Gooderham & Worts Eleven Souls

I previously reviewed this whisky but it was just based upon my initial impressions from Spirit of Toronto, this is after spending some time with the bottle I purchased.

Gooderham & Worts is one of the brands produced at Hiram Walker Distillery (home of Lot 40) the standard version is a four grain blend based on the old recipe from the now defunct distiller.

Eleven souls is 2018's premium version which is released as part of the Northern Border Collection, it is a blend of 11 casks that basically represents most of the available permutations of whisky made at the distillery. I'll explain it's made with the following

grains: Brasetto Rye (a very flavorful new type of rye that's only been used for about 6 years at the distillery but that will eventually make it's way into lot 40), Rye, Rye Malt, Red winter wheat, Barley, Barley Malt, Corn

Distillation regime:column still, pot still

Casks: ex-bourbon, refill Canadian, virgin oak. *thanks to Jason Hambrey's review I was able to get all the components right.

So it's basically a blend of varying proportions from these 11 component whiskys, some appear in small quantities. The head blender Dr. Don Livermore has mentioned it was the most challenging blend he's put together.

Nose: Werther's original candy, beeswax, buttered bread and apples The nose is a touch hot at first Cloves, celery, a couple of maraschino cherries, a bit of orange blossom water & honey. After a while the sharp new oak makes itself known along with some rye bread, violets and lemon pith.

Palate: Sweet, spicy, full and warming Maple butter, cornmeal, powdered sugar, bracing oak, apples and a sharp tang from the rye. In the middle is a kind of savoury feeling like sage, cloves and sourdough bread stuffing.

Finish: Long, full of sweet and savoury with a little spice tingling on the tongue paraffin, caraway, honey nut cereal and a slight coppery tang.

The Blab:What an Intriguing whisky, the palate is really shifting across, sweet, oaky and astringent but then takes a turn into waxy, chewy barley and rye notes. The ABV really helps the texture and push forward the ensemble.

The G&W releases have met with mixed reactions this coupled with the bottomless thirst for Lot 40 cask strength means the first two releases have lingered on shelves. It's a style thus far that has been technically proficient but perhaps has failed to capture peoples heart. I love how different it is while retaining a certain Canadian whisky profile, I wish there was more stuff out there taking these kind of chances.