Selfbuilt (of whiskyanalysis.com) has made a thread over on Reddit where he points out that Corby has quietly changed the finishing of Pike Creek from port barrels to rum, as well as increased the ABV from 40% to 42%.
Devoz (another Reddit regular) says that according to Wiser's the change was because of "issues relating to exporting the product to Europe, where how the port finishing was done did not allow it to be considered a whisky in Europe, or something along those lines"
He also says that "rum was selected in an attempt to get the same concept of some sweet notes added."
Selfbuilt says he'll be doing a side-by-side review of the two versions soon. I'll post a link to that review when he posts it.
In the meantime, here's a link to the Reddit thread:
And here's a comment from Wiser's master blender Dr. Don Livermore regarding this change:
"As for the port finished Pike Creek, the definition of Port changed in 2014 and the world recognizes Port comes from Portugal, so we made a decision to change to a rum barrel finish to give nice brown sugar characteristics to the whisky. Port barrels were becoming more difficult to source."
Selfbuilt (of whiskyanalysis.com) has made a thread over on Reddit where he points out that Corby has quietly changed the finishing of Pike Creek from port barrels to rum, as well as increased the ABV from 40% to 42%.
Devoz (another Reddit regular) says that according to Wiser's the change was because of "issues relating to exporting the product to Europe, where how the port finishing was done did not allow it to be considered a whisky in Europe, or something along those lines"
He also says that "rum was selected in an attempt to get the same concept of some sweet notes added."
Selfbuilt says he'll be doing a side-by-side review of the two versions soon. I'll post a link to that review when he posts it.
In the meantime, here's a link to the Reddit thread:
reddit.com/r/canadawhisky/…
And a link to a picture of the two labels side-by-side:
i.redditmedia.com/pEyhGq1lBWBYaFIeLP4QeZvM…