By Julia Thiel
April 15, 2015
Canada has a reputation for producing light, smooth whiskies without much whisky flavor—which makes them popular among people who don’t particularly like whisky, and anathema to those who do. (Unlike the U.S., Canada, Scotland, and Japan spell “whisky” without the e.) That reputation isn’t entirely undeserved; for many years, the Canadian whiskies that were being exported to the U.S. were mostly along the lines of Seagram’s Seven, Canadian Club, and Canadian Mist—which are generally pretty tasteless—earning Canadian whisky the nickname “brown vodka.”
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Some of the first whiskeys I tried in the evening also have a connection to Canada: though Whistlepig Distillery is located in Vermont, the alcohol for its signature ten-year, 100-percent-rye whiskey originally came from Alberta Distillers in Canada, and some still does. The new product they were sampling at WhiskyFest, however, is not from Canada but from MGP, the Indiana manufacturer that also supplies Templeton, Angel’s Envy, Redemption, and Bulleit, among other distilleries (Whistlepig seems to have learned from Templeton’s mistakes after last year’s backlash; the brand rep told me where the whiskey was from before I asked). It’s called the Old World Series. After getting nine-year-old whiskey (95 percent rye, 5 percent malt) from MGP, Whistlepig ages it for another three years and then finishes it in various wine casks: sauternes, Madeira, and port. The plan is eventually to blend the three, but for now they’re releasing the results individually in limited quantities (it’s available only in New York, Illinois, and California; the sauternes is out now and the others will be out in the next few weeks).
What stood out to me most was how smooth and easy to drink the Old World Series is compared to Whistlepig’s other whiskeys—which can be explained partly by the fact that this series is bottled at 90 proof, unlike Whistlepig Rye (100 proof), TripleOne (111 proof), and the Boss Hog (117-134 proof, depending on the year). There’s also a little less rye, but I think it’s mostly the lower proof and the wine-barrel aging that smooth these whiskeys out so much. The sauternes-finished one is spicy, sweet, and oaky, the lightest-bodied of the bunch. The Madeira has a fruitier, fuller flavor—blackberry, cherry, and black pepper—and is equally spicy. The port barrels tame the rye spice almost entirely, making it the smoothest of the three, but also add a bit of sweetness and lots of red wine flavor. Full-bodied and fruity, with all the complexity of a good wine, this was my favorite of the lot (though I’d buy any of them if I had an extra hundred-odd dollars on hand and could find them).
