Royal Reserve is the name of a whisky distilled by Corby’s, a major Canadian distiller that was bought by Hiram Walker a few years ago. With all the mergers going on in the spirit world, it’s hard to say who own’s Corby now. The one thing that Corby has done is create some good Canadian whiskies, including the Canadian Whisky Guild series. The three whiskies, Lot No. 40, Pike Creek and Gooderham & Worts were small batch whiskies created to showcase to the world the excellence and craftsmanship that Canadian distilling is capable. If I had the resources, I would love to review these three whiskies, but alas, they are harder to come by and more expensive. So what does this have to do with Royal Reserve? Well, some of the whiskies used to blend the Canadian Whisky Guild series are used in Royal Reserve.

To start my Canadian whisky review I figure I should start with the royalty of Canadian whisky, Crown Royal, and one of the standards by which I'll judge other Canadian whiskies. Almost everyone who drinks whisky has heard, tasted or observed Crown Royal sitting on the back bar. Crown Royal was one of the first super premium spirits when it was created in 1939 for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during a royal visit to Canada. Whether the Seagram’s company knew it at the time, or not, that was a stoke of genius for advertising. Especially in a country that had very close ties to England. This spirit was only available in Canada until 1964 and then for the past forty plus years has become a brand recognized around the world.

Every time I go to the liquor store the Canadian whisky sections stands out quite prominently. I personally like the Canadian style of whisky, and that character is smooth with slight toffee sweetness and hints of fruit on the nose, balanced out by some spicy rye and oak flavours. There is a vast array of Canadian whisky brands to choose from, but the question on my mind has been whether there is much difference in the style and taste between the brands. Does Gibson’s Finest 12 Year Old taste much different than Crown Royal? What about the whisky called Schenley OFC, is it any good? How about Royal Reserve and Wiser’s? Well, I’m finally going to find out and I will be reviewing twelve Canadian whiskies (listed below) in the $20 to $30 per 26'er (750ml) range. All funds are in Canadian dollars.

A few months ago I drove two hours to pick up a bottle of Lillet Blanc (pronounced Lee-Lay), so I could make a Corpse Reviver II. The Corpse Reviver II was OK, but the Lillet intrigued me. Lillet Blanc is an aperitif from the Bordeaux region of France that was created in 1887 as a tonic for whatever ailed you. It comes in white or red versions, the red version being created in the 1960's, and is in the same family as vermouth, but it has subtle differences. The formula for Lillet contains wine, orange peel and quinine, which provides the slightly bitter aperitif quality that has made this drink so popular.

While I was thinking about what to write, I glanced up and notices my collection of Food & Drink magazines from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). I decided somewhere in one of those magazines there must be something that would inspire me to write. The first issue I pulled out was from the summer of 2004 and had a recipe for the Mint Divine, a rye, mint and lemonade recipe. Basically it’s a whisky sour with mint. Possibly something I could write about, but maybe there was something more interesting in another edition. In the summer 2005 edition of Food & Drink there is a recipe for a drink called the “Diablo.” Now that was interesting and is used tequila, so that is what I’m going to write about. But, there is also a recipe using brandy, so now it’s even more interesting.

For those who are aspiring molecular mixologists there is more to the “molecular” part of the title than just liquids and powders. There are some great pieces of chemistry equipment that can benefit any aspiring mixologist. The first one that I’m going to discuss is the Buchner funnel. Basically, this is a filtering device that uses a hand operated vacuum pump to pull liquids through a fine grade filter paper in a flask. Nothing sucks more than trying to filter something through a coffee filter for 20 minutes. A Buchner funnel will filter liquids in a fraction (think seconds) of the time and the costs of this device is relatively cheap (about $60). For anyone playing with bitters, a Buchner filter is a must.

The word on the street is that Tuaca is a super premium, brandy based, Italian liqueur. Now, anytime I hear or read the words “super premium” I become a bit skeptical. What is super premium anyway? Premium should be enough of a description, but I digress. Tuaca is a fruit, citrus and spiced brandy which is probably meant to be sipped neat. So that’s the way I approached this product, as a brandy. For me brandy goes into a glass sans the ice cubes and mix, it is enjoyed for what it is.

Well the upgrade seems to have been successful. Hopefully this will allow me to add some new features and there shouldn't be anymore problems with posting comments. I still have to put the list of links back up and do a few touchups on the layout, but over all the site is now operational. Now what I need to do is get back to writing. I should have a new article up tomorrow and the subject will be Tuaca liqueur. After that I'm looking at doing a "Canadian Whisky Week" were I'm going to do a review of the Canadian whisky that I've purchased over the years. I'll see how they compare and where they fit into the spirit world. Somewhere in there I'll be writing about my bitters experiment, the ingredients have been ordered and soon the blending should begin. Thanks again for being patient during the upgrade.

Over the next few days I'll be upgrading the backend database to the website. The current version is causing me some headaches and other issues, including people having trouble posting comments. The website shouldn't be down, but it may go offline for a short period of time, so sometime between now and Monday. Hopefully that will fix the issues I / we've been having.

The second edition of this mixilogical event was a success. The number of participants was double that (16) of last month, which is great. Hopefully we can maintain and grow this participation level. Rum seems to be the best spirit to mix with coffee, based on the cocktails created or reviewed in this edition. Both cold and hot cocktails made a roughly equal appearance. But, coffee based cocktails din't seem to work for everyone, but it is still a good read to learn from others errors. Also, when making the Flaming Coffee Grog, use caution if you like your eye brows.

Back in October 2005 there was a cocktail challenge being held for RumFest in New York. Now I like rum, but the cocktails that use rum are usually fruity or sweet concoctions, save for the Mojito, Mai Tai and Daiquiri. Well I’m sure there are a lot of great rum cocktails out there, but most people think pineapple and coconut when imagining a rum drink. I wanted to create a rum cocktail that was similar to the Manhattan, something smooth, drinkable and distinct. Common amber rum is not inherently smooth and very few people could drink it without some form of mixer, so I decided that a shot of fresh brewed cold coffee was the trick.

Well last night was a good night at the bar. I had some guests from out of town, unfortunately I didn’t get their names, but we had a good discussion on cocktails, some history, bitters, Manhattans and a beer called Waterloo Dark. A question was asked for a good recipe for a Manhattan, and I said I would post the one I use here. Also, it seems everyone is making their own bitters. Jamie Boudreau, who writes at Spirits & Cocktails has created his own house bitters. Gary Regan, has his own bitters and Robert Hess (aka “Drinkboy) has his own bitters and I’m sure Ted Haigh (aka “Dr. Cocktail) and Dale DeGroff have their own secret blends too. That means I should create my own bitters. Why? Just because I can.

Many years ago there were mysterious places called “malt shops” that served burgers, sundae’s and milkshakes made with malted milk powder. If you were born in the 70's, like me, or later, it is unlikely that you have ever encountered a malted milkshake. I personally have never been to a malt shop, nor have I had a malted milkshake at a restaurant. Today it is very hard to find one of these really tasty creations, and Nestle, the maker of malted milk powder, has seen decline in the sales of its malted milk powder. The only reason I know what these shakes taste like is because I’ve eaten Maltesers (Woppers in the US). If you have never tried one, or you now have a craving for one, they are relatively easy to make and the ingredients are readily available. I’ve even decided to give this pop culture icon a little kick and now it qualifies as a cocktail.