Despite the dire warnings of my Sunday-school teacher, who warned me away from the licentious lifestyle of liquor and loose ladies, I do not believe the recent disaster I have taken to calling Floodageddon to be related to the biblical great flood designed to wash away the sins of mankind.
No, gentle reader, were Floodageddon the handiwork of a vengeful god aiming to smite the sinners of the world, I am confident Las Vegas would have been smote prior to High River.
The small town of High River, just a short drive south of Calgary, bore the full fury of the swollen banks of the Highwood River, and as of this writing, most of the town is still under several feet of water, and is still fully evacuated of all but emergency personnel.
Unable to help by bailing water, your humble narrator’s thoughts turned to Highwood Distillers, which has been operating in High River since 1974.
For those not in the know, Highwood Distillers is one of the few remaining independent Canadian distilleries, and is most certainly the Canadian distillery with the widest product line.
Unlike other distilleries that only produce rye whisky, or only produce vodka, Highwood Distillers produces or distributes dozens of different brands, ranging from whisky, vodka, gin, rum, liqueurs, and assorted premixes. If you can think of a type of spirit, it’s a pretty good bet that you get it from Highwood Distillers.
Tragically, at the time of this writing, Highwood Distillers and most of their neighbors are under two feet of water.
With emergency personnel still trying to make the town safe for citizens to re-enter, your humble narrator zipped down to the liquor store, hoping to provide some cash flow to Highwood Distillers to help them get back on their feet.
Long-time readers may recall that Highwood Distillers released a special limited-edition whisky last summer to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede, which was met with rave reviews by your intrepid liquor reporter.
With that limited production run long since sold out, I chose a bottle of their famous White Owl Whisky, which is unique in Canada today.
Most whisky is light brown in colour, due to the time spent aging in oak. Raw and un-aged whisky, similar to the stuff Uncle Jesse cooked up in his homemade still, is entirely clear.
Your globetrotting liquor reporter has indeed sampled un-aged whisky while on tasting tours of more than one distillery, and I can assure that that it is indeed a foul and harsh-tasting rotgut.
However, Highwood Distillers has crafted something else entirely. Made primarily from locally grown Alberta wheat, with rye grain added to provide more structure to the flavour profile, the whisky is distilled and then aged in oak.
Like most whiskies in the Canadian market, White Owl is a blend of several different whiskies, all of which have been aged for 3-10 years.
After blending, the whisky is charcoal-filtered to remove all the colouration imparted by the oak barrels, then bottled for your enjoyment.
The first time I looked at the bottle, I assumed that White Owl was a vodka or gin, and did a double-take at the label to learn it was a whisky.
Faithful readers may recall that your intrepid liquor reporter is an unrepentant whisky snob, preferring my whiskies to be single malt, and sipped neat.
White Owl tempers of the base wheat malt with rye, which adds hints of licorice and vanilla to the finished product, while the wheat base contributes a clean citrusy nose.
Although the White Owl Whisky stands on its own as a sipping whiskey, it is definitely more subdued in flavour than the whiskies normally preferred by your humble narrator.
This subdued flavour does make it more palatable as a mixer in highballs and martinis, which is the market niche that White Owl Whiskey excels in.
Substituting White Owl for rum in a Cuba Libré made for a delightful twist, as did replacing vodka in a multitude of martinis. In fact, give it a try pretty much anywhere you would use vodka.
So gentle reader, if you have spent a long hard day as a selfless volunteer on the bucket brigades in Calgary or High River, reward yourself for your labours with a fine bottle from Highwood Distillers.
