JP Wiser’s Double Still Rye (43.4%)

Butterscotch, blazing hot peppers, baking spices, sweet grain, roasted chestnuts, hints of dried fruit, coffee beans and resurging peppery spices. ★★★★☆Double Still Rye is big whisky - a lot bigger than a boost in abv to 43.4% predicts. Its bold flavours, heavy on butterscotch, burst with flaming hot peppers barely quelled by nutty dry grain. Hints of cedar meld into dry woody spices almost but not quite like sandalwood. A succession of sweet grain, toasted chestnuts, vague dried fruits, coffee beans and a second surge of peppery spice give you an inkling just how much depth there is to this whisky.Peppery notes linger throughout, yet the mouth feels soft and rich with a comforting sweetness and a hint of something citrusy. Still those rye spices and hot white peppers persist adding a refreshing sharpness to a big dram. The floral and fruity notes so typical of Canadian rye, while present are somewhat muted, coming to the fore only when you add water, so do add water. Doing so reveals how well the complex interweaving of these secondary flavours complements the peppery thunderbolts. This is good whisky, distinctly Canadian and distinct in itself.The recent international successes of his Lot No. 40 and Pike Creek whiskies have encouraged master blender, Dr. Don Livermore to expand his range even further, and the outcome is seen in several new releases expected over the next few months.With Wiser’s Double Still, Livermore emphasises the rye roots of the Wiser’s range. He has taken an all-rye whisky distilled to low abv in a single pass through a short beer column, and married it with a second all-rye whisky that has been refined with a second pass through a copper pot still.The Autumn of 2015 is shaping up to be The Season of Innovation for Corby Distillers. Corby runs the Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario. It’s the largest beverage alcohol distillery in North America, and home to some of the most skillful and creative whisky makers in the world. Who’d have suspected the centre of excellence for whisky innovation would be found in the continent’s largest distillery?“I can’t wait for you all to try this one,” declares Corby’s Global Ambassador, Dave Mitton. “It has two types of rye distillate. We're emphasizing the importance of rye spices in Canadian whisky with a copper column distilled rye which is bolder with heavy rye grain attributes. The second is a copper column and copper pot distilled rye which concentrates up the rye spices.”Highly recommended. ★★★★☆$28.99 at Manitoba Liquor Mart. Coming soon across Canada.Wiser's Hopped Whisky is reviewed here.