiting to be opened. And it’s not like they are special releases or anything.

So based on past history, since September is National Bourbon Shopping…err…Heritage Month, August had better be Bottle Emptying Month. I’ve spent the summer trying to make room for the shopping I know I’m going to be doing, but August has been where I’ve really resisted opening anything new. And it’s paying off. I’ve been emptying heels at a fairly rapid clip.

The most recent of which was Rich & Rare Reserve. It’s a Canadian whisky that is aged and blended in Canada, but Sazerac bottles it at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, KY. I initially purchased it after reading about it in the afterward of Davin de Kergommeaux’s Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert. I love bargin hunting and am willing to drop $10-15 dollars on a whisky to see if it’s one of those “hidden gems.” Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but often I find something that I’m willing to pick up again.

Rich & Rare Reserve

Purchase info: $10.99 Gordy’s County Market, Rice Lake, WI

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Delicate. Initial faint hints of nail polish remover. After sitting, it’s sweet with delicate hints of maple, caramel, citrus and corriander.

Mouth: Salty. Light with faint hints of soap. Sweet with buttery caramel.

Finish: Decent length with lingering maple that slowly fades to a tannic bitterness.

Thoughts: This is merely ok. I have nothing bad to say about it, but personally prefer something a bit less delicate. It’s cheap enough though, that if you are a Canadian whisky fan, you might want to risk picking it up to see if it sits better with you than it did with me.

Crown Royal: Just because people mix it with cola, doesn't mean it's bad.

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Last Saturday I was talking to my friend DP (from the Whiskey Detectives blog) at a bourbon cocktail class that we both attended. After it was finished we stood around looking at the wide selection the venue offers for sale when the conversation got around to those whiskies that we know we should have tried, but for some reason never had. 

It got me to thinking. There are strange, semi-random swaths of the whisky shelf that I have—for one reason or another—avoided. And there is really no rhyme or reason to it. Some I remember hearing bad things about. Some are styles I’ve historically been wary of. Some my latent hipsterness rejects, seemingly, just because of their popularity.

I promise I’m not some hipster A-hole, but I will admit to having minor hipsterish tendencies such as a the one where I tend to not trust anything that seems too popular. Or maybe that’s just snobbishness. In any case, it’s something I need to work on. 

So in the spirit of trying something that I’d passed over every single time I went to a liquor store solely because it was one of the best selling whiskies to come out of North America, I present:

Crown Royal

Purchase Info: $3.99 for a 50mL at Hayward Bait and Bottle Shoppe, Hayward, WI

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Brown sugar, pencil shavings, ripe peaches

Mouth: Nice mouthfeel, thicker than I expected. #2 pencils (I chewed on the yellow ones a lot). Hints of maple sugar. Some mint as it moves back.

Finish: Gentle, but with enough heat to let you know you’re drinking whisky. Lingering sweet cereal.

Thoughts: It’s really a shame I’d passed this over for so long. It’s got a nice sweet mouthfeel that is balanced by just enough woody bitterness. It’d be a good movie watching whisky as it’s interesting enough to add enjoyment, but gentle enough to not distract you from the show. I think a full-sized bottle needs to sit on the Canadian Shelf.