There’s no denying it the Canadians, often, do whisky differently and the Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve is a prime example of that difference, but also how it can be done well. Here in America if we wanted to make a whiskey from rye, corn and barley we’d take all of those grains, mash them up together and ferment the whole lot before distilling it. Depending on what ratios those three were mashed and how they were aged you’d either end up with a bourbon, rye, corn, etc. whiskey. Up at Forty Creek distillery they took a different approach.
Instead of mixing the grains together they kept them all separate. They mashed, fermented and distilled the rye, corn and barley each on their own before being dumped into barrels, without mixing, and then set them up in the warehouses to age. Once they thought they were ready they took barrels of the corn whiskey, rye whiskey and barley whiskey down and mixed them together at an undisclosed ratio. This blending of three different whiskies was also done for the Forty Creek Barrel Select, but according to the master distiller John Hall this, the Copper Pot Reserve, is a deeper richer expression of that same triple whisky blend.
Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve Review
ABV: 43%
AGE: NAS
Price: $24
Distiller: Forty Creek
Mashbill: Rye, barley and corn
EYE
Dark caramel
NOSE
Super sweet nose filled with notes of butterscotch, vanilla, caramel, peanut butter fudge and brown sugar with some light spice notes coming through. Far better than most of the Canadian whiskies I’ve had.
PALATE
Again butterscotch comes through first with a corn laden grain moving in next. Caramel, hazelnut, spice, brown sugar, toffee, toasted nuts and a bit of cinnamon round out the palate and I’m honestly not hating it, in fact I’m kind of liking it.
FINISH
Medium in length and built with notes of toasted nuts, butterscotch, grains and maple icing.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
The sweet notes hang a little too heavy for me knocking it off center. Thick rich body with a heavy oily texture; there’s almost no burn.
OVERALL
It’s exciting to see tasty Canadian whiskies making their way South to us. For far too long all we really had access to was less-than-stellar blends like Canadian Mist, Black Velvet and Canadian Club. This Copper Pot reserve is a full bodied and tasty whisky with a lot of interesting things to offer and helps build a whole new image of Canadian whisky for me. With tasty whiskies like this, Lot 40 and Stalk & Barrel Canada shows they’ve got a lot to offer and have a tasty future ahead of them.
SCORE: 84/100
