First off, this is not just A wee dram… it’s another trio of wee drams!
This is something that I’ve been thinking about for some time – doing side-by side tastings and mini-reviews of some Canadian whiskies from one of my favourite distilleries, Alberta Distillers Ltd, which is located in Calgary, just a few hours south of my home!
These are all whiskies that I’ve previously reviewed in more in-depth fashion, but I thought it would be fun to progress through the range that currently exists in my cabinet. For this experiment, I nosed the whiskies in order, and then back, and followed the same process for tasting before finally spending a few moments with each one – comparing it against the others as needed. My previous tasting notes and reviews were not consulted for this process but I did look at them before writing my “final thoughts”.
Pouring today:
Alberta Premium Canadian Rye Whisky
Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye
Alberta Premium – Aged 20 Years
Let’s get to it!
Stating with the flagship offering, bottled at 40% abv… On the nose, it’s a clean, classic rye profile, with dusty rye grain and a sweet, buttery character. Lots of vanilla and, of course, that slightly yeasty quality that I find in all AP whiskies! The palate is dominated by caramel and butterscotch, with a nice grainy rye spice. Short, clean finish.
The cask strength AP (66% abv), unsurprisingly, has a much more robust aroma. It’s certainly similar but the rye, while still classically dry and spicy, also has a noticeably fruity quality about it and there is a more assertive oak note. The buttery quality is toned down and replaced with more spice. On the tongue, the amped up abv is apparent, delivering an assault of classic rye flavours and an astringent taste of black currants. Spicy, oak-infused and delicious. The finish on this whisky is much longer than the first one, with lingering menthol and pencil shavings that eventually fade into a pink-bubblegum flourish. The longest finish in the flight!
And on to today’s old boy – the AP 20, which is bottled at 42% abv. Again, the distillery’s signature profile is discernible, but the wood and rye berries are dialled up significantly. I’m also noticing a soapy aroma that I had not previously detected. Pine and licorice-fennel scents are also evident. This is the most interesting nose of the three drams. On the palate, a strong flavour of walnuts and a half-sweet butterscotch accompany the rye spice. The finish is on the medium-long side, with hot cinnamon hearts and green chilies.
Final Thoughts
I don’t usually write sections like this for my “Wee Dram…” posts, but it feels right to do so this time. This was a fun exercise! It was very interesting to thoughtfully compare these whiskies against each other and it was super interesting to discover how differently each dram tasted, when sampled after one or the other of its teammates. (For example, the cask strength came across with far more rough edges when tasted after the 20yo and it tasted utterly amazing after the regular AP.)
It was also very interesting to re-read my previous reviews after writing the bulk of this post. I found that most of the aromas and flavours that I teased out today were included in those three in-depth reviews but, somewhat surprisingly, I didn’t necessarily find them in the same whiskies, when sampled head-to-head. I suppose this is evidence of a consistent distillate and perhaps speaks to how the differences among the threes drams affected my senses between nosings and tastings.
At the end of the day, the AP Cask Strength was my favourite of the three drams. This isn’t all that surprising, since I’ve had a couple more bottles of that one work their way through my cupboard over the past couple of years. That said, they are all very good Canadian whiskies that, in my opinion, offer tremendous value in each of their intended markets.
A Dram or 2 