'This is how we make whisky in Canada'

@Victor, interesting indeed.

@Nelom, all good @Nelom...not offended as much as disappointed with the article...it's all over the board and nowhere near the bulls eye.

I thank you for bringing this to my attention....perhaps @Robert99 will enjoy my sarcasm.

So I just became aware of a somewhat new hybrid winter rye strain (called Brasetto) that is being grown in Ontario. It apparently makes the grain easier to grow, and has increased yields for farmers by about 75%.

Hiram-Walker has recently gone on record as having bought and distilled Brasetto rye, although there are not yet any whiskies on the market that were created using it, as it wasn't made available until 2015, and Canadian whisky needs to be aged for three years before it can be called whisky.

I know next to nothing about this sort of thing, but I'm curious about what (if any) implications this have on the whisky being created from a hybrid strain such as this. Do we have any Connosrs who are biology experts?

Anyway, I found it interesting and wanted to share. Here's a couple of links:

realagriculture.com/2015/07/…

realagriculture.com/2017/07/…

The author of the Macleans article is clearly unsympathetic to the poor reputation of Canadian whisky and Canada itself. And she's celebrating—if not downright encouraging—improvements to the former that would deliver punchier, higher-quality spirits far above the level of "brown vodka" we're all used to seeing on the bottom shelf. Good luck to them all.

Davin de Kergommeaux (author of Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert), Dr. Don Livermore (Master Blender at Hiram Walker), and Dave Broom (author of The World Atlas of Whisky and Whisky: The Manual, among others) are all attending the currently ongoing Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, and the other day they gave a presentation together called Against the Grain.

In said presentation Dr. Livermore introduced what he called a "Canadian Whisky Flavour Wheel from a Blender's point of view." Although it seems to me this flavour wheel may be applicable to other whisky styles as well. I've attached an image of that flavour wheel to this post.

Also, here's a link to the slides of the presentation: slideshare.net/mobile/DavindeKergommeaux/…

Sources: twitter.com/DavindeK/status/… instagram.com/p/BW3jVO1g266/…

@Nelom, The slide show presented at Tales of the Cocktail is very similar to (probably the same as) the Spirit of Toronto 2017 Northern Border Collection Masterclass with Don Livermore. In Toronto we (@talexander, @goaliesteve, @Nozinan, along with additional friends and academics) were treated to an excellent line up from Wiser's.

@paddockjudge I can't wait to buy these!

@Nelom, the Canadian Whisky Flavour Wheel would be an awesome poster to have as a reference. I'll see if I can get a few for our Canadian Whisky Posse, providing Wiser's has some...if not, I'll seek permission to make some.

@Nelom This picture would make a great placemat for whisky tastings

@paddockjudge I'd certainly be interested in a poster like that.

@Nozinan Agreed. Could foster some interesting discussions. I for one have learned that the floral nature I associate with some of my favourite ryes is apparently a result of the yeast more so than the grain.

@Nelom,

I've had a special relationship with 4-Ethyl Guaiacol over the years....and hopefully for many years to come. I'm a big fan of Lignin.

Here's another article with a Canadian angle. It features not just distilleries, but also some famous bars. Like the Lunar Rogue Pub in Fredericton with their 650 different whiskies.

theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/…

Lew Bryson has a new write-up posted on The Daily Beast that discusses aging whisky in different barrels. It starts off going over the trouble that Compass Box got in over their French staves experiments, and then mentions Maker's 46, before it pivots to a couple of Canadian projects.

It's reading articles like this that makes me appreciate the lax whisky regulations in Canada, that allows for experimentations without being slapped down by the likes of the SWA.

Anyway, it's a good little read, only somewhat focused on Canada, that I recommend: thedailybeast.com/extreme-whiskey-barrel-ag…

Looks like CBC radio is now discovering Canadian Whisky:

www.cbc.ca/player/play/1143695939808