Distillery: Alberta Limited Distillers in Calgary
Proof: 132
Age: NAS
Mashbill: 100% Rye
BACKGROUND: Alberta Distillers was founded in 1946 in Alberta Canada, making them the oldest distillery in Western Canada. They made their mark in whiskey history, claiming to create “one of the first true 100% Rye Whiskys.” The grains are all sourced from from the canadian prairies with water sourced from the Rocky Mountains. Due to the high spice from the rye, their first expressions were slow to gain popularity, causing them to pivot, selling to some US producers including Whistle Pig & Masterson's Whiskey, giving them the nickname of “Canada's MGP.” In 2019 Alberta Distillers finally released their cask strength expressions, which finally gave the distillery the reputation they deserved. Today, Alberta Distillers is owned by Beam Suntory, & distributes their products all around the world.
NOSE: The nose is surprisingly light for 132 proof but has sharp rye spice notes, very sweet vanilla, spearmint, and tart apple. It is a rather simple and straight forward nose with a sharpness and sweetness to it. (21/25)
PALATE: What was a lighter and simpler nose changes into a full bodies, rich, and creamy. Very viscous feel that is incredible with flavors of roasted nut, spicy rye, cinnamon, and clove. It really reminds me of a fresh snickerdoodle cookie. There is a really nice warmness, chewiness, and sweetness to it like a fresh gooey cookie. Delicious. (37/40)
FINISH: Like the palate, the finish is rich, chewy, and flavorful with strong rye spice, baking spice, caramel, leather, and roasted nuts. It is quite long and really fnishes this whiskey off nicely. (22/25)
VALUE: With a $70 SRP this is a great buy! Especially for a cask strength rye whiskey. We would pay up to $85 (7/10)
Overall: 87/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye was a really tasty and enjoyable Whiskey. For whatever the nose lacks the palate and finish make up for it. It is definitely a spicy rye whiskey with nice sweetness to it. We recommend this whiskey to anyone who likes spicy rye whiskey. For a cask strength Rye Whiskey it goes down smooth!
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Whistle Pig 10 Year Cask Strength
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Willett Family Estate 4 Year Rye
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away