Today I’m drinking Canadian whisky which isn’t all that strange per say but I’m usually pretty attracted to the Scottish isles and her pungent little nasties. Lucky for me, tonight I get to have both.

Let me share a little story about a groovy little distillery in Saskatchewan called Last Mountain. While on the road, Ty had picked up some of their whisky  and poured it for me on one of our YouTube episodes (https://youtu.be/2O-EwMHFKZ4).

My overall notion was “not bad” which actually means pretty friggin good for a Canadian style whisky. However, it seems as if the folks at Last Mountain were hoping for a little better than “not bad” so they asked if they could send us a bottle of their 2020 distillers release, reviewed here (https://youtu.be/q7f1dmvX15s).

The Master Distiller, Colin said “I know you’re a scotch guy but I believe you would appreciate the craft. I’m really quite proud of this one”. He was certainly correct as we named it Canadian whisky of the year, in Canadian Style. Since then I’ve had a love affair with Last Mountain, enjoying every expression I’ve come across so far, with the owner following up each time to ensure I was enjoying the craft, and if not, why I wasn’t satisfied and smiling. Either way always happy to engage and ask questions. You can find him on Instagram @TheWhiskyKnower.

This time we have the Smokey (we can argue spelling later) Single Malt, which is something of a cousin to the softy Canadian style whisky I’ve come to know and expect from Last mountain. Something to note about this little beast is the pungency actually comes from the barrel it was finished in. After being distilled in 2016 and left to age peacefully in freshly dumped bourbon barrels, this one was eventually selected to be further aged in a cask that was previously used by a famous Islay Distillery. One known for its somewhat medicinal peat with a bon fire type of character. This bastard came out of the barrel at a whopping 63.8% ABV and was eventually proofed down to 63% ABV to match the labels, which were based on notes from distillery owner Colin Schmidt. Either way there’s an unmistakeable note of ashy peat present throughout, truly you can’t miss it. It’s quite sharp and extremely spicy on the initial arrival but with a small ice cube or two, as recommended by Colin, you may find a more delicate and buttery Canadian whisky that no doubt will benefit drastically from that healthy sploosh of water. 

This heavy hitter is absolutely Canadian with a little bit of nasty coming from the Laphroaig barrel… or whichever Islay barrel was chosen for this tasty experiment… *coughs* Laphroaig. If you love Saskatchewan malt and you love a little Scottish in your Canadian whisky than perhaps this Smokey single malt is right for you.

Lucky for us they now ship to Alberta so if you’re interested be sure to check them out.

Cheers

Josh Ward – @knowyourwhisky – Instagram