The 5 whisk(e)y to 'start off' with

@RikS

Lots of good suggestions so far...

These would be my whisky starter selections, based on availability and current price from the LCBO.

Scotch whisky

Highland Park 12 - $70 (Highland - Islands; soft peat & sherried)

GlenDronach 12 - $78 (Speyside - rich, sherried & spicy)

Auchentoshan 12 - $65 (Lowland - nutty, toffee, delicate)

Kilchoman Machir Bay - $97 (Islay - peated, young but interesting nose and palate)

Compass Box Great King Street Glasgow Blend - $69 (rich, smoky, sherried)

(total C$379) - I think this is a reasonably priced tour of Scotland's whiskies - some peat, some sherry, a blend. Considered a Laphroaig Quarter Cask for the Islay entry, but I have found that Kilchoman Machir Bay packs a ton of flavour in a relatively young whisky.

Canadian:

J.P. Wiser's Triple Barrel Rye (rebranded Double Still Rye) - $32 (blend of corn and rye whiskies)

Lot No. 40 Single Copper Pot Still - $40 (100% rye whisky distilled with a copper pot still)

Gooderham & Worts Four Grain - $45 (a “four grain” whisky blend of corn, rye, wheat and barley, bottled at 44.4% ABV - includes pot still, column still and neutral corn column distilled whiskies)

Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve - $32 (corn, barley, rye blend; toffee, peppery, rye spice)

Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye - $29 (distilled at Alberta Distillers; rich caramel, vanillas and rye spices)

(total C$178) cross section of the best reasonably priced Canadian whiskies.

Bourbon (can only recommend three, as have not tasted very many bourbons):

Knob Creek Single Barrel - $59

Elijah Craig Small Batch - $48

Eagle Rare 10 - $57

(Total C$164) These are the three bourbons I have tasted that I would stock in my cabinet.

I really like all the suggestions, there is three I would add to the list:

As an easy American, Pikesville 6 yo Straight Rye, a sweet one that offers the quality of a Rye and of a Bourbon;

Cragganmore DE as a alternative to Glendronach. Less sherry and more subtle wood spices.;

Finally, as a blend, Compass Box Spice Tree, to show how opened you are.

@tfahey1298

Gooderham & Worts Four Grain - $45 (a “four grain” whisky blend of corn, rye, wheat and barley, bottled at 44.4% ABV - includes pot still, column still and neutral corn column distilled whiskies)

I’d be careful about using the words “neutral corn”. Davin de Kergommeaux or @paddockjudge will tell you that Canada doesn’t use “neutral grain spirits”. And both can explain it much better than I can.

@OdysseusUnbound

By “neutral” I mean that the spirit was distilled to a high alcohol content (95%) in a column still. I should probably have used the term “neutral grain spirit” (NGS) of corn origin. NGS has neutral taste, smell and is clear. NGS is typically used as a base alcohol and blended with pot still spirits that have the flavours and aromas the blender wishes to remain in the finished product. This allows the blender to increase the yield of the finished product.

Not saying this is good or bad - just the way whisky is made in Canada. G&W Four Grain is a blended Canadian whisky, and a good one, IMO. Excellent value for the price.

Can’t recall where I read that this whisky contains pot still, column still and NGS spirits... assuming that each spirit was aged separately in oak for 3 years, then the whiskies were blended. If this is not correct, my apologies.

@tfahey1298, Canadian whisky does not contain neutral grain spirits! NEVER, EVER, EVER. ALL CANADIAN WHISKY IS AGED FOR A MINIMUM OF THREE YEARS including the 1/11 permissible portion, that too must be aged.

I've seen your beloved Forty Creek lay down casks with an abv in the 80s and those are just the casks that are marked. Canadian corn whisky is driven by oak, the alcohol level of the spirit is meaningless. By your definition Cognac is a neutral grain spirit... I don't think so. Cognac is all about the wood.... just like Canadian whisky.

American whiskey is allowed to contain neutral grain spirit. The last time I checked, none of the Canadian distilleries were located in the US of A.

@paddockjudge

A lot to unpack here in your last post:

Canadian corn whisky is driven by oak, the alcohol level of the spirit is meaningless. - I’ve read that the ABV at which the spirit enters the cask can affect the extraction of flavours from the oak.

By your definition Cognac is a neutral grain spirit... I don't think so. - Unless grapes have been reclassified as grains (I’ve been preoccupied this week and so may have missed that).

The last time I checked, none of the Canadian distilleries were located in the US of A. - MINHAS Distillery, a Canadian company, purveyors of that fine “Punjabi Club”,has a distillery in Wisconsin. Have you tried it yet?

Notwithstanding, I completely agree with the sentiment of your post. I’m just looking to break out of the low mood this week has generated for me….

@Nozinan, don't believe everything you read. Scratch "grain" from neutral grain spirit in the case of cognac. You are correct, abv of spirit is not meaningless, the higher abv spirit will derive more flavour from used cooperage; the argument that a higher abv spirit introduced to barrels will result in an inferior whisky is without substance and one that I consider meaningless! After these corrections there is still no neutral grain spirit in Canadian whisky, the spirit has been aged for at least three years. Note to self, wake up before reacting to a disturbing post.

What's the proper name for that high-ABV spirit used on the Canadian whisky recipes—the stuff that's not the "flavoring whisky"? I'll be happy to use the right name, but for now I'll call it Spirit X as I ask my question about it.

How does Canadian Spirit X compare to the grain whisky used in blended scotch?

@MadSingleMalt I believe Davin de K calls it "base corn whisky". I'm not sure if Don Livermore and his ilk use that term or another one.

I'm not sure how base corn whisky compares to the grain whisky used in blended scotch. But on a podcast (Whisky Topic) from October 2017, I heard Don Livermore explain a bit of the science behind the higher ABV whisky and how it helps extract different flavours from used barrels. He also talked about how different types of distillation affects the development of different flavour compounds. Quite honestly, I feel I could listen to Livermore talk all day long about that stuff; an hour didn't seem long enough. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.

@paddockjudge What is the ABV of the base corn whisky when it comes out of the still for the average Canadian whisky? If it is under 95% ABV, it is not neutral grain spirit. Am I wrong? Do we use the term Neutral grain spirit to loosely?

I am not primary a fan of corn whisky but I would never say that corn is tasteless. Or the way people are referring to corn spirit is too often as if it was without any merit. Any Bourbon fan would disagree and would stand next to the Canadians to defend Corn spirit.

I believe the typical story on the grain whisky used in blended scotch is that it's:

•Distilled from corn (or wheat, or whatever's cheapest).

•Distilled to a high ABV (over 90%).

•Matured in the cheapest Nth-refill casks that are still serviceable.

•Matured no longer than is legally necessary, especially for NAS blends.

•Mostly just cheap filler, not something most people would choose to drink on its own, and really in need of the malt content to make the final product decent.

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So those are the kind of points I'm wondering about in relation to Canadian Spirit X.

And I'll add that although it's not technically correct to derogate scotch grain whisky by calling it "NGS," I get the point being made by people who do so. Most of it is cheap crap filler that happens to have sat in a old cask for three years. "Brown vodka" is another term that I can totally sympathize with.