Ancient Canadian hooch!

Generally, I don’t pay a lot of attention to Canadian whisky. That has almost 100% to do with the fact that their ‘rye’ category is a bit of a catch all for grain distillates with possible additions of other stuff, and even that the rye term doesn’t mean an awful lot.

Of course, I’m over-generalizing, but with stuff being almost unavailable here anyway, and scores on Whiskybase being very low on average, I’m not thrilled. Last year, when at Toronto airport the most highly rated whiskies still only scored about 82 or 83 points on average.

Sure, I can go into bottle shops and pick up something a bit more exclusive and less marketed there, but that would mean going for check-in luggage and add a significant price tag for something random…

Anyway, this one came from MvZ (if memory serves) and was also used in a tasting during the Covid period. I wrote the review a while ago but am only getting around to posting it now.

Sniff:
Sweet and spicy, but very gentle. Orange pith, oak and a liqueur like sweetness. Hints of barley, but very timid.

Sip:
The palate still is quite sweet, a bit too sweet. Luckily, the spices are present too. They’re a bit generic with some black pepper. Orange liqueur, with a touch pithy bitterness.

Swallow:
The finish is the same. A bit of pepper for spiciness. Slightly more spicy than before.

All in all it’s a bit bland for a 10 year old whisky, especially after almost 50 years of bottle ‘aging’. It’s not a surprise that it’s on the sweet side either, but it doesn’t make for a drinking experience I’m overly fond of. Very generic.

79/100