Craft beer whiskey: mashbill of 80% malt/20% rye malt, fermented with a Belgian ale yeast that yields spicy aromas. Nose is mostly young oak, like a small barrel whiskey, but there are some subtle spice notes and sweet malt. Creamy mouth, sweet but not sticky, and the orange and spice I’m picking up are likely from that yeast. Body is luscious; best part of the whiskey, because the finish turns prickly. There’s promise here, but delivery’s delayed. Price is per 375 ml.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Summer 2014)

The heritage grains movement influenced distiller Jesse Razaqpur at Toronto distillery to make whisky from an old-time Ontario variety called Red Fife. This hard red wheat contains less starch than the traditional soft wheat used for whisky making, yielding less spirit. Red Fife wheat also contains flavor-inducing anthocyanins, similar to red-grape flavenoids. Distinctive grain dust and slate-like mineral notes dominate the nose, translating into searing hot pepper, ripe red fruit, and a slight sourness on the palate. (Distillery only) C$40/375 ml.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2014)

What does this say about how far whisky has come? We live in an era where you can now buy the official whisky from a major motion picture. This has a deep amber color. Really deep. The nose brings warm muffins, caramel, and grassy notes with a good dose of smoke. It’s a sweet concoction with a peppery kick. There’s a tinge of polypropylene before a short, clipped, spicy finish. It just needs to find more of its own identity.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2014)

Single barrel, cask proof. Strong wood aromas; pencil shavings, hot-sawn oak. Hot and tight, intense wood. There’s some interesting stuff around the edges, but the wood’s blocking it till some sweetness peeks through at the end. Water helps a little, but not enough. Over-barreled.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Summer 2014)

Extremely dark color; aged in ten-gallon barrels. A thick burbling nose, full of dark aromas: smoke, molasses, earth, and moist tobacco, with a sharp woody twist around the outside. The mouth recapitulates much of that, but in a brighter fashion…and then the small barrel takes over; tight, intense wood that blows out everything else and leaves the tongue tingling. I find it hard to tease out any spirit character; what’s this whiskey taste like under the wood?

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Summer 2014)

From the Land of the Thunder Dragon comes this blend of 8 and 12 year old malts and grain from the Gelephu distillery. It’s clean, light, and fragrant with dried hay notes; like drinking chamomile tea in a tropical greenhouse. The thin flavors show custard tarts, cracker bread, and pencil erasers with a bitter aftertaste of burnt spices. So, not so great as a sipping whisky, but I’ve found it versatile as a base for summer cocktails.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2014)

Early trial batches of this whisky, flavored by cold infusion, tasted like sweet, roasted squash. However, the final version that we have here is as inviting as the nutmeg-laced pumpkin pie it so resembles. Sweet vanilla and salt water taffy fill the air, with rummy Christmas eggnog taking up the rear. Unusual in that it’s sweet but not syrupy. Hot pepper lingers, as do sweet tingling spices, but the whisky notes just barely show their presence. (Canada only) C$22

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2014)

One of the most popular flavored whiskies today is Fireball cinnamon, so it’s no surprise that other cinnamon whiskies are entering the market. This one has a lovely, woody, cinnamon nose that bursts into sweet, blistering cinnamon on the palate. Cinnamon is a natural whisky flavor, but here, rather than complement the underlying whisky, it completely masks it. This is a cinnamon liqueur, and a good one. A fun shooter, perhaps, but it’s barely whisky.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2014)

Real maple syrup has an earthy, woodsy aroma; maple flavoring has strong overtones of coconut, and so does Cabin Fever. The nose evokes dried, sweetened baking coconut, while the sweet and spicy palate is a hot, liquid, coconut macaroon. Peppery notes suggest that it’s whisky, but without any traces of barrel aging that’s as close as you get. Best part? The long, spicy finish with its confection-sweet coconut.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2014)