Canadian Club - Small Batch - Sherry Cask - Tasting Notes

In a lovely Twitter Tasting hosted by Johanne, Graham, and Davin what is in total 4 different sessions, where we talk about Davin his book and Canadian Whisky, we had a taste of this beautiful dram in the first session. 

At Canadian Club they use an unique recipe and process what was created over 150 years ago. By selecting the finest grains for there products they select for their grain bill rye, rye malt, barley malt and corn. The corn produces a distillate that is colorless, odorless and tasteless and this is used as their “base whisky.”

Before maturation starts they blend the various distillates before aging. Creating so a blend, according to the original recipe, and then putting it into a barrel so that it ages together. This pre-barrel blending process allows the flavor of the distillates to marry during the aging process—ultimately creating a smoother, more refined taste profile.

They use used white-oak American bourbon barrels to age Canadian Club whisky. These used barrels are favored because during the barrel’s first use, the bourbon absorbs the new barrel’s pronounced oak flavor. That gives Canadian Club its distinctive rich oak flavor.

This beauty from Canadian Club is made in very small quantities from whiskies that have been aged at least eight years in white oak barrels, then double matured in sherry casks imported from Jerez in Spain.
The nose delivers directly the smell of rye bread and struck matches. Then ginger and a lot of sweetness of fruit hits my nose. Followed closely with notes of spice, wood, warm wintery spices, red apple, ripe fruit, bit meaty, caramel, and last but not least sticky toffee pudding. It is just very jummy must say... Not very experienced with Canadian whiskies, but liking this very much!

Moving on to the palate. I first pick up the creaminess, spice, and pepper combined with ginger bread. The Rye is clearly present here, but not overpowering for sure. Then some sweet notes like sticky toffee pudding, dried fruits, apricots and vanilla come forward. Followed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and some nuts and marmalade. I have tasted something here what I have never encountered, but here it is grilled pumpkinseeds. That is maybe the nuttiness I am sensing also a bit here.

The middle length finish is a bit dry but also not too dry, nicely balances with the sweet notes of the dried fruit, apricots, and vanilla. A hint of berries in the background I think? Even gives it a bit liqeurish note to it. Very nice and balanced dram we have here.

Would love to have myself a bottle of this one, the Rye and Sherry combine here very well, and I give it a 7,5 out of 10. Very nice! The empty glass gave us after the tasting some sawdust notes sprinkled with lemon, a very nice fresh smell. Davin told us this 'dusty' note is something that is common in Rye and unmalted Barley.

Please have a look at Davin his great website if you want to know more about him or Canadian Whisky. Thank you Johanne, Graham, and Davin for this great sample, it was a pleasure and looking forward to the other tastings and discussions to follow in this #DavinTT2 Twitter action...