Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky is the rye component of what would normally go into Canadian Club whisky. A typical Canadian whisky is made of corn, rye and barley that are each distilled and aged separately and then blended together before bottling. This blend is sometimes then put into other barrels for finishing or additional maturation, but often it’s blended in steel tanks and bottled straight away.
With how hot rye is right now It’s not hard to understand why CC put out the Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky. If anyone has a ton of it just sitting around in barrels it would be the Canadians; this is why brands like Whistle Pig have been importing their rye from Alberta for so long. It’s really interesting to try this single component of CC and I think they should continue the tradition and release a 100% corn and 100% malt one as well.
Seriously, how cool would that be if CC released a bottles of all of their components so people could taste them on their own and create their own blends at home. They’d need to up the proof to at least 92 (46%) so we had some wiggle room with water, but if they did that I’d buy the whole set. Market it as CC deconstructed, offer it at a decent price and give consumers a whole new level of interaction with the spirit. Ah the things I would do if I had my own distillery. Anyways, on to the Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky review!
Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky Info
Region: Alberta, Canada
Distiller: Canadian Club
Mashbill: 100% Rye
Cask: ex-Bourbon
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Price: $18
Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky Review
EYE
Caramel
NOSE
Big dollop of butterscotch followed by notes of dried fruit, vanilla, almond, toffee and lighter notes of honey and hazelnuts. There is an interesting sour beer meets a melon-like fruity underpinning happening. Odd.
PALATE
Butterscotch and grains shove through first, carving a path for weaker notes of caramel syrup, vanilla taffy, cinnamon and nuts to come through trailing something vaguely oily and char-like. It reminds me Jack Daniels in a way.
FINISH
Medium fizzle of butterscotch, spice, toasted nuts, toasted grains and that vague oily char character.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
The sweet butterscotch character is so heavy it throws it off balance. It carries a medium body and a slightly syrupy feel.
OVERALL
Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky is better than I thought it was going to be, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. Regardless, it’s fun to taste this because you really see how much of the traditional Canadian Club character is derived from the rye component; hint, it’s a lot. Which is interesting to discover, I now know the culprit behind that cloying butterscotch and grain character that permeates good ol’ CC.
Though I will give the Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky credit because it does have some added complexities and spice that I’ve never found in traditional CC and I like it more than I do the malt and corn blended variety. This is something that’s worth a taste, though at $18 it might be worth a bottle to have as a quick mixer.
SCORE: 80/100 (B-)
