#DavinTT2 scavenger hunt questions 1-20

Promoting canadian whisky and his excellent book, which I recommended HERE recently, Davin De Kergommeaux (@DavindeK) together with Johanne McInnis (@Whiskylassie) and host Graham MacKenney (@grahammackenney) has setup 4 twitter events every sunday here in December, where participants discuss the book and taste some canadian whisky blind. Here in Denmark canadian whisky has absolutely close to zero attention, which is a shame and I wish some of the top bottlings would be available for us.

I am very pleased to participate in this as it gives a chance to taste some whisky not otherwise available for me, and to taste a whisky catagory that I have next to nothing experience with.Until now that is.

Of the three first blind tastings, I have been very impressed with Wiser's Red Letter, a whisky that unfortunately is not available in Denmark. I rated it around 89-90p tasting it blind. Quite high in rye, creamy, minty, shaved pencils, citrus and spicy with a nice creamy coconut finish!!

 I am looking forward to tonights canadian dram

During the first two twitter events, December 1 and 8, the first 20 questions were revealed:

1 What is the primary grain distilled at each of Alberta's three distilleries?

2 What is the oldest whisky bottled in Canada in the past decade?

3 True or false: Late 18th Century canadian whiskies were blended.

4 In what year did Thomas Molson first distilled his whisky?

5 Where was Henry Corby born?

6 In what year did the Government of Canada introduce the practice of bottling in bond?

7 True or False: The practice of using the “sour mash” process is unique to the United States and never used in making Canadian Whisky.

8 What process essentially lead to the development of Canadian Club’s “secret recipe?”

9 According to the Montreal Gazette, what was the largest distillery in the world in the early 1860’s?

10 True or False: Despite being known as one of Canada’s best-known distillers, Hiram Walker lived the majority of his life in the United States.

11 What three major whisky companies distil their whisky at Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor?

12 What three ingredients are used to make whisky?

13 Which fully aged Canadian whisky is as colourless as vodka?

14 Which Canadian Distiller became a member of Parliament in 1878.

15 What distillery is built on the banks of the MacLellan's Brook?

16 What is the largest distillery operating in Canada today?

17 On what page of Davin's book will you find Mark Gillespie's name listed?

18 Although J.P. Wiser’s name is on the company, who can be credited with much of Wiser’s financial success?

19 At the time that this book was written, how many distilleries were producing Canadian Whisky?

20 Which Scottish Distillery was Glenora distillery closely associated with?

Now these questions are very hard if you don't allready have the book, the price is well worth it!

CANADIANA BASKET contains:   15, YES 15! – 60ml samples of Canadian Whiskies.  You’ll find:

1.       Alberta Premium 30 year old (rare)

2.       Bush Pilot (very rare and discontinued)

3.       Canadian Club 15 (rare and discontinued)

4.       Collingwood 21 year old, 100% rye whisky (BRAND NEW)

5.       Forty Creek John’s Private Cask (rare and discontinued)

6.       Gibson’s 18 from the 1980’s (very rare)

7.       Highwood 90 5 year old (BRAND NEW)

8.       Highwood 90 20 year old (BRAND NEW)

9.       Masterson’s 100% Barley (BRAND NEW)

10.   Masterson’s 100% Wheat (BRAND NEW)

11.   Stalk & Barrel Single Malt, Cask 5 (USA release only)

12.   Wiser’s Legacy

 and a few more that the organisers are leaving as surprises at this time!

The last five questions can be found on the following 5 whiskyblogs

WhiskyIsrael

Whiskycorner

Whisky Discovery

WhiskyPlus

Bozzy

All Scavenger Hunt answers to be sumbitted no later than December 28th 2013 to whiskylassie@gmail.com

Winner contacted and announced on December 29th.

Davin De kergommeaux has a website specifically covering canadian whisky : http://www.canadianwhisky.org/

Johanne McInnis has a blog that covers whisky in general http://whiskylassie.blogspot.ca/

I do like whiskytrivia quizzes myself, and if you look to the column to the right of this blog You can see a link to quite a few quizzes I have created.

My 7 favourite whisky books

1. Malt Whisky Yearbook
Edited by Ingvard Ronde
A little encyclopedia about malt whisky distilleries around the world, with main focus on Scotland and Japan. The book is published every autumn and there is plenty of new content to justify a new purchase every year. Every distillery has its own page with info and there are secions with statistics and maps. This is probably the essential book for malt whisky entusiasts.

2. Peat, Smoke and Spirit
Andrew Jefford
A large book covering Islay and her distilleries, the book has a few years on its back, so a new distillery like Kilchoman isn't covered. You will get a very good insigth into the whisky producing enviroment on Islay, islay it self and the 7 distilleries making whisky at the turn of the millenium

3. Appreciating Whisky
Phillip Hills
This book covers tasting whisky. Mainly our senses and what causes the tastes. There's a little bit of chemistry involved but nothing that will scare anyone. It describes how whisky tastes on a general level, and why it does so. It is written by the founder of SMWS

4. The Bluffers Guide to Whisky
David Milsted
This is the booked I learned the most from :-). It shows how to act and conduct yourself in the world of whisky to appear as the guy in the know, opposed to everyone else. Funny and wellwritten. The book has a few years on its back, but most of this stuff is timeless. If you don't want to become a pretender you always learn to easy spot one :-)

5. Canadian Whisky, the portable expert
Davin de Kergommeaux
This is THE book about Canadian Whisky, taking you throught all the destilleries and the history of distilling whisky in Canada. Canadian whisky has it's distinct style and production setup, and is not made the same way as whisky is made in USA, Ireland and Scotland

6. Bourbon, Straight
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about Bourbon. I reviewed the book HERE

7. The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste
Charles K. Cowdery
A book about the bourbon A.H. Hirsch, made in Pennsylvainia in 1974. I reviewed it HERE

My next list is going to be "Great offers in travel retail for the whiskyentusiast"

Dogme reviews #2.Three from Canada

Three short reviews. Today from Canada

Special canadian whisky is extremely hard to come by here in Europe. If you ask 10 people what country makes Canadian Club, I am sure a few will answer either Scotland or USA !

1. Forty Creek Barrel Select 40%

The nose is gentle, as is very common for me with canadian whiskies, it really is a laid back light style of whisky (usually, not always). There's a hint of rye in nose and and a slight touch of dried fruits. The palate is dominated by the sherrywine touch with a nice combo of sherrywine and distant rye. The combination works really well.  The standard low 40% canadian ABV makes this whisky extremely easy to drink,  but the whisky is still quite oily. The dominant flavours for me is fruity raisins and rye.

Forty Creek is a blend of single grain corn, barley and rye whiskies aged 6 to 10 years, then vatted together and finished in sherry barrels for 6 months

Rating 84/100

2. Hirsch Selection Canadian Rye Whisky 20yo 43%

Hirsch is an american independent bottler and the provenance of this whisky is unknown to me. Quite typical, for an aged canadian whisky, I don't really get any added wood impact of this very old whisky. It is just smoother. It's a single barrel, column distilled canadian rye. Flavourwise the rye is not that dominant, not compared to other high rye whiskies I have tasted. It has a lot more rye impact than the Forty Creek Barrel Select. This is a rather simple, clean, smooth and crisp rye whisky, easy drinking. The rye is not overpowering  but still present and I reckon this will be a gentle introduction to the rye catagory for a newbie

Rating 84/100


1. Stalk & Barrel Barrel#2 61.3%
Still Waters Distillery

This is one of the first bottlings from the Canadian micro distillery Still Waters in the suburbs of Toronto in Ontario

The nose is light, spicy and a hint of newmake. It doesn't have anything in common with the first two whiskies. Despite its younger age, there is more wood impact and the whisky is fullbodied, but I would have expected that as there is no water added, as far as I know.

The palate is young and fruity, the kind of pleasant fruityness you smell in the stillhouse. Newmakey esters.
Beside being young, I pick up a meaty context and vanilla. A bit of water brings out malt and grains of this

This is still too young for my taste, but it's a promising spirit from a new distillery with no off notes that often makes young whiskes a pain to try. And belive me.  I have tried a few!

 I like the possibility to try a distillery where the spirit is not hidden behind peat, sherry or rye, which for me is "The easy way" for a distillery to bottle their young products. Not the case here


Rating 78/100

Thanks to Johanne, also known as whiskylassie for the sample

Canada

The major whisky producing countries  is Scotland, USA, Japan, Ireland, Canada and maybe India.

Where I live, and I speak in a very broad definition here, as I think of Europe, the focus is mainly on Scotland, and also a bit on USA, Ireland and Japan. Canada is more or less off the radar. Totally.

I have heard of Canadian Club only growing up. Last week when I held a bourbon tasting in a local whiskyclub, I asked if they knew any bourbons. Canadian Club was mentioned as the 2nd!. I bet if I did a poll in the street asking what country produced Canadian Club I wouldn't get 100% same answers :-)

Just to put you in a good mood, here's a little fun video, not whisky related, except it's about the symbols of some of the whisky producing countries - Scotland, Ireland and Canada included.

 My favourite Canadian Whisky Blogger, Johanne McInnis of The Perfect Whisky Match has kindly sent me the following 4 samples. I am now ready to educate myself a little on the subject of canadian whiskies and I will share my thoughts.

I start of with a couple of Gibson's, a brand owned by William Grants and Sons. It's now made in the Walkerville distillery in Windsor Canada (not owned by Grants) and current bottlings was probably distilled in the Valleyfield distillery near Montreal in Québec

1. Gibson's Finest. 12yo. 40%

The nose is light and very typical of grain whisky. The palate again reminds me of standard scottish grain whisky.  I am refering to scottish whisky often when describing other countries whiskies, as that's where my whisky heritage is. This is not as neutral as the standard scottish grain whisky usually is, there's more flavours coming through from the grains used in the mashbills, with a strong rye component. Rye is the most flavourful grain used in whisky production and gives a minty spicy flavour to a whisky. This whisky is not very intense in it's basic flavours and I see myself pouring some rather large pours to taste it. It is very smooth and drinkable. There is some small hint's of the standard flavours you expect to find in a whisky that has spend 12 years in a cask. A little butterscotch is most notable for me and the finish has a nice little hint of sweet wood berries, whatever that is ?

Rating 82/100

2. Gibson's Finest Rare 40% 18yo

This is a limited production of 12000 bottles a year according to Gibson's website, where I also stole the photo above. The first difference I notice on the 18yo compared to the 12yo is some small hints of oak wood on the nose. The palate is a lot more balanced than the 12yo and I feel I am drinking an aged whisky. Everything is again very subtle in the flavours and I again have to pour some real large pours to get the flavours of this. I am a very experienced microdrammer, usually I can get a lot from just pouring ½-1 cl of whisky, but this isn't doing it for me this morning. I am reviewing this four samples first thing in the morning before my palate has been in contact with any food so no tired palate here. Along with my previous experiences with Canadian whiskies I get the feeling that this is grain whisky I am drinking with a rye component. I am repeating myself, this is smooth, not that intense, very easy drinking, grain whisky, very typical canadian. I would say this is exactly an older version of the 12yo with a very similar flavour profile. The finish is again very nice, this time with wood infused with berries

Rating 84/100

3. Wiser's Small Batch 43.4%

Another brand produced in Walkerville. 

Great pours again to get the flavours through. The higher ABV introduces a slight alcohol burn for the first time this morning, and I had the first two to prepare my palate! This whisky has a hint of rubber on the palate, but knowing my sensitivity for rubber I doubt anyone else would find it. I never mind hints of rubber in a whisky so this is not a negative, I think it adds some complexity to this whisky. The whisky is again a typical grain but this is bit more fullbodied, the higher ABV surely helps

Rating 83/100

4. Alberta Premium Dark Horse 45%

From Alberta!. According to Davin, this is a mainly a 100% rye whisky mixed with some goodies like corn whisky and sherry casked whisky to enrich the rye base.

What a wonderful nose. The nose takes me back to some of the wonderful LDI High West whiskeys I have tried. The rye is dominant, but its embedded in a nice traditional yummy whisky/sherry nose. The palate comes through as sherried with a hint of classic dried fruits. This particular whisky is more a sherried rye than a grain whisky if I have to relate it the whiskies I usually drink. The balance between the rye and the sherry is perfect. A bit like when a peat/sherry whisky is perfect. This is something I would like a bottle of

This is the best canadian whisky I have tasted along with the Whistlepig, which has really grown on me since I reviewed it on this blog some time ago- 

Rating 87/100

My verdict is that if you are fan of grain whiskies you should explore these canadians. To me, these canadians are somewhat quite similar in style. Solid grain whiskies. They also somehow remind me of irish whiskies with a rye component, but I wouldn't be surprised if experienced irish and canadain drinkers would say that's the most stupid thing they ever heard :-)

I also find myself getting drunk while drinking these canadians. I had to pour a lot to get flavours out. Everybody talks about responsible drinking these days. I get the thought that bottling these whiskies at below 45% is irresponsible as it leads to excessive drinking. Give me 55%+ cask strengths and I will be sipping drops instead of necking big pours.

Talking about casks strength. Where are the cask strength Canadians?. I would really love to try some of these at full strength. There's million of casks maturing in Canada and I am 100% sure that if you want to make an impact into the whisky geek/entusiast world it must be possible to find one or two good casks and bottle them at full strength. It can't be that hard! When I visited Forty Creek last summer I suggested this to John Hall and he just looked at me like I was clueless. Maybe I am?, but I bet they want to sell whisky to someone like me AS WELL :-)