Canadian Whisky has come a long way since the days of Mad Men, Prohibition, and the Napoleonic Wars. With the 11th annual Canadian Whisky Awards happening last week, I briefly withdrew from the sanctity of my wine cellar where I have been sheltering in place while waiting for the 3rd wave of the pandemic to watch the awards broadcast online.
There were a few Alberta distilleries that took home medals, but the bulk of the awards went to more established BC and Ontario distillers with older stocks. The grand prize winner was also Canada’s oldest available bottling, a 43 year old release from the iconic Canadian Club, faithfully produced in Windsor, Ontario.
Interestingly, the origins of Canadian Club Whisky are not actually Canadian. A titan of American industry named Hiram Walker was already producing whisky in his hometown of Detroit, but moved across the river in 1858 to what is now Windsor, in order to escape strict prohibition laws in effect in the USA at the time. Unsurprisingly, his distillery on the Canadian side of the Detroit River was but a stone’s throw from the bustling metropolis of Detroit, making midnight smuggling runs across the river in unlit boats a common occurrence.
The 43 year old release is the oldest bottling of Canadian Club ever released, and very limited supplies are available for around $300 at well-stocked booze merchants across our great nation, but will likely disappear from the shelves soon thanks to winning the prestigious 2021 Canadian Whisky of the Year award.
Lest you think that Canadian Club is Canada’s oldest whisky, that honour actually goes to John Molson, better known as the founder of the Molson Brewery. While there was a small distillery in Quebec City as early as 1769, John Molson opened the first industrial-sized commercial brewery in 1801, as an expansion of the Molson Brewery in Montreal. A Scotsman by birth, John Molson came from a distilling family in the old country, and put those skills to use in the new world. The Napoleonic Wars of 1803-1815 were an economic boon to the Molson family, who exported whisky as fast as they could make it to the UK, who was cut off from their supplies of French wine and cognacs due to the war.
At the other end of the spectrum from the thundering juggernaut known as Canadian Club, a small distiller on Vancouver Island took home the coveted Artisanal Distillery of the Year award. DEVINE Distillery is located in Victoria, and I can recall sampling their wares at the Victoria Whisky Festival in the carefree pre-pandemic era. This year’s winner was the DEVINE Ancient Grains Whisky, so named due to its use of barley, spelt, emmer, khorosan, and einkorn grains, all locally sourced from BC farms.
Closer to home, Alberta Premium Rye is another longstanding Canadian icon, and the Cask Strength bottling took home the gold medal this year. This whisky has been distilled in Calgary’s historic Ramsay neighbourhood since 1946, making it Alberta’s first and oldest distillery. Alberta Premium Rye Whisky is usually aimed at the Rye & Coke value segment of the market, watered down to the legal limit of 40% ABV, so this Cask Strength Release at 65% ABV is a force to be reckoned with. This particular whisky has been racking up international awards since 2019, so this gold medal at the Canadian Whisky Awards is just one more feather in its cap.
Faithful readers may recall me waxing poetic about the Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley, who took home a silver medal for their single malt, and a bronze for their recently released blend called Rupert’s Whisky. Definitely worth the drive to their distillery tasting room on main street in Turner Valley, and I plan to spend some time on their patio in the summer months.
Despite our relatively small domestic market, Canadian Whisky has consistently punched above its weight in the international export markets, with the USA and Japan particular fans of our distilled spirits. Alberta is blessed with some of the best barley in the world, a fact well known by many Scottish and Indian whisky distillers who have been buying our barley crops for decades. With the rise of the craft distilling movement in Canada, this is our time to shine, so look for a Canadian whisky at your local bottle shop today!
