What have we got here! Some very exciting 100% Rye Canadian whisky from Alberta Premium - one of the most talked about whiskies from our North American, non-Bourbon producing counterparts.

Now it goes without saying that over the past 10 - 20 years, any talk of how "good" whisky can only be made in one place or another has been totally debunked - you can make good whisky anywhere! We've seen it in the most unlikely of places, quite frankly. And part of that movement has involved some re-education on our part, and an open mindedness to letting go of any preconceived ideas we have about where whisky should be made. In many instances we've also seen a complete turnaround - which should really be more lauded - a renewed commitment to change things up and make an active effort to seriously produce quality whiskies.

So what's all the disclaimers for? 

The reality is Canada isn't the top of mind pick when you think whisky - it's barely making top five if I'm being brutally honest. The country is, if anything, mostly associated by the rest of the world with grain whiskies, coloured with a lack of enthusiasm and a whole lot of quiet doubtfulness as to the quality of its whiskies. Much of this can be traced to Canada's role in relation to America's Prohibition era in the 20's.

Back then it had become a behemoth of an enterprise to commercially churn out grain whiskies at the most rampant and cost-effective, production-efficient manner possible - it certainly minted more than a few millionaires. Consider the sheer profitability to be had by supplying one of the world's largest consumer markets then with something they were themselves disallowed from producing. With really not much in the way of competition, all Canadian distillers had to really have in their whisky was a non-zero alcoholic proof - "taste" was probably an unfortunate byproduct of the business.

Alberta Distillers produces a range of spirits - but the Cask Strength Rye Whisky is definitely one to keep a look out for.

But that was a century ago - and lots can happen in a hundred years. Certainly Canada's Alberta Premium lays out a strong (dare I say, cask strength) argument.

Alberta Premium, produced by Alberta Distillers, based in Calgary, is no newbie to the game - the distillery was established in 1946 (making it one of the oldest distillers in the country) by a pretty unlikely trio, consisting of an oilman, a newspaper publisher and a brewer. Right from the get go, the plan was to distill rye, and within a decade, they had expanded pretty extensively, with numerous heat-controlled warehouses spread across 28 acres of land, that could store over 100,000 of aging barrels.

By 1967, Alberta Distillers would find itself acquired, although unfortunately it wasn't long before a bad financial report on the outlook for whiskies saw them sold off. That didn't stop them - in less than 10 years, they would almost double in size again. Alberta Distillers is one of a small handful of sites in Canada that can age barrels in both rack and pallet formats in their warehouses, and is accessible by ship (we're talking tankers) and rail.

Made with water from the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

They were eventually acquired again, this time by Fortune Brands, which American Bourbon lovers might know as the owner of Jim Beam. And of course when Japanese giant, Suntory, had made the momentous announcement that it would acquire Jim Beam by way of Fortune Brands, Alberta Premium would find its way into Suntory's portfolio as well, where it continues to reside.

But beyond all that Alberta Premium has really carved out quite a name for itself with its cask strength rye whiskey, often finding itself named Canadian Whisky of the Year in numerous ranking lists. The distiller is pretty unique in that it is one of the few remaining brands to produce a 100% rye grain whisky - and more specifically, a 100% Canadian Prairie rye grain.

And that's not all - the entire process by which Alberta Premium makes its whiskies is really quite unusual. First the unmalted rye grain is ground to a fine flour, and from there water is added to form a mash. A proprietary enzyme is then added, and then it's cooked and fermented. From there it goes through the more typical process of being distilled using both column still and pot still. It is aged across three types of barrels - ex-Bourbon barrels, once-used Bourbon barrels and new White Oak charred barrels. Finally it is blended and bottled at cask strength, typically with about 5 years of age, with each batch taking on its own batch-specific proof.

And so whilst Canadian whisky hasn't always had the most excitement associated with the category, it seems like Alberta Premium's cask strength rye whisky, which was only launched in 2020, is changing all of that - this has apparently been quite the banger, enough to turn heads and get folks looking at Canada again, and so we've got to give it a try! It's supposed to be the answer to long held claims of Canadian whiskies being too mellow and soft - let's see if there's a knockout to be had here.

Let's go!

PS. This was shared during a local bottle share - big shoutout to the incredibly warm and welcoming host who shared this!

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye Whisky, 64.2% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Amber

Aroma: Confectionary notes of toffee, peanut brittle, with a light veil of white pepper and parsley herbaceousness. The peanut note comes through with a very unusual mustiness, perhaps peanut nougat or left out peanut butter funk - it’s rich but has an oxidative quality about it.

Taste: Big rich sweetness, heaps of peanut brittle. It’s got a nice punchy intensity as well, packing lots of caramel and toffee, accompanied by hits of white pepper. There’s also this very surprising wave of rich fruitiness of black grape gummies. 

Finish: More raisin sweetness coming through - it’s more concentrated and oxidised. Caramel, peanut butter, peanut cream, cake fondant. Incredibly rich and confectionary, really big and bold here.

My Thoughts

This was quite a trip! At every turn, it’s giving something that I totally did not see coming - in a good way! 

Let’s break it down. On the nose, it’s really confectionary, very rich, and this is where that rather peculiar peanut mustiness begins to come through (kind of reminiscent to a certain beam) - with time I guess I kind of like it? The palate was, as expected, heavy on the peanut brittle (massive positive for me), with the typical rye markers of white pepper and herbaceousness. Yet towards the back there was this very interesting richness of black grape gummies - it was really fruity in a candied manner, really big and forward. Into the finish, It’s giving raisins now, with the same backing of confectionaries.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, but boy did I love this. For me the, the taste on the palate and the finish were absolute no brainers - not only was there that peanut brittle, heaps of it!, there was also that grape-y flavour that was just absolutely lovely. At every juncture this sustained that intensity and forwardness of those really big and rich flavours - incredibly tasty stuff!

This Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye Whisky hype is 100% real - now who said old dogs can't learn new tricks, Alberta Premium is definitely doing something right. If you're in Canada, definitely get yourself one of these.