Long lost child of Canadian whisky empire coming home

A long lost child of the Canadian whisky empire is coming home.

From the vestiges of the world’s southern-most whisky producer in New Zealand – which was once a part of Canada’s vast Seagrams realm – the rare and acclaimed Dunedin DoubleWood 10 year old blend has just arrived in Ontario.

Crafted from the pure ingredients for which the Land of the Long White Cloud is famed, the distinctive Dunedin DoubleWood is turning heads. It has picked up a swag of awards in recent competitions and also helped New Zealand score stunning triumphs over Scotland, Wales and England in last month’s Whisky Test Match series across the UK. The New Zealand Whisky Collection’s win in Edinburgh, against three local legends (Glenfiddich, Johnnie Walker and Ardbeg) in a blind tasting by Scottish judges, was a particularly stunning upset.

The DoubleWood “noses and tastes older than its 10 years. A distinctive, pleasant nose which combines scented face cream with light rose wine and later some sandalwood,” according to Whisky authority, Charles Maclean.

Seagrams – the Canadian company that was once the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world – owned the New Zealand distillery in Dunedin, from where the DoubleWood hails, for most of that distillery’s life.

“The distillery flourished under Seagrams,” said New Zealander Cyril Yates, who started at the distillery as a teenager and worked there for 24 years.

“But in the late 1990s, Australian brewer Fosters bought it and shut it down – just as I was due for a 25 year long-service reward trip to Ontario to visit the Seagrams’ museum.”

The closure marked the end of a chequered distilling history in New Zealand that began with Scottish settlers in the 1800s but encountered numerous setbacks along the way, such as prohibition, and even interference from Scottish bankers who would only finance construction of New Zealand’s railways if the local whisky industry was wiped out.

The barrels of whisky that remained at the now defunct distillery were sold to a wine company. They left the single malt quietly maturing and ingeniously decanted all the blended whisky into red wine barrels to add character and colour – a technique that is now being copied, even back in Scotland. The whisky has sat in those 443 barrels, ageing and sweetening, in a South Island seaside bondstore ever since.

“It is the influence of the red wine barrels which gives the whisky a cream soda, almost bubblegum-like soft and sweet explosion across the palate,” said the Collection’s Greg Ramsay.

Two years ago, Mr Ramsay – a young whisky enthusiast and golf entrepreneur from the tiny Australian island of Tasmania – bought those barrels and set about bottling the whisky as part of a plan to revive the New Zealand whisky industry.

The New Zealand Whisky Company hasn’t looked back – its whisky collection is picking up awards wherever it goes and is being exported to Scotland, Australia, the Netherlands – and now Canada, courtesy of the LCBO. Early next year, LCBO will also stock New Zealand’s 21 year old South Island Single Malt.

Plans are now also on the horizon to resume distilling at Dunedin.

“Canada is one of the world’s most discerning whisky markets and we can’t wait for their verdict on these delicious drams,” said Mr Ramsay.

“In fact, the fate of a mothballed New Zealand industry, that was once so well nurtured in Canadian care, could once again sit with the people of Ontario. If our foray into Canada proves as successful as our other international exports, then a return to distilling will happen sooner rather than later.”

The Dunedin DoubleWood is available now at LCBO outlets. It retails for $89.95 More information about the New Zealand Whisky Company is available at www.thenzwhisky.com.