Pike Creek Canadian Whisky Finished in Port Wine Barrels

[This review is of the 10-year-old age stated Canadian version.] While Pike Creek is head and shoulders above the typical Canadian whisky, here's the problem: Canadian whisky as a style is already quite sweet, and port finishing tends to add sweetness, so what you've got here is sweet upon sweet with not enough rye character to really bring it back from the edge. Flavour is a cross between a typical Canadian and a port- or sherry-finished Scotch: vanilla, oak, holiday spice, a bit of rye and dill, some breadiness. Berries. Nuttiness, dark fruits and brown sugar. Not bad, but Alberta Premium Dark Horse pulls off the "wine-finished Canadian whisky" trick a lot better, and both Lot 40 and Wiser's Legacy are better exemplars than Pike Creek of the so-called "new breed" of Canadian whisky.