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Lot No. 40 Cask Strength Canadian Rye Whisky

12 YO CS - Klaek on steroids

5 689

@NozinanReview by @Nozinan

8th May 2017

0

Lot No. 40 Cask Strength Canadian Rye Whisky
  • Nose
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  • Taste
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  • Finish
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  • Balance
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  • Overall
    89

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At the Canadian Whisky Renaissance masterclass yesterday at Spirit of Toronto 2017, we were introduced to a series of limited releases set for this fall. This one was anticipated after a few of us got to taste it at last year's show.

I was able to get enough of a smell and taste to jot down a few notes to post for a review. Unfortunately the ambiance wasn't perfect: It was loud, the air circulation was bringing cooking smells into the room, I had tried a few others, but let's give it a go:

Nose

Vanilla, pickle juice, caramel. Quite pleasant.

Taste

Caramel, toffee, coffee, no alcohol burn.

A drop or 2 of water (sadly, only a couple of minutes to let it open) magnified the flavours and made them richer and spicier.

This one is definitely worth getting.

Interestingly, although we tasted it at 55%, Dr. Livermore seemed to suggest that the final "cask strength" bottling would come in at 53%. I wasn't able to understand this but @paddockjudge had me on a very short leash - he wouldn't even let me ask about caramel colouring after the presented consistently commented on the colours of the whiskies.

We'll find out more in the fall, and if I'm lucky enough to get some of this I'll revisit this review or, if the ABV is different, maybe I'll write a new one!

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6 comments

@BlueNote
BlueNote commented

@Nozinan. The long awaited return of Klaek. I've missed it.

6 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

Finally seeing Canadian cask strength whisky has taken the patience of Job. There seems to have been extreme hemming and hawing among the big Canadian distillers about whether Canada and the world were really ready for it. The answer is 'yes'. And even if the Canadians would not want to drink that 53-55% ABV drink, the Americans would gobble it up in a second...that is to say, the Americans would gobble up 53% ABV Corby Lot 40 100% rye in a second. Barrel Strength is not a substitute for a good underlying whisky. Happily Lot 40 is a good underlying whisky.

My standard response to standard Lot 40 has always been, "That's a nice rye...but what I really want is to drink it at cask strength." Good to see that there will be some available come September 2017.

6 years ago 2Who liked this?

@jeanluc
jeanluc commented

I'd love to try Lot 40 but it's very difficult to find in the UK

6 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@jeanluc

Canadian whiskies like Lot 40 don't get distributed far outside the country. Good, for us, but not for the deserving folk across the ponds (either way).

All I can say is that if I get the CS version (I don't have the regular release but it is quite available) I will likely have custody for a long, long time, which does increase the chance of you getting to try it sometime...

6 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@Victor I think even Job would lose his patience with the LCBOs handling of this release...

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

First impressions of my freshly cracked bottle, which in fact did get bottled at the same ABV (so you don't need to wade through another of my long-winded reviews of the same expression), is very much the same as above. I look forward to more exploration over the next few weeks.

6 years ago 0

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