Forty Creek John’s Private Cask No. 1 Review

Crisp clean oak and fresh red cedar, ripe fruit, butterscotch, vanilla, grapefruit pith, simmering spices, and dusty rye. A quick explosion of flavour followed by a slow, complex reveal. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★

Sweet vanilla pods and fresh-cut lumber. A complex mosaic of flavours from cedar to tropical fruit set on a creamy base with hot pepper and a delicate underlying citric zest. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★

Luscious and weighty with beautifully integrated aromatic spices and waves of white pepper. Sweet, like Mackintosh’s® toffee, vanilla and dried fruit. Citric zest, linen, some dustiness, and hints of oak. Spicy Rye. ★★★★☆

Buttery caramels with refreshing bitters in an oaky, peppery, and weighty dram. Mouth warming, spicy and smooth as the proverbial silk. Simple, straight forward, and richly flavourful. ★★★★

Candy, sweet, dark fruit, cream sherry, pepper and hot spices, dusty, floral rye, spirit, slight zestiness, and hints of fresh wood. Fruity and Spicy. ★★★

Creamy caramel and hot pepper. Ripe dark fruit, citric zest, fresh-cut wood and hints of spirit. Mild rye spices – cloves, cinnamon, ginger. A bit under-stated. Spicy Rye. ★★★☆

Caramel and pepper dominate well-defined fruits, fresh oak, vanilla, rye spices and zesty undertones. Both dusty and oily. Rich and Round. ★★★★

Crisp, clean, Canadian oak. Musty corn, cardboard, gentle caramels and vanilla. Herbal, slightly spicy and quite peppery with a cleansing citric pith. Malty & Dry. ★★★★☆

Fragrant and flavourful with sweet dark fruit, loads of fresh-cut wood, hot pepper, and recurring rich tobacco notes. Deceptively complex and surprisingly lively. Rich & Round. ★★★★★

Creamy smooth and full-bodied. Peppery with subtle, understated fresh cedar, black fruits, caramel, musty corn, citric zest, and pith. Soft Corn. ★★★★☆

A weighty, highly integrated, and fruity synthesis of wood, toffee, vanilla, dusty rye, and baking spices, with developing hot pepper, dark fruits, prune juice, and citric zest. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★

Sweet oak caramels and burnt sugar, raisins, prunes, and Christmas cake. Peppery with a slippery creaminess and underlying notes of clean oak. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★☆

A typical fruity, rye-forward Canadian Club nose becomes sweet, hot, and spicy on the tongue. The most whisky like of the spiced whiskies with added notes of black licorice, Mom’s baking vanilla and a touch of clean oak.

Sweet, peppery, and fruity, with a pleasing bitter zest. Hard, flinty, earthy rye tinged with cinnamon and ginger. Nice weight and creamy mouthfeel. Spicy Rye. ★★★★

Rich and very fruity– from raisins to peaches to berries. Sweet hot tobacco, black tea, pencil shavings, pepper and baking spices. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★★☆

Faint spirit evolves into robust rye spices with rich butterscotch, hints of dry grain, and ripe dark fruits. Very flavourful and mouth-filling with sizzling pepper, fleshy dark fruits and lime peel. Spicy Rye. ★★★☆

Toffee sweet, vanilla, grassy with citric fruits, and a cleansing bitter lemon zest. Some earthiness, sour mash, rye grain and rye spices, with a youthful spirit. Malty & Dry. ★★★☆

Brio, cola, white pepper, ginger, sultanas, prunes, coconut, grapefruit zest and juice, dry grain, mash, and hints of fresh-cut lumber. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★☆

Creamy vanilla, a dusting of rye spices, bursts of citrus and a veritable tsunami of fresh-cut wood. Soft Corn. ★★★★★

Rich in nuance and suggestion, though muted, this is about as complex as pure corn whisky gets, with bittersweet citric notes, lilacs, spices, fresh-cut wood, and hot pepper. Soft Corn/Rich & Oaky. ★★★★☆

Ripe fruit and stewed prunes with vanilla coconut custard, blistering hot spices and a nutty cereal side accented with rose water, dusty roads and hints of oak. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★☆

Dark fruits, Concord grapes, roses and spring flowers with a rich and creamy mouthfeel. Split cherry firewood with earthy rye and tingling hot pepper. Floral & Fragrant. ★★★★

Rum-soaked Christmas cake. Creamy, with vanilla, hot pepper, ginger, dark fruit, orange bitters, Bourbon, charcoal, oak, and floral notes. Rich and Round. ★★★★

Peaches, apricots, Concord grapes and Port wine with rye spices, hot white pepper, peach pits and bitter lemon. Fresh-cut lumber. Fruity & Spicy.★★★★☆

A complex synthesis of ginger, clove oil, hot white pepper, cedar lumber, and prunes, with fresh spring lilacs and pansies and wilted tobacco. Caramel, vanilla and cooling citric pith. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★

Controlled, elegant, creamy, and balanced with nutmeg, cloves and ginger, hot pepper and peppermint, green and ripe apples, floral bourbon-like vanilla and oak, cereal, and orange bitters. Spicy Rye. ★★★★☆

A rich, weighty, hugely complex and skillfully structured whisky displaying ripe red fruit, fresh-cut oak, hot spices, dry grain, and violets. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★☆

Classic rye spices—cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and pepper—all brought together in a lumber yard. Sweet, fragrant wood with a tangy citric zest and lots of weight. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★☆

Creamy, sweet corn whisky with dusty, earthy rye, ripe red fruits, sherry, sweet-and-sour sauce, floral perfume, ginger, cinnamon, hot pepper, and hints of citric peels. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★★

Butterscotch, fresh-cut wood, toasted oak and wood smoke. Sweet vanilla, berries, barbeque sauce, mash, granola. Restrained, but full-flavoured. Rich & Round. ★★★★☆

Toasted oak sugars, vanilla, hot pepper, mustard, and ginger. Lemon cream, sweet- and-sour rye, dry grain, new sawdust, fresh fruit, and a citric zestiness. Almost chewy. Soft Corn. ★★★★☆

Crème brûlée, oak, cedar, spicy pepper, cloves, citric zest, black fruits, strawberries and cream. Masterfully balanced and seamlessly integrated. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★

Creamy, soft, round and smooth. Fresh-cut wood, caramel, and vanilla. Hot peppery spices, a slight saltiness, and gentle citric zest. Mildly floral and fruity. Soft Corn. ★★★★

Rich and creamy mouthfeel with a plethora of sweet fruits and berries, citric zest and pith, a nuttiness, black pepper, and hints of spirit. Soft Corn. ★★★★

Sweet, spicy oak and pine sawdust, rich in toffee, vanilla, and hot spicy pepper. Biscuits, with typical rye dustiness, spice, fruit, and just a drop of pickle juice. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★☆

A complex interplay of fresh fruit, spring flowers, nutty grain, and hot white pepper all kept in place by the pith of white grapefruit. Floral & Fragrant. ★★★★☆

Black pepper and an earthiness reminiscent of agave spirit give way to hard and gingery rye while citrus zest, with dark fruits, real black pepper, and dashes of pickle juice meld into cold wet slate. ★★★★

Maple butter, vanilla, and butterscotch. Dry wood, shellac, cedar, apricots and lilacs. Fresh-churned butter. Balanced, simple, and very flavourful. Soft Corn. ★★★☆

Rye, rye bread, sour rye, floral rye, hard rye, earthy rye, dusty rye grain, and then sweet citric notes, oranges, hot peppery spices, and tannic wood. Spicy Rye. ★★★★★

A carefully crafted panorama of grassy dry grain, moist earth and burlap sacks, along with zingy pepper, blossoming floral vanilla, fragrant leather and tobacco leaves. Spicy Rye. ★★★★★

Butterscotch and maple fudge with cleansing zesty limes. Gingery hot pepper and fresh cooling mint. Crisp charred oak. Rich, weighty, balanced, and ever so complex. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★★☆

Introducing Proof Whisky, a new Canadian whisky from Toronto’s Proof Brands, that has been showing up quietly on LCBO shelves for the past couple of weeks.

Rich and creamy; smooth as the proverbial baby’s bottom. Vanilla, camphor, cherry cough drops, spicy pepper, and pleasing citric pith. Tasty Spice.

Full-flavoured and peppery with creamy maple syrup, clean oak, hints of rose petals, dark fruit, and tangy oranges. Fruity and Spicy. ★★★★

A very sweet fruit smoothie with earthy rye, hints of fresh oak, hot pepper, baking spices, pickle juice, spirit, and refreshing bitter notes. Fruity & Spicy. ★★★☆

Prototypical light and smooth 1970s cocktail whisky. Starts small, gradually becoming complex but subtle, with brittle rye, hot pepper, creamy toffee and lemon zing. Spicy Rye. ★★★☆

Pine pitch, Canada balsam, butterscotch, clove oil, dusty rye, pickle juice, hot pepper, flowers, and assorted fruits all neatly stitched into one. ★★★★☆

Much nuance, many hints. Pepper, ginger and other rye spices, ripe dark fruit, earth, dry grain, floral notes, vanilla, cedar, Fruity & Spicy. ★★★

A complex synthesis of maple sugar, licorice cough drops, ripe black fruits, sweet flowers, and sizzling pepper painted in oils on an artist’s canvas. ★★★★

Butterscotch, dusty rye, hot white pepper, dark fruits and ginger. Refreshing citric pith and zest. Creamy smooth, then slightly grippy. Spicy Rye. ★★★★

A tingling effervescence turns initially buttery, mouth-filling, toffee indulgences into clear, clean refreshment. Ever-present hot pepper is restrained by a richness of body and crisp cleansing pith. ★★★★☆

Dave Pickerell is a true icon of the American whisky industry so when he declares Canada as the source of the world’s very best rye whisky, that’s news to be shouted from the rooftops.

Subtle vanilla, crisp oak, rich butterscotch and subtle rye spices, then hot pepper, lots of citrus pith in the finish with tingling ginger and cloves – a most whisky-like spiced whisky.

Sprite™, citrus fruit cooler, anise, soft baking spices, butterscotch, hot cayenne, hints of oak tannins. Probably the tastiest white whisky anywhere in the world.

Sweet, rich and very spicy with overt rye notes. Cinnamon and cloves, dark fruits, hot peppermint and citric zest. Spectacular. Very highly recommended. ★★★★★

Big whisky. Cinnamon, cloves, and other rye spices. Dark fruits, vanilla, butterscotch, cedar oil, some earthy tones, and a slight flintiness. Weighty. Spicy Rye. ★★★★☆

Wood, wood, wood, but ever so complex with hot pepper, baking spices, butterscotch, vanilla, rye grain, tobacco, cigar box, sour-dough, and dried baking fruits ending in a citric zestiness. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★

Complex, ever-changing flavours of dry grain, tobacco, Christmas spices, wood smoke, new tires, sour German rye bread, black fruits, cedar and fresh-sawn oak, toffee, vanilla, hot pepper, and bitter grapefruit. Rich & Oaky. ★★★★★