The Top Canadian Whiskies Under $50

This release from Canadian Club is a first for them; a 100% rye release. This rye is distilled at Alberta Distillers then bottled in Walkerville, Ontario. It bears no age statement and is bottled at 40% ABV. Note: This product is sold in Canada as Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye and was made available there at the end of 2014. This product was released to the U.S. market in June 2016.

Still Waters spent a lot of time working on this blended Canadian Whisky which contains a high percentage of their own single malt and rye whiskies for flavoring. This release coincides with their Stalk & Barrel Blue Label. Red Label is the higher end of the two blended at 43% alcohol. It also means their 1+11 Blended Canadian Whisky will be retired and hitting the golf course while these two new whiskies fill the roll as their ambassador blends.

The mash bill starts with two rye whiskies making up 91% blended with 8% bourbon (Old Grand-Dad) and 1% sherry wine. The first rye whisky is a high-proof column-still whisky that is aged in used bourbon barrels for twelve years. The second rye whisky is a lower-proof pot-still whisky aged for six years in new oak barrels. The ryes were produced at Beam Suntory's Alberta Distillers, the largest producer of 100% rye whisky in North America and one of the few distilleries in the world capable of distilling from an all-rye mash bill. Incidentally, this is the US release of their Alberta Premium Dark Horse Whisky. A name change was necessary for this market.

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye whisky is a blend made from a 90% rye mashbill. A natural line extension for Crown Royal given the craze for rye and Canada's reputation for producing rye whisky. Crown Royal currently has approximately 2 million barrels of whisky maturing in 46 warehouses in the area around Gimli, Manitoba, Canada.

Like the Barrel Select Whisky from Forty Creek, this too consists of three separate grains (rye, barely, and maize aka corn) distilled and aged individually in white oak barrels. They then are married together for the flavors to mingle before bottling. The difference here is with extra aging, barrel selection, and slightly higher proof; 86 vs. 80.

The Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery has recently drafted distilling to its lineup. The first release is this small batch Canadian whisky blended by Master Distiller, Joshua Beach. Aged rye, malted rye and corn whiskies were individually mashed, fermented and distilled, then brought in house to be finished in the wineries red wine casks. Availability limited to Canada and, as of February 2018, the Chicago, Illinois area and Missouri.

This green label J.P. Wiser’s Rye is a replacement for a whisky released a few years ago under the same name. And it has changed. The distillery started by raising the rye content to 62% blending it with wheat and corn. This particular whisky is triple-barreled featuring distillates matured in used Canadian whisky, first-fill bourbon, and virgin oak casks. Finally, they’ve reset the ABV to 45%. Exclusive to the United States.

Pike Creek is a Windsor, Ontario suburb that is home to Hiram Walker’s warehouses. The whisky made its celebrated return to store shelves in 2012 when it was re-released with the previously extinct Lot 40. The Canadian release of Pike Creek is a 10 year old rye whisky aged in white oak barrels then finished in port pipes. This Pike Creek expression takes that same 10 year old rye whisky, jacks up the ABV to 42% and adds a splash of rye to the corn whisky blend. Then, instead of port pipes, it’s finished in rum barrels.

Lot No. 40 Canadian Rye Whisky is distilled at the Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario. Its production is overseen by master blender Dr. Don Livermore. The whisky is made in a 12,000 liter copper pot-still and is 100% rye--90% Canadian rye and 10% malted rye. This whisky is a bit of a re-make of a re-make. Originally distilled at Joshua Booth's farm near Millhaven, Ontario at the end of the American Revolutionary War, Lot No. 40 was created as a tribute to Joshua by Mike Booth his great-great-great-great grand-nephew back in the 1990s. Lot No. 40 is bottled without an age statement at 86 proof.

Gooderham & Worts celebrates the history behind a Toronto grist mill and distillery which first produced whisky in 1837. It closed in 1990, but at its height was producing over 2 million liters of whisky a year, which at the time was half the production in the whole of Canada. This whisky was first released in the late 90’s as part of the failed Canadian Whisky Guild Series along with Lot 40 and Pike Creek. It’s back! This bottling was distilled by Corby Distillers and production was overseen by Dr. Don Livermore. The four grains blended are corn, wheat, rye, and barley. It is bottled at 44.4% abv.