[Review] Wiser's Northern Border Collection 2017

What's this? A special set of reviews on a Saturday instead of the usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday? What's the meaning of all this ya little wee laddie?

If you were thinking of any of the above then let me explain why I'm doing this now and not during the week. Next Saturday I'll be attending the Spirit of Toronto whisky gala at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It's a fairly standard whisky festival in Toronto and basically the only major festival in the GTA since WhiskyLive stopped running shows since 2016, whether this will change in the immediate future I am not too sure. Like most whisky festivals you grab a glass and walk around and try some drams and maybe attend a masterclass or two for an additional fee. So because there aren't any alternatives in Ontario now except for the Wonderful World of Whisky Show in Cornwall (1 hour away from Ottawa and Montreal but close to the New York State border), Spirit of Toronto is basically one of the biggest days for Toronto whisky drinkers outside of the yearly Buffalo Trace Antique Collection lottery that the LCBO runs.

Speaking of the BTAC, this segways well into what I'll be looking at today which is the Canadian take on this well regarded collection of whiskies, the Wiser's Northern Border Collection. Next Saturday I'll be attending a masterclass to try the 2018 Wiser's Northern Border Collection with Dr. Don Livermore, master distiller at Hiram Walker Distillery who produces Wiser's whiskies, so before that I want to go over the time when I had the great chance to try the 2017 releases along with the basic common expressions that each are based off of.

Back in October 2017, I went to a merry gathering of whisky lovers hosted by the Toronto Whisky Society to try the 2017 Northern Border Collection. It serves as a premium collection to highlight Hiram Walker's wares and the range of how complex Canadian whisky can get. It includes a lot of older Canadian whiskies including the now second oldest Canadian whisky release right behind the Canadian Club 40 Year Old, which is the Wiser's 35 Year Old. So as the night went along we tried the collection along with their counterparts from Corby's core selection of spirits as Mr. Dave Mitton from Corby's Spirits led us on a journey through the history of Canadian whisky.

The funniest thing about that story was how Canadian whisky became big in the first place. Canadian whisky makers, like William Gooderham Sr. of the original Gooderham & Worts Distillery, sought to create the most delicate whisky in the land, a whisky that didn't sell on its harshness but on its delicacy. In some ways this helped Canadian whisky continue to sell but has not necessarily helped Canadian whisky appeal to the changing tastes of modern consumers who have started to seek bolder whisky over the past few decades, which is especially true with the growing number of ultra premium whisky buyers. So now the Northern Border Collection was created to show both the past of Canadian whisky and the near future. To me this is worth a ton of respect to the ambitious creators over at Corby's and I was very pleased to get a peek before the collection came out to stores last fall.

So without further ado lets get to some whisky reviews!

Note: We'll be skipping reviewing Lot No. 40 and Lot No. 40 12 Year Old Cask Strength as those were reviewed previously, but for those who aren't looking back I highly recommend buying both as they are very solid rye whiskies for the MSRP.

Pike Creek 10 Year Old Rum Finish Canadian Whisky

 

So this is a 10 year old rye forward Canadian whisky that is a child of Dr. Don Livermore, master distiller of Wiser's, who wanted to experiment with use of different wood finishes. This whisky used to be released as a Port finish but sadly the access to port barrels became hard to come by so they moved to a Rum finish instead. So the new Pike Creek 10 Year Old is aged in Demerara Rum casks for between 60-100 days. Apparently they use Lamb's Rum barrels but this isn't 100% certain. It's bottled at 42% ABV which is definitely an unusual proof.

• Colour: Amber
• Nose: Molasses, vanilla, toffee, citrus fruits, light allspice
• Taste: Light body, molasses, vanilla, oranges, wood spice, toffee
• Finish: Medium with maple syrup, spice and citrus

A little too light for me personally but still a solid medium priced Canadian whisky.

75 pts

 

Pike Creek 21 Year Old Speyside Finish Canadian Whisky

 

So now we get to the older Pike Creek which is aged for 21 years and bottled at a higher 45% ABV. This one is finished in Speyside single malt scotch whisky casks sourced from Chivas Brothers for 100 days.

• Colour: Light Amber
• Nose: Apples, pears, sherryfruits, woodspice, vanilla, oranges
• Taste: Vanilla cream, mandarins, cereals, apple, toffee, woodspice
• Finish: Medium-long with apples and rye spice

The color makes it seem like it was an refill sherried whisky cask and even then this is really solid for a Canadian whisky. 21 years and the price help it out well.

82 pts

 

Gooderham & Worts Canadian Whisky 

 

So the next whisky line we tasted was Gooderham and Wort's which is a newer whisky created 2 years ago by Corby's distillery and won Canadian Whisky of the year at the World Whisky Awards. Named after the original distillery which once was the biggest in Canada before being closed in 1990 and converted to Toronto's distillery district, the whisky is made with 4 grains (rye, wheat, corn and barley) and with the main grain being primarily rye. It's bottled at 44.4% ABV.

• Colour: Gold
• Nose: Light citrus fruits, corn, sweet oak, rye spice, bread
• Taste: Rye spice, baked bread, apple, red fruits, slight citrus, apples
• Finish: Medium with spiced fruit bread

A solid whisky, more my thing than the Pike Creek 10 but only a tiny bit better. The ABV helps too.

76 pts

 

Gooderham & Worts Little Trinity 17 Year Old Canadian Whisky

 

This special edition of Gooderham & Worts was named after the Little Trinity Anglican Church in Downtown Toronto that was built by the original distillery owner so his employees didn't have to pay to go and worship. This whisky uses all the grains as the regular Gooderham & Worts minus the barley. It's bottled at a slightly stronger 45% ABV.

• Colour: Straw gold
• Nose: Honey, allspice, rye cereals, light red fruits, lighter nose than the others I've had tonight
• Taste: Vanilla, red fruits, chocolate, allspice, buttercream
• Finish: Medium with biscuits and honey

It's good with some complexity on the nose but it's definitely a little lacking on the palate. Worth a try but not a buy.

77 pts

 

Wiser's 18 Year Old Canadian Whisky 

 

So now as we approach the end of the tasting we get to the Wiser's core line. This is a 100% corn whisky that is double column distilled and aged in used Canadian whisky casks. It is bottled at 40% ABV.

• Colour: Amber
• Nose: Strong corn, apple, vanilla, allspice, toffee, sweet oak
• Taste: Honey, cereals, vanilla, red fruits, apple, sweet caramel
• Finish: Low to medium with spiced red apples and brown sugar

It's a nice solid corn whisky, surprisingly strong for the proof but not super deep in palate. Still very good stuff but not great.

77 pts

 

Wiser's 35 Year Old Canadian Whisky

 

Now it's time for the grandpa Canadian whisky to finish the night off with a bang. This is primarily a copper pot distilled corn whisky aged for 35 years. It also has some rye whisky aged in virgin oak barrels added in and is bottled at 50% ABV.

• Colour: Amber
• Nose: Delicate nose, citrus, apple, vanilla, honey, wood spice
• Taste: Rye spice, rich honey, vanilla, milk chocolate, apple, wood spice, treenuts
• Finish: Medium-long with grapes, nuts and dark chocolate

This is pretty damn good for a 35 year old 90% corn whisky. Very nice stuff. I'm not sure if it's worth a buy but it's still a wonderful achievement from Corby's and definitely worth a try.

84 pts

 

A wonderful showing of Canadian whisky and personally a happy customer of Lot No. 40 Cask Strength which I bought shortly after this night of reviews. Thanks yet again to Toronto Whisky Society and to Mr. Dave Mitton for hosting a fun and very informative night of great Canadian whisky! I can't wait to post my next review set for Spirit of Toronto's Wiser's Masterclass showcasing the 2018 collection lineup and meeting Dr. Livemore in person to ask more about his very cool flavor wheel below, so stay tuned for that one which will hopefully be up in the second week of May! Merci beaucoup!

Current Review Scoring System:

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

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