Any thoughts on Signal Hill Canadian Whisky?

Interesting. Was it cloudy? 40% and non-chill filtered? Not very common.

I've been taught (thanks @paddockjudge) that Canadian whisky can be good at a lower ABV, but in this care I would definitely try before buying.

@Nozinan No, not cloudy in the least. If it's still around in the new year, maybe I'll get myself a bottle. If I do, I'll get you a sample.

I used the Signal Hill web contact form to seek more information,,,

Asked: Is your distillery located in Newfoundland?

Answer: We blend our Signal Hill Whisky and bottle in St. John’s Newfoundland.

Follow up by email:

What province is the whisky distilled in?

Do you blend the corn/barley whisky before barreling? or do you barrel each whisky separately?

Do you age the whisky in Newfoundland? or is the whisky aged in another province?

Does the rich amber colour you describe come solely from barrel aging, or do you add E150 caramel?

Answers:

The grain whiskies are aged separately in Ontario as is typical for Canadian whiskies then blended before bottling.

The majority of the component whisky blend is from Ontario. Our blend is 3-5 years.

Our barrel management yields a deeper richer colour, but for consistency in blends, we do use a small amount of caramel. This is consistent with industry practice.

Conclusions:

Signal Hill brand is blended by Rock Spirits (a division of the Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation.). See rockspirits.ca

It looks like Signal Hill Spirts Inc. has sourced corn and barley whisky from the aged stocks of an Ontario distillery (Hiram Walker / JP Wiser would be my guess, but could also be Collingwood?) and has contracted with Rock Spirits to blend and bottle at their St. John’s facility. E150 caramel added for batch colour consistency.

I bought a bottle last week. Will be opening it this weekend. Will add some tasting notes later.

After some very superficial research I have concluded, rightly or wrongly, that this is what Guglielmo Marconi must have been drinking that day in 1901

He soon made the announcement that the message was received at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) on 12 December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles (3,500 km).

It was heralded as a great scientific advance, yet there also was—and continues to be—considerable scepticism about this claim. The exact wavelength used is not known, but it is fairly reliably determined to have been in the neighbourhood of 350 meters (frequency ≈850 kHz). The tests took place at a time of day during which the entire transatlantic path was in daylight. It is now known (although Marconi did not know then) that this was the worst possible choice.

At this medium wavelength, long distance transmission in the daytime is not possible because of heavy absorption of the skywave in the ionosphere.

It was not a blind test; Marconi knew in advance to listen for a repetitive signal of three clicks, signifying the Morse code letter S. The clicks were reported to have been heard faintly and sporadically. There was no independent confirmation of the reported reception, and the transmissions were difficult to distinguish from atmospheric noise.

Kind-0f like you can taste the caramel when you know it's there...

@tfahey1298 Thanks, looking forward hearing your thoughts on it.

@Nelom Here's my review:

connosr.com/signal-hill-canadian-whisky-wh…

@tfahey1298 Thanks for the head's up. After your initial research (thanks again for that, it was very illuminating) I pretty much suspected that it would be a middling release, and your review just confirmed my suspicion.

It's a bit of a pity, I really like that bottle and the name, and had the whisky inside been up to the standards set by the packaging I likely would've added it to my collection in the new year.

I actually think it's half decent, and one of the better new brands to Canadian whisky this year. It can't compete with Corby's for value in the 40$ range (although, if anyone else is keeping close tabs, Lot 40 and G&W are tasting a bit younger! still good, but I've noticed a slight difference in the wrong direction in the past few years). Other than Canadian whisky and a few bourbons it probably does better in that price range than most other whiskies at the LCBO.

To me it tastes like they actually added a splash of rum - it is light, but quite a good casual whisky - and has the right set of characteristics to be good over ice, if that is your jam. I was fairly impressed - I'd rate it in the mid-low 80s, and I'd probably take it over Forty Creek BS and Copper Pot. It isn't as complex, but it is cleaner and may even be better balanced.

So, @Nozinan, it might not be top of your list but you'd probably still enjoy a bottle of this. Not too sweet, either. light oak, fruity (berries), light corn and farmy character, molasses, and a bit of dense spice mid-palate. Finish is dry, spicy, with some more molasses and dried blueberry. I'd do a proper review but the night is getting on...

also thanks @tfahey1298 for posting your research. Pretty good stuff! Their description of double column distilled corn and pot-distilled barley are a bit of a giveaway as to source. A full third of the whisky from Windsor goes to sourced brands, believe it or not (though mostly in the US).

also (sorry for the run-ons), they describe their whisky as "bold" and "smooth". I believe this parody has already been done: www.youtube.com/watch