Whisky Discovery #223

Caribou Crossing Single Barrel NAS (40% abv)
Canadian Whisky
Circa £50.00 75cl

Photos courtesy of @Whiskylassie

The fourth of the five dram sample swap with @Whiskylassie and the first one of the five that I have found to be available in the UK! (at the time of tasting it was for sale on The Whisky Exchange Website).

However to find out a little more about Canadian Whisky I stumbled upon Davin de Kergommeaux's fabulous website, simply named Canadian Whisky where I quickly learnt that this whisky was part of the Sazerac empire, and found out a great deal about the brands they represent and/or own, which includes Buffalo Trace among many others - go check them out it might surprise you! Anyway drilling down I eventually found Caribou Crossing on their website:

There they state that Caribou Crossing is the world’s first single barrel Canadian whisky, selected from their finest whisky available from an inventory of more than 200,000 barrels. The whisky has been patiently aged in oak for many years to give it a rich and complex yet smooth flavour Each barrel is then bottled individually with expert care and skill under rigorous quality standards.

They go on to describe the unique features in being the world’s first single barrel Canadian whisky, and it's bottle being 'a beautiful nod to its Canadian heritage with its maple leaf topper and blue wax seal'. I must admit the photos Johanne has sent are favbulous and the 'over-the-top' cork stopper is a work of art!

Maple Leaf Stopper!

So What did I Think?

Well I found this to have a really resinous softwood nose initially, the sappy resinous smell of the sawn soft wood in Wickes (other DIY stores are available). The spicy rye notes came next, along with the vanilla and butterscotch, maple syrup notes that I was starting to become accustomed with. There was also a 'figgy' fruity note, and still is in the empty bottle

The palate was smooth, soft and creamy with the vanilla and maple appearing from the nose, and then quite a lot of peppery spice takes over quickly. To me the nose gave a great deal more away than the palate, but then I only had what would be considered a 'double' in the UK so I'm not sure I had the chance to really get to know this expression. Davin certainly found a lot more in his notes, but like he says, these are single barrel whiskies, and so while the flavour profile will be similar, they could quite different between barrels. It wasn't disappointing and I enjoyed the experience, I just found it not nearly as rich as the nose had initially suggested.

It all seemed to be over a little too quickly, quite drying, a nutty dryness like eating too many hazlenuts, with a little rye spice. The empty glass has a soft toffee fudge note along with the sappy resin note from the beginning.

To get the full story of this whisky I would recommend that you check out Davin's page on this expression, as he has done a great deal more research than me, this link will take you straight there: