Canadian whisky

@JoeVelo, there is really quite a variety of styles within Canadian whisky, even though the total number of Canadian whiskies is not enormous: old school purist to additive rich, dry to very sweet, relatively little wood flavour to a lot of woodiness, and yes, a Canadian Malt distiller. There is a sort of stereotyped blended Canadian flavour profile which does seem to represent the majority of the Canadian whiskies made: sweet, low % ABV, mostly from corn and wheat. I for one would not generalize about all Canadian whiskies, but would speak about individual Canadian whiskies or types. The popular sweet fruity wine and caramel-added stereotyped flavour is one that works for light drinking and mixing, but is not too popular with most connoisseurs, including me. The whiskies like that have a sweetness which is unbalanced, often tasting of additives, and which just doesn't work for a lot of us. If they had a higher compensating % ABV they would work a lot better for sipping. Stronger wood flavours would also give a very helpful balance to these sweet fruity whiskies as well.

As to techniques of Canadian whisky production, I find the Canadian products to be rather amorphous to decipher what went into them: wine, caramel, and who knows what other additives, mixing batches distilled at little-flavour-left near-vodka %ABV with batches at lower more flavourful ABV, wood that could be new, but usually is probably old and rather flavourless, grain mashbills undeclared and variable: all of these things make me often wonder what it is that I am drinking when I drink a 'standard' quality Canadian whisky.

That said, there ARE some very good Canadian whiskies.

@JoeVelo I was in the same position as you were a couple months ago, but @Victor helped me out and gave me some really good suggestions and now there are a few excellent Canadian whiskies on my shelf that I absolutely love and quite frankly consider some of the better ones I've tasted.

@JoeVelo - Most Canadian Whisky is destined for Export and younger whiskies drive the bottom line. You should look to some of the aged Canadians for world class offerings - choices abound: wheat, corn, rye, barely. My preferred top shelf whisky is available from Wiser's (Legacy or 18 year old) or Alberta Distillers (Alberta Premium regular or Limited Edition) and Forty Creek for younger and unique creations from pot-still - a new release from F Creek will be available soon.

any suggestion? @michaelschout

thank you very much@Victor . very good and complete reply. do you have any suggestion?

@JoeVelo, my top favourite is Wiser's Legacy. In addition I like Gibson's Finest Rare 18 yo, Danfield's Limited 21 yo, Alberta Premium, and Hiram Walker Special Old Rye Whisky. I would note with Alberta Premium that some batches are much drier than others. I much prefer those to the batches that are on the sweeter side. My taste more often, but not always, runs toward the drier and spicier styles of whisky.

@JoeVelo, and about Forty Creek products, I am just really starting to get to know them. I was initially disappointed by my samples of Forty Creek Confederation Oak, mostly because anything that @dbk is enthusiastic about is likely to be something that I would usually like, and the wood flavours just really didn't seem integrated to me with the rest of the whisky flavours. For me the jury is still out on that one. The flavours may come together better now that the bottle has been open awhile. Yesterday I just bought a bottle of Forty Creek Barrel Select, the most common offering from Forty Creek, and my initial impressions of it are very positive. It is very sweet, but has tons of strong counterbalancing wood and spice flavours. My only concern with this one going forward is that some have reported tasting sulphur as the bottle has remained open for awhile. I really haven't noticed sulphur taste to this point, but if the flavour does migrate in that direction, it would be a problem for me.

@JoeVelo One of the best suggestions that @Victor gave me and also @paddockjudge mentioned is the Wiser's Legacy. Alberta Premium is also one of my favourites and it is an incredible value. I really consider Alberta Premium the dessert wine of the whisky world because it's so sweet (which some may not like). Canadian Club Sherry Cask is another one of my favourites and a unique, atypical twist on the typical CC.

thank you very much @michaelschout and @victor . I figure that I will have to try the Wiser's Legacy, Alberta Premium and something from Kittling Ridge. I tasted some Forty Creek in the hurry of Whisky Live Toronto last fall and didn't enjoy it so much at first. But, I admit that I have to give it a second chance in the comfort of my couch.

I love Alberta Springs 10 yr old , an old favorite , a unique easy sipping Canadian

I would have to try this too if I can get my hands on it ! @cclward

@JoeVelo, you've been given some excellent advice from the folks on this board. While much of the low end of Canadian whisky is light, rough, and uninteresting, there are some real treats therein (the same could be said for American, Irish, and Scotch whisky, really). Conversely, there are many excellent top-end Canadians. The expressions are varied, though there is something "prototypical" about the Canadian style, and it doesn't suit every palate.

Like the others, I would happily recommend Wiser's Legacy (I have not tried the 18, but hear good things about it, too), Alberta Premium (the 30 year-old is currently available for a mere $50 at the LCBO, and the NAS expression is a solid entry-level whisky at a solid price), Danfield's 21 (also a steal, price-wise), and as @Victor mentioned on my behalf, the Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve (and the standard Forty Creek Barrel Select is a great value and again a solid entry-level whisky). Finally, Crown Royal Cask 16 is quite good, though you might want to hunt for a good price—I've seen it for as low as $40 in the US, though it's typically closer to $100 (e.g. in Ontario).

As an aside, @Victor, I'm sorry that you're not yet in love with the Forty Creek Confederation Oak. I suppose you're entitled to hold incorrect opinions! ; ) In any case, I think you and I agree far more often than we disagree.

@dbk & JoeVelo, first @dbk it is good to see you back posting...I was starting to miss your commentary.

After 3 1/2 months of meditation on the flavour profiles of Canadian Whiskies, prompted by two whisky-buying trips to Canada, I am ready to make some observations about the distinctively Canadian flavour styles reflected in Canadian whiskies. Four observations seem to me to be of the greatest importance:

1) Many, perhaps most, Canadian blended whiskies pair wine finish and/or wine additive flavours with grains other than barley. For my palate, use of sherry or other wine flavours with corn, wheat, and rye just doesn't work well. It is personal taste, for sure, but I very much doubt that you can get something that tastes like Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX or Glenfarclas 15 from using wine additives or doing wine cask finishing on mash made predominantly from corn or wheat or rye. Maybe wine flavours COULD be done well with corn, wheat, and rye. I just haven't found any yet that I really liked. To those of you who enjoy the wine flavours with these grains, more power to you. I wish that I could, but I don't.
2) To the best of my knowledge, in the large majority of cases, Canadian whiskies are aged in previously used oak barrels. This leads, in my opinion, to what I would call 'incomplete' oak flavours compared to new oak aging. I commented that Gibson's Finest Rare 18 yo tastes a lot like an old Willett bourbon, EXCEPT that not all of the oak flavours are there, compared to the Willett. Some of the substances from the oak are going to be in very short supply after the first use of the barrel. Old incomplete oak flavours are typical of most Canadian whiskies. You get this with Scottish malts too, to be sure, but what makes this Canadian is the combination of the old oak flavours and the use of corn, wheat, and rye. I welcome the recent movement in Canadian whisky production toward the use of more new oak aging. 3) Canadian whisky Industrial production techniques incorporate frequent and very large use of distillation at very high, near-vodka, proofs, leading to much-reduced flavour profiles as a result. For all of those out there wondering why 100% rye mash Alberta Premium has such fine and subtle flavours, and has much reduced strength of rye flavours compared to a typical 40% ABV, 51% rye mash US Straight Rye Whiskey, this is the reason. 100% rye mash still tastes of little rye if you dilute it enormously. I think that Beam, which owns Alberta Distilling, Ltd, also uses this more typically Canadian technique to make (ri)1, which could not possibly have so little rye flavour without having been distilled at very high proof.
4) Canadian whisky-makers are completely unabashed about the use of additives in their whiskies, and rarely give much information about the types and the quantities of the additives which they are using. Use of non-whisky additives up to a small fraction above 9% is legal in Canada. Theoretically it could be almost anything they may add to their whiskies. It wouldn't surprise me if Tangle Ridge, for example, has 9% straight sweet sherry added to it. Tangle Ridge is 100% rye mash whisky, but it is difficult to taste any rye at all, because it is probably distilled at very high proof, which massively dilutes the flavours, and then it is clobbered over the head with sherry. This is 100% rye mash whisky in which it is difficult to taste any rye. And that is rye, a flavour so potent that it takes over everything it touches, unless you dilute it greatly, then overwhelm it with intense sherry or other very strongly flavoured additives. As an aside, the abominable Jim Beam Red Stag could well be an attempt by Jim Beam to make a US bourbon version copy of Tangle Ridge. All of these brands are part of Beam's portfolio.

Yes, there are quite a few Canadian whiskies that I like. But I don't like the use of additives (especially including sherry and caramel), worn out wood, high-proof low-flavour distillation, or wine flavours with any grain but barley.

Afterthought: wine finish with corn alone, or corn and barley, might work. I think that it is the wheat and the rye that are disharmonious with the wine flavours.

Thank you very much everyone. I bought Wiser's Legacy yesterday. Will open it in the next few weeks, I guess.