Celebrating Canada’s Best Whiskies

January 19, 2012. Victoria B.C. – Canada’s top whiskies of 2011 were announced today at the annual Canadian Whisky Awards, a gala celebration at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia.
The Canadian Whisky Awards reward the very best tasting Canadian whiskies, and recognize outstanding contributions made by highly successful individual whiskies and producers in generating favourable attention for Canadian whisky. Winners are chosen by a panel of seven judges following extensive blind tastings. Among the judges are some of Canada’s top whisky writers and bloggers.

Whisky makers nominate their very best whiskies creating a strong competitive field. Among these, gold medals were awarded to five entries, and silver medals to another twelve. Eight whiskies were recognized with bronze. Awards of Excellence were also presented. Here are the details:

Kittling Ridge Estate Wines and Spirits took home the award for Canadian Whisky of the Year with their 2011 release, Forty Creek John’s Private Cask No. 1. The whisky also won Connoisseur Whisky of the Year – Domestic earning the overall highest score for whiskies available only in Canada, and Best New Whisky of the Year as the highest scoring new release. Kittling Ridge also won Whisky Value of the Year for the Canadian market with it’s Canada Gold whisky.

Gold medals for Canada’s top whiskies went to several perennial favourites and one surprising newcomer. Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 year old, a scrumptious creamy, long-aged whisky with both elegance and power is a limited production whisky, available in Canada only and a strong favourite of Canadian whisky lovers. Wiser’s Small Batch, a rich, spicy and mouth filling delicacy was highly praised by the jury. Its upscale stable mate, Wiser’s Legacy, a pot-distilled rye just bursting with rye spices also took home gold, as did Forty Creek: John’s Private Cask No. 1.

The pleasant surprise of the evening came when Masterson’s Rye was announced as a gold medalist. Huh? Yes. Masterson’s is a whisky distilled in Calgary Alberta by Alberta Distillers Limited for a Sonoma, California-based purveyor of fine spirits, called 35 Maple Street. Released in the summer of 2012, Masterson’s has quickly gathered strength among American rye whisky lovers. As the highest scoring whisky available in the export market only – it is not yet available in Canada – Masterson’s was voted Connoisseur Whisky of the Year – Export. The company has promised to release Masterson’s in Canada in 2012.

Wiser’s Legacy, available in both Canada and the U.S. got the nod for Connoisseur Whisky of the Year – Multiple Markets. Wiser’s Legacy with its assertive rye flavour profile has quickly become a favourite of connoisseurs.
Awards of Excellence went to Alberta Springs 10 year old as the Sippin’ Whisky of the Year – Canada Only, Canadian Mist Black Diamond as Sippin’ Whisky of the year – Export Only, and Wiser’s Small Batch for Sippin’ Whisky of the Year – Multiple Markets. Canada Gold took Whisky Value of the Year – Canada Only, while Canadian Mist was acknowledged as Whisky Value of the Year – Multiple Markets.

The Awards also recognized Canadian Whisky Innovations. In a hotly contested competition, the judges eventually settled on White Owl Whisky from Alberta’s Highwood Distillers. Introduced in Alberta in 2010, White Owl really took the Canadian cocktail scene by storm the following year, bringing whisky flavour to a whole new demographic and generating new interest in Canadian whisky. White Owl is made by filtering long-aged Canadian rye whisky until it is as clear as vodka, making it an ideal mixer for bartenders wanting to give their fancy cocktails a rye flavour boost.

Canadian Club took home an Award of Excellence for Canadian Whisky Profile. This award recognizes the whisky or producer that in the opinion of the judges has contributed the most to raising the profile of Canadian whisky. Highlighting the role of Canadian Club during Prohibition, the brand supplemented its prominence on the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire, with a strong social media campaign, putting the words “Canadian whisky” (and its flavours) on the tip of many a new tongue.

The Award of Excellence for Line Extension was again, hard fought with Brown-Forman emerging as the victor with its Collingwood whisky. Collingwood was one of the most successful new launches of 2011 bringing the Canadian Mist line to the connoisseur’s whisky shelf. Collingwood’s unique flavours are attributed to leaving the mingled component spirits to rest in a huge “marrying vat,” with staves of toasted maple wood.

The organizers would like to thank the Victoria Whisky Festival for hosting the awards. More information about the Canadian Whisky Awards is available at www.canadianwhisky.org

The medalists:

Gold

Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 year old
Wiser’s Small Batch
Wiser’s Legacy
Forty Creek: John’s Private Cask No. 1
Masterson’s Rye

Silver:
Canadian Club Sherry Cask
Forty Creek Barrel Select
Alberta Springs 10 year old
Royal Canadian Small Batch
Pendleton 1910
Canadian Mist Black Diamond
Forty Creek Confederation Oak
Gibson’s Finest 12 year old
Canadian Club Reserve 10 year old
Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve
Caribou Crossing Single Barrel
Wiser’s 18

Bronze
Pendleton
Gibson’s Finest Sterling
Collingwood
Canada Gold
Centennial Limited Edition
Canadian Mist
Canadian Club Classic 12
White Owl

Notes:

About the Canadian Whisky Awards
The Canadian Whisky Awards are presented annually to recognize the very best Canadian whiskies and to encourage distillers to maintain the highest standards for making whisky. Only whiskies distilled and matured in Canada are eligible to compete. A panel of independent whisky writers, bloggers, and broadcasters selects the winners after tasting each whisky blind. The Awards are fully and fiercely independent of the Canadian whisky industry and operate on a not-for-profit basis.

About the judges

• Chairman of the Judges, Davin de Kergommeaux publishes the Canadian whisky website canadianwhisky.org. His book, Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert will be released in May 2012 by McClelland & Stewart.

• Jason Debly is a Fredericton New Brunswick-based whisky blogger who publishes Jason’s Scotch Whisky Reviews, jason-scotchreviews.blogspot.com “If the whisky tastes good or bad,” he tells us, “you will know, in no uncertain terms.”

• André Girard is co-president of the Quebec City Whisky Club and co-founder of Quebecwhisky.com, an ever growing French-language independent database with tasting notes for nearly 1000 whiskies.

• Mark Gillespie is a professional broadcast journalist in the U.S. and is the host and executive producer of Whisky Cast, the Cask-Strength Conversation, heard weekly at whiskycast.com. Mark is a Malt Maniac and long-time supporter of Canadian whisky.

• Based in Southwestern Ontario, Kris Shoemaker is a whisky fan with a nose for Canadian whisky. While his website, Daily Dramaddicts, dailydramaddicts.blogspot.com, is taking a backseat to impending fatherhood, he continues to comment regularly about Canadian whisky on Twitter.

• Edmonton, Alberta’s Chip Dykstra, aka Arctic Wolf, aka The Rum Howler, collects a wide range of spirits and reviews them on his Rum Howler blog, therumhowlerblog.wordpress.com.

Lawrence Graham is a Malt Maniac, organizer of the always sold-out Victoria Whisky Festival and publishes the highly popular website Whisky Intelligence, www.whiskyintelligence.com

The awards are hosted by, but independent from the Victoria Whisky Festival, www.victoriawhiskyfestival.com

Contact: Davin de Kergommeaux (613) 563-0254
davindek@gmail.com