Whisky

Bourbon Barrels
Whisky

Bourbon

Here is an interesting article from the New Haven Register (August 18, 1880) about how bourbon was made. It discusses both sweet mash and sour mash methods of making bourbon. It also lists a couple of laws I had never heard of before including the maximum amount of time for bourbon mash fermenting. I’ve transcribed the article, and back in […]

Whisky

Seagrams VO

The Seagram’s brand has a long history in the whisky market. Seagram’s VO is a very common whisky in North America and many bartenders use it on their rails, since it is the whisky included in the “Diageo rail” (Captain Morgan white rum, Tanqueray gin, Smirnoff vodka). It seems every bar I work at uses the same products, Diageo must […]

Whisky

Premium Canadian Whisky

Most people’s impression of Canadian whisky is that it is a rather uninteresting spirit with little depth. I think the reason for this is that of the four major whisky groups, Canadian whisky is the friendly, easy going one. Not surprisingly, many people see Canadians the same way. There is the casual side to Canadian whisky, with its light flavour, […]

Whisky

Johnnie Walker Swing

The house of Johnnie Walker has been a mainstay in the scotch market for many years. For good or bad, they have created whisky branding that is easy for the average consumer to identify and define the quality of the spirit in the bottle. Obviously, I’m talking about the Red, Black, Green, Gold and Blue labels. But there is more […]

Whisky

Distinguishing Between Malt and Blended Whisky

Part I Many people assume that they can tell the difference between two, seemingly different, spirits. But the question is whether they are being a “posers” or a skilled drinker. People who are involved in the scotch world often refer to someone who will only drink single malt whiskies, as “malt snobs”. Some people chose to be a malt snob […]

Whisky

Whisky Tasting

After the last two posts (Malt vs. Blend and Whisky vs Cognac) I think it would be good to tie up some loose ends and discuss some of the good comments that were posted. The one thing that these two simple research papers show is that tasting spirits, at least whisky and brandy are more difficult than we generally think. […]

A bottle of Crown Royal Canadian Whisky
Whisky

Crown Royal

A series of Canadian whisky reviews should start with the royalty of Canadian whisky, Crown Royal, and one of the standards by which all other Canadian whiskies should be judged, only because it has been around for 80 years and is still immensely popular. Almost everyone who drinks whisky has heard, tasted or observed Crown Royal sitting on the back […]

Whisky

Wiser’s Deluxe Whisky

Wiser’s is the fifth most popular whisky brand in Canada. Wiser Deluxe is also available in most US states and select market around the world. It was originally distilled in 1857 by J.P. Wiser and is aged for 10 years in oak barrels. It is a traditional Canadian blend. It is also the fastest growing Canadian whisky brand, and that […]