Nearly every whisky-producing region in the world is feeling the love as of late. Japan! Ireland! USA! But what about Canada? Confusion still reigns in terms of what most casual drinkers know about Canadian whisky. It’s time to clear that up.
1. Know the Blend, Love the Blend
People tend to look down at blended whisky. But the concept of blending—most but not all of Canadian whiskies are made by distilling and aging grains separately and blending upon maturation, as opposed to distilling a mash bill of multiple grains together—and Canadian whisky regulations, on the whole, are designed to offer producers a great deal of flexibility.
Canadian whisky regulations simply consist of being fermented, aged, and distilled in Canada, made with grain, 40 percent alcohol, in a wooden barrel fewer than 700 liters, for a minimum of three years. Those regulations enable the category to be extremely diverse. Producers are not told how to distill, or which barrel types, mash bills, or grain types to use. The interpretation is left to the blender.
Master blenders are then armed with a huge array of weapons in their whisky-making arsenals. Knowing all of the technical details that go into making whisky, blenders can dial a flavor up or down, as well as smooth it out to make more of an impact. They can find certain types of flavors by playing with the fermentation. Blenders can also play with the grain—rye gives a spicy side, barley gives a nutty character, and corn gives a sweet character. Or they can change wood—different barrels. Blenders can try aging in a sherry barrel or use brand-new virgin oak to get that nice vanilla and toffee. Blending whisky is like a painter’s palette; the more color of paint on the palette, the more diverse it can be.
2. Appreciate a Unique Difference
Building further on the concept of blending and flexibility is a rule that often gets lambasted because it’s poorly understood: Up to 9.09 percent of a Canadian whisky can consist of other spirits or wines. This can make blending even more fun. And the rule stems from historical Canadian practice. From the oldest formula books, one can see ingredients like prune wine and rum being blended into spirits in the 1880s.
As for the specifics of the rule, the 9.09 percent, representing 1 part in 11, came from simple math. It was designed by looking at the wines and spirits being blended in, taking 100 mLs, then 10 percent on top of it, and then dividing. As for additions to the whisky, it must be wine or two-year-old spirits. It could be brandy, tequila, scotch, Irish whiskey—any type of spirit that has been aged for a minimum of two years is eligible. It can even be a younger Canadian spirit on its way to becoming whisky. As a regulation, Canadian whisky itself must be aged for a minimum of three years.
The rule is not always put to use, but as with other Canadian whisky regulations, it provides that foundation of flexibility. The ingredients added usually tend to be on the expensive side. For example, instead of purchasing good quality sherry barrels, blenders can find quality sherry itself and blend it in.
3. You Can Put the Mixers Away, if You Want
With more and more great Canadian whisky being made available, you can safely put the ginger ale or soda away and drink it neat or on the rocks due to the great quality. But only if you want to. At the same time, there is still the adaptability and innovation that allows people to add ginger ale, Coke, or another soda if they want to.
Increasingly, Canadian whisky is being used behind the bar in craft cocktails, too. To make a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned, a whisky with a high rye content, to be balanced with the vermouth, can be used. It’s great for drinking cocktails and having bartender-friendly spirits.
4. Go Beyond the Big Boys
Canadian whisky is dominated by its major distilleries even more than American whiskey. But that has slowly started to change with the emergence of younger startup distilleries. There are more styles, more diversity and different flavors.
The more little distilleries there are, the more talk there is. You don’t grow whisky as one brand. You grow it as a category. With the Canadian whisky category, with diversity and adaptability, there could be some really interesting and fun styles to be made.
5. You Can Buy American to Drink Canadian
You may already be buying and loving Canadian whisky without realizing it. That’s because a number of American brands source the whisky they end up blending and bottling from Canada’s major distilleries. Some American brands can entirely or partially consist of Canadian whisky. Who knew you could stay patriotic while exploring our northern neighbors at the same time.
