100% Rye Whisky | 50% ABV

Sometimes You Gotta Go To America To Get The Best Of Canada

The best rye distillery in the world is in Calgary, Alberta. Like most Canadian whisky distilleries, it’s an industrial operation. There aren’t any tours at this factory. Truckloads of rye grain go in every day and whisky comes out, more often than not by tanker for bottling elsewhere. Some of the best of it ends up south of the border in the bottles of American brands. A very Canadian story.

Rye whisky can be hard to get your head around sometimes. It’s an aggressive spirit and there are some downright bad ones out there (I’ve yet to try a micro distilled rye that wasn’t terrible). Perhaps this is because rye spirit needs time in active wood to mellow out, and smaller operations may not have the luxury of time or money for quality new barrels. Not to mention rye grain is notoriously difficult to work with during mashing and fermentation. This isn’t a problem for Alberta Distillers Limited, as their whole operation is geared around handling rye grain – from bespoke starch conversion enzymes to their own yeast strain that minimises the grain’s tendency to gum up equipment.

Although only about a quarter of the 20 million litres of absolute alcohol produced annually is bottled under their own brands, in recent years ADL has been seen to make some efforts to increase their house brand offerings with the release of a yearly Alberta Premium cask strength edition.

Good rye is in its own flavour category and being a single malt enthusiast isn’t a prerequisite to buy into the fan club. Like peated malt attacks the senses with smoked band-aids and burning rubber, rye also brings herbal aromas and flavours such as menthol, eucalyptus, dill, and caraway. For the uninitiated but rye-curious, American whiskey can offer a gateway via high-rye bourbons and “barely legal” American rye whiskeys. These drinks provide rye flavour moderated by generous amounts of sweet corn, and mellowed by charred oak.

In the USA, it’s common for non-distilling producers to present their whiskey as having been created by them, or at least to their specific and unique specifications. It can be easy to get negative and cynical about this type of deception and it’s easy to question why, as a Canadian, I should buy Canadian whisky imported from America. Why we don’t have a readily available equivalent bottled on home soil is a mystery and seemingly a lost opportunity for ADL, who could easily (and should) start up their own premium rye brand. 

As Dallas says, in the end it’s about the liquid and I don’t mind as long as it’s good whisky at a fair price. When I drink whisky I prefer to know as much as possible about the bottle contents, and usually it’s fairly easy to piece together after a bit of research. I suppose that’s our job as Dramface writers. In the case of this bottle, Whistlepig is not really hiding anything as long as you’re willing to do more than a surface scan. The back label says “Product of Canada” and their marketing includes copy about how the late Dave Pickerell liberated these poor, underappreciated barrels from Canada. 

Well, time for a rye review, also known as “the devil’s grain” as some call it around here at Dramface. And, as an added bonus and for contrast, I’ve also thrown in a review of one of J.P. Wiser’s NHL alumni series.

Review

WhistlePig 10yo Rye, Batch A/357, 50% ABV
CA$98. A blend of straight rye whiskies and is intermittently available

Alberta Distillers Limited is owned by Beam Suntory and supplies whisky to their operations in Kentucky, as well as to other independent bottlers. This sourced bottling is probably one of ADL’s flavouring rye spirits, likely distilled first in a column still and then a 77,000 litre batch kettle, which is essentially a stainless steel pot still complete with sacrificial copper. The spirit is filled into new charred oak casks and aged on site before being shipped to Vermont for further ageing, blending, and bottling at the WhistlePig headquarters.

The finished product is filled into a nice bottle with a big chunky cork that produces a satisfying pop, reverberating within and vibrating the heavy glass walls that house the liquid. The WhistlePig logo is stamped into the glass at the back which is best viewed from the front of the bottle through the amber liquid. 

Fancy bottles aside, we can be happy that WhistlePig includes an age statement for most of their core range and bottled at enthusiast-friendly ABVs, both of which are not the norm under ADL’s house brands. And since this is being presented as an American straight rye whiskey, we know there is no colouring added. So after all its cross-border frolicking, this turns out to be probably one of the higher quality experiences when it comes to Canadian rye.

Nose

Initially a little muted, oak, char, caramel, fake cherry flavouring, fresh mint. A month with decent headspace in the bottle and it opens up dramatically with herbal wineyness, sweet buttered corn, liquorice (both strawberry and black varieties), fruit punch, and an orange drink. It also has a powdery essence to it like baby powder, Tums, or maybe even Flintstones multivitamins

Palate

Thinner than expected for the ABV but still quite juicy. Cherry cough syrup, anise, menthol, buttery vanilla rum cake, caraway seeds, and some bitter aperitivo. Water doesn’t seem to add anything new to the experience. Hits more in the back of the mouth and has a tendency to want to sneak up the nasopharynx if you’re not giving it the respect it deserves. Nicely balanced and tannic dry finish.

Score: 6/10

Bonus Review

J.P. Wiser’s Wendel Clark 11yo

Rye whisky, 2018-2019 Edition, 41.6% ABV, CA$45 and available for Ontario shipping on the distillery website

This one is from the Hiram Walker distillery, producers of the well known Lot No. 40 rye. A good example of what the larger Canadian distilleries can do on a whim with their well-aged and diverse whisky stocks. This bottle is part of a one-off Wiser’s NHL alumni series, which works with the NHL alumni association to donate some of the proceeds to local hockey initiatives.

The label details are good on this and we know we have an 11 year old 100% rye aged in bourbon barrels. Unlike Lot No. 40 this is column distilled rye, but may also have some of the Lot No. 40 style pot distilled rye in the blend.

Nose
Fruity, caramel, cedar, bubblegum, and candy floss. Floral, vanilla, lavender, and sage. Grass cut with a gas mower, some sort of aerosol spray from a can.

Palate
Cinnamon and chilli pepper at first as it spreads evenly across the tongue. A sweet mid-palate with maple syrup and honey water. Rye bread and a nice bitter finish, longer than expected for the ABV.

Score: 5/10

The Dregs
The Whistlepig is a big bold flavour punch. An intense style that cannot be accurately evaluated from the neck pour. Time in the glass is your friend with this one – more than the Ralfy recommended one minute for each year in the cask and it decompresses wonderfully leaving multiple flavour layers, including a few that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Whistlepig presents a great opportunity to try flavouring whisky from ADL. Without independent bottlers, this whisky may not be seen outside of the usual blends. It’s in premium packaging and priced accordingly, which is where the fault lies. Although the complexity and depth of flavour is there, at its heart this is a brawler of a whisky. I’m getting images of passing the bottle around a campfire during a hot prairie summer, but a near three figure price tag doesn’t really fit that narrative. I’d like to see this around CA$60, which might be possible if it didn’t have to cross the border twice.

Where the WhistlePig brings intense medicinal cherry notes, and a drying sensation in the mouth, the Wendel Clark is lighter, more fresh and floral, depositing a layer of sweetness on the tongue. The price is right as well – it’s hard to argue with any 11 year old whisky at CA$45. Bottled slightly above the bare minimum 40% ABV, it struggles to match the intensity of the higher ABV WhistlePig. It’s a good sipper, but a simpler whisky that doesn’t require as much dissecting.

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AM

Other opinions on this:

In Search of Elegance (Whistlepig)

In Search of Elegance (Wendel Clark)

Malt (Whistlepig)

Selfbuilt’s Whisky Analysis (Wendel Clark)

Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.