Whisky Neighbour

Rig Hand Releases Bar M Whisky! This was my fist chance to be at a release party and I had a ton of fun. The people at Rig Hand are wonderful and of course they love to talk about their spirits and their first craft whisky.  Bar M is a collaboration between Last Mountain and Rig Hand. Rig Hand distilled and aged their 10-W-40 whisky which is 10% rye, 40% wheat, and 50% barley. Last Mountain distilled and aged their 100% wheat whisky and then Rig Hand blended these to create the first craft whisky in Alberta. The first batch was bottled at cask strength and was sold to collectors for $250.00. While I wish I could have picked that up, it would be a little more than I could handle at this point. So instead, I bought a bottle of their second batch, which was also release on November 11th and bottled at 45%.  This episode is a few of my thoughts on the event and a short interview with Mike Beile from Rig Hand about their whisky. I will follow this up later with tasting...

Today I pour an interesting rye from Alberta Distillers. In Canada this bottle is released under the name “Dark Horse”, but in the US it is labeled “Alberta Rye Whisky Dark Batch”. I have seen this bottle on shelves for a while, but for some reason, I had not picked it up. A friend at work mentioned it might be going away so I picked one up, and have poured a few over the last couple of weeks. Alberta Distillers makes amazing rye. They have released their own older expressions years ago, but also sell an excellent product to companies like Whistle Pig or Masterson’s. This bottle is a mix of their own rye and a few other ingredients. Before I get there, maybe I’ll just give my impressions when pouring, nosing and tasting this whisky. The colour of this liquid is exquisite. I really like the dark amber almost red tone of the bottle. Moving it around in the glass and letting it sit shows off some nice legs on the side and promises a great experience. On the nose I find this sweet and...