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Canadian Club Sherry Cask

Average score from 4 reviews and 12 ratings 79

Canadian Club Sherry Cask

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@JasonHambrey
Canadian Club Sherry Cask

This whisky comes in at 41.3%, a bit higher than the standard Canadian 40%. It is aged about 6 years, then finished for 2 years in Spanish Sherry Casks. As with all Canadian Club whiskies, it is "Barrel Blended", meaning that unaged whisky from different batches (and likely recipes) is blended together before barrelling.

Nose: Green grainy rye, cola notes, earthiness all are present (as with other CC whiskies), but there is also some almost pot-still grainy notes, raisin, pine, cinnamon, oak, pencil shavings, ginger, and rose water. Overall, though, it's quite sloppy. 77%

Taste: Vanilla, cola, and some nice spice - peppery and grainy, and not as fruity as I would have expected. The rye comes through, but yet it still has a bit of a pot-still character to it. But, I am pretty dissapointed - I don't think the sherry cask has improved this Canadian Club, unfortunately enough. 75% Finish: Spices tingle without much definition or flavour. It still has a decent body for a finish, with light dried fruits and some nagging bitterness. 80%

Intrigue: I think really this hasn't taken the best parts of the sherry and whisky to meld together. It may just be this batch - I have heard of other batches which do better; but this batch isn't good enough to want me to investigate other batches. However, I do hope it is just this batch, and that the others are better. This was reasonably flat and subdued. 75%

Weighting the nose 25%, taste 35%, Finish 15%, and Intrigue 25% the overall grade is 76.

*I have also posted a separate format (with similar content) of this review at whiskywon.wordpress.com/2014/08/…

this also was batch C12-047

@talexander

One of my earliest reviews on this site was the Canadian Club Sherry Cask. Back then, it had different packaging, which was more distinctive than the other CC bottles. The current branding puts the Sherry Cask in the same bottle shape and label design as the Classic 12 Year Old (which is also labelled Small Batch, so I think the packaging is far too similar). The new 9 Year Old Reserve also has the same label design, but is a taller, thinner bottle.

I thought I would revisit it because a) it is new packaging (any excuse, eh?) and b) there are batch variations. The one I reviewed before was given a 70 - I didn't think much of it. I don't remember the batch number, but it is certainly different from this one - which is batch C12-047. I wonder if "C12" means it is 12 years old (my understanding though was that it was around 10 years old, having spent those last two years in sherry casks that once held Harvey's Bristol Cream - but who knows)?

The colour is a reddish amber. On the nose, pencil shavings, raspberries, pomegranate, with caramel and vanilla as you might find in a bourbon. I sense new white oak barrels being used here. Cardamom with a hint of smoke. More complex than I was expecting, especially with water, which brings out sawdust, rum and more sherry notes.

On the palate, dark stewed fruits, more berries, a hint of spicy rye notes. Extremely smooth and easy to drink, though not as complex as the nose. With water, a little more tannic. Quite rich, sweet and velvety. No sulphur whatsoever.

The finish is dusty, a little dry but with soft spices - the rye is coming out here. What a surprise! I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I do. So clearly the batch variations (and perhaps other changes rather than the packaging?) are different. I believe I also saw on the shelf a bottle of batch C12-048, perhaps I will do a side-by-side...

Interesting. I reviewed the same batch, but I found it ok, but really not that great (I gave it a 76 - a review is here on connosr). I was hoping it was a bad batch, but, perhaps, it was better than usual? Certainly let us know if you tried batch 48.

I also thought it was 6 years in white oak (which might make sense because then it would just be a blend similar to the standard CC which is finished) before 2 years in sherry...but in my scribble notes I can't remember where I got that figure from.

By new white oak, I meant that I guess that new unused barrels were used in the first maturation (whereas the secondary maturation would have been in used sherry casks). I don't know what kind of oak casks Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry is matured in...

@Megawatt

For some reason this whisky gets bad marks from many critics. They seem to find it unbalanced, "whisky-flavoured sherry". I think this is unfair, since heavily sherry-flavoured Scotches are often favoured by these same critics. Anyway, this whisky sets a high expecation from the elegant bottle, and fortunately it delivers.

The nose is fairly subtle and sweet, with obvious sherry unfluence. I get hints of beeswax and brown sugar. Some spice is evident. Pleasant but not too expressive.

The whisky is light-bodied in the mouth. It has the characteristic tang of Canadian blended whisky but also the spice, orange peel, and chocolate notes of a good sherry cask. There is also something herbal, almost gin-like in there. Most importantly, there are none of the unpleasant, pungent notes that sometimes accompany strong sherry flavour in a whisky.

The finish is rather short and mellow, and again free of funky flavours. Overall I find this whisky to be of very good quality. It is almost too easy to drink, yet it stands apart from its contemporaries and does so at a reasonable cost.

@Megawatt I agree with you; this whisky should be more universally liked. And you're right, it's far too easy to drink!

@talexander

This is a nice change from the usual Canadian Club offering - due to maturation finishing in ex-sherry casks. As you can imagine, this gives it a mahogany tone (with good body), and aromas of sherry and anise. Taste shows, of course, sherry / wine / tannins, oak and a medicinal-alcohol medium finish. Pretty easy to drink, makes for a nice after dinner sip.

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