Lot No. 40 Single Copper Pot Still Canadian Rye ~ 43% (Corby)

• Canadian Rye whisky
• 43% ABV
• Score: 83/100

What they say:

Lot No. 40 is expertly distilled in small batches using only the finest locally sourced ingredients. By distilling in a single copper pot still, the result is a whisky that starts off earthy and woody tasting and then becomes full bodied and complex with a velvety vanilla oak finish.

What I say:

Firstly many thanks to Crystal (Twitter: @EdgyLassie) for offering up a sample of this in exchange for a sample of the Kilchoman Club 3rd Release – Madeira Cask ~ 58.4% (Kilchoman Distillery) that I managed to secure a bottle of on release. Having been interested last year in virtually travelling the world of whisky I am always excited by the prospect of sampling whisky that is considered rare even when at home.

Anything I know about Lot No. 40 comes straight from Davin De Kergommeaux’s book Canadian Whisky (or his just as excellent website CanadianWhiskey.Org). In which he describes that the rye and rye malt are milled then the rye is cooked and the malted rye added afterwards to assist in breakdown of starches from the rye grains. A beer of ~ 6-7% alcohol is fermented and then an all copper beer still is used for the initial distillation before it is redistilled in a 12,000 litre traditional copper pot. A recipe that stretches back ~ 150+ years it seems. The spirit is then matured for around 6-7 years in virgin charred oak barrels – the final production is a vatting of various ages and thus no specific age statement is declared.

Colour:

Dark copper (12/20)

Nose:

Herbal, thyme, dill (lots of dill), gravadlax or rollmop herrings marinated in dill, charcoal, rubber, vegetal, malt/marmite, rye bread

Taste:

Cinnamon and bubblegum, gobstoppers and fireball sweeties, freshly grated nutmeg and then plenty of sweet fruits a mix of Cointreau and chartreuse, orange oil/essence

Finish:

Short cinnamon and bubblegum, drying rye bread lingers

Overall:

Interesting, masses of unmistakable herbal dill on the nose that evoked plenty of Nordic/Scandinavian fish dishes liberally flavoured with dill such as gravadlax served on rye bread. The palate bizarrely is pretty devoid of any dill influence and with time becomes sweet and fruity like oranges. A real pleasure to sample, though it drew a mixed reaction from those sampling it.