Collingwood Blended Canadian Whisky

Very smooth

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, oatmeal cracker, cinnamon, a brittle, spirity aroma behind a faint oak note. It gets a little better as it rests and yes, maple sugar does appear. Interestingly, a drop of water opens the nose both dispelling the spirity quality and uncovering a distinctly perfumed note rather like faint musk. Palate: Prickly and hard, bitter pine resin. Faint suggestions of marzipan and liquorice. The texture is thin and sharp and simultaneously limp and lifeless. That takes some doing. Adding water helps and over time with dilution some caramel can be noticed, but this is just not a great sipping whisky. Finish: Short. Bitter and sour. With water it’s just a little less bitter. Periodically I try a new Canadian whisky and every time I’m disappointed. Maybe I’m being too cheap and only buying the dross but it would be so nice to occasionally taste one that is at least average. This is thin and what aromas and flavours do show through are not engaging. I can’t believe that this is the best Canada can offer at this price point. For the same money I can buy Cutty Sark Prohibition, Glen Grant 12, Tamnavulin Double Cask, Teeling Small Batch, Glenfiddich 12, Jim Beam Bonded and even our own home-grown Starward Twofold ... the list goes on and on and every alternative can simply thrash this poor devil of a whisky into the ground. The only value I can see in this whisky is as a mixer, and it’s not so great in that role either. You can’t cook with bad ingredients, so why mix with inferior spirits? The official review notes are on target for this one but the score is too generous. I get the distinct feeling this whisky may have been better a few years ago. “Inferior” : 67/100 (1.5 stars)

No

Good smooth whiskey. Middle of the road on sweetness strength.

it tastes like you're drinking your own piss after eating an entire bottle of Vitamin C capsules, maybe the Flinstones brand from 1991.