Lot No. 40 Canadian Rye

I was excited for a 100% mashbill. I can get salted caramel in the nose. Taste is a bit flat with plenty of pepper notes.

Nose: Rye spice first, fresh baked bread with a caramel and vanilla. Palate: Oily mouthfeel. Sweetness comes in with well balanced oak. Spice and slight bitterness forefront, masking a subtle sweetness that balances this drink out. Finish: Long and spicy. Residual flavors lingering on the soft palate.Lingering oak. Overall: Truly an amazing rye whiskey, one of my favorite. I like everything about it from the price tag to the nose and its finish. A solid 9. It's a bottle that I always keep in my bar.

On Canada Day eve (can't that be its own holiday?), I thought it appropriate to break open a newer Canadian rye in the collection: Lot 40 Rye Whisky. It has a maple nose that makes me feel downright patriotic. This rye has an initial oak flavour which morphs into a general spicy burn. It's not terribly nuanced, but is a decent basic rye on your bar over ice or for within a cocktail. I find myself missing its previous iterations which had a bit more character and intrigue. Until then, O' Canada. 6.5/10

It definitely has that rye character, but it isn't too strong. Like the Caribou Crossing Single Barrel, there is a lot of juniper in here, making it taste a bit like an aged gin. The catch though is that that flavor is a lot more palatable here. There's black pepper, ginger, and a lot of maple. It tastes a bit on the young side and doesn't have that mature complexity that I would really like from a whiskey. As an aged gin though it's pretty good. I could sip this, but it isn't terribly enjoyable. The things it does have going for it though are its clarity of character, clean finish, and refreshingness. It gets a pass, but barely. The vanilla mixes well with the other herbs, avoiding a gross, bitter outcome. There are hints of fruit that tend a little toward punchy cherry, but they sit in the background.