Forty Creek Art Of The Blend

A spontaneous weekend journey to Toronto for family brought me to the Forty Creek distillery en route to Niagara. I truly enjoy distillery tours, offering chances to try diverse products and acquire exclusive visitor center exclusives. After sampling several whiskies, this particular one caught my attention. It's a special, single-batch winter release from 2022, a Canadian whisky blended with ice wine from nearby Niagara vineyards. While its classification as a true whiskey is debatable given the ice wine infusion, it's not quite a liqueur either. This creation honors the 35-year tenure of Bill Ashburn as master blender at Forty Creek. It features copper pot distilled winter rye and barley, alongside the aforementioned ice wine. The nose presents with jammy, preserved fruit notes, sweet like peaches. The palate offered a surprise; while I'm new to Forty Creek, I was thoroughly impressed. Flavors of maple syrup, strawberry, shortbread, and a hint of oak emerged. It's exceptionally crafted, so much so that I purchased an $85 bottle and had the master blender sign it personally.

In my estimation, this is not a quality spirit. I detect a scent reminiscent of industrial coolant, layered over a flavor of sulfur or heated metal. My disappointment is significant, as I typically enjoy Forty Creek.