Last week I was invited to an evening of whisky tasting, cocktail making and delicious eats held by Canadian Club.
The event kicked off with a portfolio tasting to celebrate the new Canadian Club’s Chairman’s Select 100% Rye.
We started off with the Canadian Club Premium 1858 – this is their best selling flagship whisky. All Canadian whisky must be aged for at least 3 years as required by law. I definitely could taste hints of caramel in this whisky. This whisky is best used as a mixer with your favourite ingredients.
The next whisky is the Classic 12 – which as you can tell by the name has been aged for 12 years in seasoned, white American oak bourbon barrels. It’s more amber in colour and is fuller bodied than the 1858. The hints I got from tasting are butterscotch and caramel.
The third whisky is the new Chairman’s Select 100% Rye. It’s aged in new white American oak barrels and has a more robust flavour and softer finish. There aroma has hints of bananas and citrus fruit. The Chairman’s Select 100% Rye is only available in Canada (but coming elsewhere in 2016).
Finally, we tasted the Sherry Cask. This particular whisky is made in small quantities, aged for at least 8 years in white oak barrels and then double matured in Fino sherry casks imported from Spain. As implied in the name, you get a mix taste of sweetness – toffee and figs is what we tasted.
The next part of the evening was trying to make the cocktails. It was fun learning how to make a Manhattan and a whisky sour – check out the video on making the whisky sour, or the Walkerville Affair.
I’m also going to share a couple recipes:
Dry Rye Manhattan
Canadian Club Chairman’s Select 100% Rye
Dolin Dry Vermouth
Bittered Sling’s Kensington Dry Bitters
Simple Syrup
Lemon garnish
Pour 1oz of CC’s Chairman’s Select into a mixing glass, add vermouth, 3 shakes of the bitter and balance the flavour out with simple syrup and a lemon garnish.
Click through to see more whisky cocktail recipes:
White Dog
Bensonhurst
Finally, our meal at Wildebeest kicked off with a Spring Beet salad – made with fresh cucumber, compressed apple, ricotta salata and miner’s lettuce. It was a nice, light way to start off our meal. There wasn’t an overpowering taste to it, but quite neutral and clean which helped as almost a palate equalizer with our whisky drinks.
The main course is Grilled Angust Ribeye, served with her potatoes, smoked salt and CC’s Chairman’s Select 100% Rye jus. Delicious tender meat and equally as delicious potatoes – the CC jus really elevated the taste of this dish – it was slightly spicy, slightly smoky but all around delicious.
Finally for dessert is the House-made Canadian Club Chairman’s Select Maple ice cream. All of Wildebeest’s ice creams are made in house and this one was a nice end to the evening. Maple ice cream is always delicious.
For more information on Canadian Club whisky, please visit their website here: http://canadianclub.com.
