Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve

Here goes my first review. We start with Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve. Why? Probably because this is one of the better Canadian Whiskey's I've sampled tasted thus far.

Growing up, I was mostly surrounded by the usual Canadian Staples - Crown Royal, Canadian Club, Gibson's and so on. None of these really caught on with me and I wasn't much of a whiskey drinker. In the last few months though, I've suddenly discovered there's a whole other world with the whiskey's, scotches and bourbons. Sure, they've always been there but I'd never really bothered to venture over to the Spirits sections. An impromptu tasting with my wife's uncle opened my eyes.

So a good number of Drams later (of which I'll review some of them going forward), I circle back to the Canadian whiskeys and picked up A Wiser's 18 (not opened yet) and the Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve I've purchased now.

The Copper Pot reserve is medium to dark amber in color and presents strong toffee or caramel. It's right up front. Behind the scenes, there is something medicinal smelling about the drink, something that seems to be lurking there in the background in a few of the Canadian Whiskey's I've tried. Here though, its neither overpowering or unpleasant. Faint to me but present nonetheless is a smell that reminds me of leather, like that of brand new shoes.

The taste is somewhat spicy but not in an artificial way (unlike the Wiser's Spiced Whiskey that's out there which tastes like chemicals). Initially, there's almost a slight fruity taste - orange peels. This gives way to the toffee and there's something sweet and syrupy here too. It's got a bit of bite on the back end and though smooth, it's not smooth in the way of the Glenfiddich 15 Year old I tried at the tasting table of the LCBO when picking this up. Overall there's a big, bold taste going here.

The finish is pleasant. There's some woody overtones here and also some sweetness without to much sizzle on the tongue. It fades out after a minute or so and doesn't leave a bad taste in the mouth, which I have found some other Whiskeys have done. This one also doesn't dry out your mouth. It pretty much leaves it as it found it. :)

I am pleasantly surprised by this drink. There's more going on here than you'd expect from a Canadian Whiskey and I'd buy it again.