During the opening credits of the HBO show Boardwalk Empire, bottles of Canadian Club whisky washed up onto a Jersey beach as protagonist Nucky Thompson watched. That sequence illustrated the unfortunately common view that Canadian whisky is something you drink only when you don’t have another option—your father’s alcohol, or maybe even your grandfather’s.
In fact, Canadian whisky was once the most popular whisky in the United States, outselling even homegrown varieties like bourbon. And thanks to inventive microdistillers and a renewed interest in classic spirits, this misunderstood spirit is enjoying a revival in both sales and respect.
Canadian whisky is much more diverse than many people realize, says Canadian whisky expert Johanne McInnis http://whiskylassie.blogspot.ca in her musings. There are more than 100 different Canadian whiskies today, but the majority of those aren’t yet available in the United States.
The major difference between Canadian whisky and other whiskies is that the different spirits are distilled and aged separately, then blended together. Instead of making a mash with, for example, corn, barley, and rye together, three separate mashes are made for each individual grain, aged separately, then blended together. The blend is sometimes then aged further, or simply bottled. The law simply specifies that for a whisky to be called “Canadian” whisky, it must be fermented, distilled, and aged in Canada.
“I’ve been drinking Canadian whisky for 30 years, so it’s no surprise to me,” McInnis said of the spirit’s increasing popularity. She attributes some of the rise in whisky’s popularity to its appearances in shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. “There’s a lot of history on TV with regards to how popular Canadian whisky used to be in the U.S.,” she said.
As well, as the interest in mixology and classic cocktails rises, bartenders and drinkers are looking at spirits that had been relegated to the back of your parents’ liquor cabinet.
There are, however, some remaining misconceptions about Canadian whisky. For starters, it was not quite as central to the history of Prohibition as Boardwalk Empire makes it seem—and its popularity in the U.S. actually began during the Civil War. And while many bars will give you Canadian Club or Crown Royal if you order rye and may use that name interchangeably for Canadian whisky, the spirit isn’t necessarily rye heavy, and may not have been made with the grain at all.
That variety means there is a wide variation among the Canadian whiskies on the market, and likely something for everyone. Here are three to try—all of which have at least some availability in the United States.
