Tawse Pinot Barrel

If I hear about a new local start-up, I'm always excited to get it. I'll give anyone a fair shake, and I know the challenges that face new distilleries, so I try not to be hard on them, or hold unreasonable expectations. This, however, is a fairly well-known local established winery. Known for their organic vineyard and eco-friendly winery, they are a trusted name among VQA drinkers. I expected something good here.

Let's start with the details: This is sourced juice (if my memory serves me correctly, it's from Hiram Walker Distillery) that has been finished for a period of 15 months in their own Pinot Noir barrels. Bottled at 40%.

Nose: Thankfully the first thing that greets you is the wine notes. It smells like a bottom shelf Canadian whisky with a touch of grape skins on top.

Palate: Simple, simple simple. The wine finishing can't carry this tired old Canadian cask through this portion. It doesn't go much beyond the generic Canadian profile (light caramel toffee, and buttery smoothness).

Finish: Short and sweet.

Final thoughts: I told myself I'd try to be kind to this whisky, as I wanna support local and all that, but I think these guys bought some tired old casks thinking the Pinot finishing would fix it...didn't work in my opinion. I just don't get "breaking into the whisky market" with a disappearing-act of a whisky like this. If they are going for smooth and easy-drinking, they've hit the nail on the head. They just won't win over any whisky drinkers that I know.