Taste: 1oz sample neat in glen cairn, and then as the base spirit in old fashioned.
Nose (3.0) Fresh churned butter, caraway seed, fresh meadow flowers.
Palate: (3.75) Mouthfeel is smooth, rich, and buttery. Brown sugar comes forward and some cherries with a dab of clover honey. No rough edges on this, maybe but a bit timid.
Finish: (3.0) Lacks proof when neat so it is a quicker finish as compared to some of my more favorite barrel proof or close to it, American rye cousins. It stays together though with a nice balance all the way through.
Overall: Neat it is a bit underproofed and doesnt have those bold flavors I appreciate in a spicy barrelproof rye. More sweet to me. I don't dislike that, just throws me off a bit as it is a rye more like a corn forward whiskey. That said, my expertise in Canadian Rye is limited but I would like to explore it more. But what it isn't as a neat drinker it IS as a base for an old fashioned. Sweet without being cloying, enough spice to let you know you have some rye in there, and finely buffed edges that blend well with bitters, orange, and sugar. Garnish with luxardo cherries and it is hard NOT to make the perfect old fashioned.
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110% agree with your comments...I’d definitely like to see this @ 100+ proof—it’s just a bit too timid as is. Probably great in a Manhattan...but at $40 a bottle I’m not going to use it for that, and wouldn’t buy it again when I can have Michter’s, High West, Rabbit Hole, or any number of other, better US offerings for about the same money...
@WhiskeyLonghorn a cask strength version would make up for what I felt a little cheated on....big, bold, punchy flavor. I don't get that here, bit I do get a good rye mixer.
@Swahili1 good review! I agree with you on this one. Just finished a bottle of this and my lingering thought was “I wish we could get the cask strength version!”.
@jsk that was my biggest complaint if any......low proof. it was really a nice rye, but lacked the oomph of a Michter's Barrel Proof, or a Russell's SiB, or 4 yr Willette, which it reminded me alot of in taste profile.....but also less in price too. which is duly noted.
Wish we could get hte cask strength version of this in the states, I've heard good things about it.