Alberta’s Liquor Depot has chosen a tiny Ontario distillery for an exclusive single malt bottling. Still Waters, in Toronto, is Canada’s first craft distillery to bottle single malt whisky. This one is peppery hot and bathed in sweet barley sugar, clover honey, and rich oaky caramels. Brisk, nutty, and oaky, it remains sweet, with green pears. A weighty body, with grassiness, dry grain, and hot white pepper, typifies Still Waters’ emerging house style. (Alberta only.) C$70

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Winter 2013)

This Glencadam variant has been finished for 20 months in ruby port pipes. The result is a whisky that departs from its younger stablemate by offering a nose of rose petals, milk chocolate, stewed rhubarb, sweet red wine, and black pepper. The same ‘new paper’ note survives, however. Viscous on the palate; initially strawberries, then spicy milk chocolate, caramel, and candied cherries. Remaining sweet in the finish, with nutmeg and darker chocolate notes. £35

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2013)

All local Colorado malt, with a little peat-smoked malt. Unaged. No smoke on the nose; fresh, a bit feinty, wet and juicy melon, a hint of cardamom. Smoke is there as it hits the tongue, immediate but gentle. Spirit tastes much cleaner than it smells. Hot on the tongue, prickly. More melon and spice on the finish, a bit creamy. Not a bad white, but quite pricey. Price is per 375 ml.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Winter 2013)

Dry grain fills the air on first pour. This clear unaged whisky just gushes feed mill aromas. The all-wheat spirit is distilled from grain grown in a single Ontario field, then coarse-milled for making whisky. Sweet, creamy, and oh so peppery hot, it fades from citrus fruit and bitter black licorice to absolute nothingness. Our forefathers drank new make whisky. Let’s hope it was as tasty as this one. (Ontario & Washington, DC only.) C$40/375 ml

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Winter 2013)

Green corn, cooked corn, roasted corn, all tumbling over each other in the nose. Very sweet, young bourbon without much drying from the oak, but no youthful fire. Tastes like a lower row barrel. Finish is also sweet. Not a lot of complexity. Sourced whiskey, from Dickel.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Winter 2013)

Quite hot on the nose, with a little oak on show here alongside garam masala. The effect is of dried fish and seaweed, Brazil nut and bread basket. It needs water. In the mouth it’s tense when neat, giving you the sense of it straining to express itself fully but being constricted by alcohol. Firm and bold, but even with water it’s a little too dry.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Winter 2013)

There’s a Roman dish involving lamb cooked in milk, and this is it in alcohol form. A slightly peculiar lactic note rises and falls above the rich meatiness of the spirit. There’s a hit of pencil shavings, but with water it becomes cheesy. So much more straightforward on the tongue with good vinous weight, like an old Vin Jaune. It finishes with earthy tones. It’s just…odd. £125

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Winter 2013)

Matured in 500-liter port pipes, the color is that of a Provence rosé wine. Young, but the oak is apparent. Though it’s slightly hot when neat, there is distinct raspberry and cranberry fruitiness, nettles, grass, and, with water, chalk. Sweet on the tip of the tongue, there are little glimpses of raspberry fool and some caramelized notes from the cask, but it’s not yet fully integrated. £95

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Winter 2013)

Sharp, bitterly vegetal, reminiscent of crushed turnip or radish; sweet oaky caramel in the background. Building block flavors—oak, rye oil, more turnip, sweet cereal—not well integrated. As if a very tight-cut new make had been put in a barrel and rolled and heated continuously for a short period of time (with some turnips). Finish is initially sweet, then closes with a bitter note. Turnip dissipates as it airs, but the memory lingers. Sourced whiskey. (Total Wine exclusive.)

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Winter 2013)

Very sweet butterscotch, sultanas, and smatterings of oak play off lime juice, sweet and sour sauce, and pulling citrus pith in a spirity but quintessentially smooth whisky. Creamy caramel shows hints of fudge that softens the crispness of freshly split red cedar shakes. Simple and tightly integrated. A sintering peppery heat quickly dominates the palate even as overripe fruits emerge in a finish that moves single-mindedly into a classic citric zest. A frisky mixer that is well worth sipping.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Winter 2013)

While their home-distilled whisky matures, some dedicated craft whisky makers hone their blending skills using sourced whiskies to create blends such as this one. Caramel heated to the point of burning, and oily, freshly-roasted coffee with hints of real maple syrup gloriously overtake a spirity nose that betrays the youth of this simple, no age statement work in progress. Scrumptious elements of clean oak, burned lumber, sawdust, and earthy pineyness are beguiling, but would benefit from tighter balance. (Saskatchewan only.) C$33

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Winter 2013)