Forty Creek Launches Confederation Oak

by David Kiley (RSS feed)
Nov 9th 2010 at 3:01PM

Anyone who has tried Forty Creek Canadian Whisky knows that a distillery doesn't have to be decades old to produce a fine product.

In business only ten years, and already impressing critics with a Barrel Select, the Ontario distillery has just released a new expression, Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve Whisky.

The name comes from the fact that owner John Hall, who also produces Kittling Ridge Wines, aged his whiskey in barrels made from Canadian white oak trees about 150 years old--dating back to Canada's structure as a confederation. "As a proud Canadian whisky maker, I have always been curious what a Canadian whisky would taste like aged in a Canadian oak barrel, because most Canadian whiskies are aged in American oak," says Hall.

Each bottle will be numbered, and 16,800 are being released.

The nose on this whisky is maple-raisin-vanilla-fig, progressing to praline, banana, butter cream, honeyed nuts, marzipan, spice and orange blossoms. It is full-bodied on the tongue, with vanilla, butter cream and pepper spice. A long lingering finish with fading spice and white pepper.

Price: About $69.95 (Canadian) for a 750-mL bottle.

Tags: Canadian Whisky, Forty Creek, whiskey, whisky