When people think of Canadian Club, Canada’s oldest and most iconic brand of whisky, many view it cheifly as a pouring whisky best suited for making high quality highball drinks or cocktails.
The books that featured many pre-prohibition and prohibition-era whisky cocktails called for it by name. In the pages of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, Bond himself drank Canadian Club (it was enjoyed with soda water in Dr. No).
However, not everyone prefers it mixed. More recently, Canadian Club saw its sales jump rapidly as a result of its (free) product placement throughout the hit TV series Mad Men, where Don Draper, unlike Bond, tended to prefer it neat, but also in an Old Fashioned.
The whisky of choice for Mad Men’s Don Draper was Canadian Club
By my standards, Canadian Club Classic, the iconic non-age statement screw top bottle of great affordability, is more well suited to mixing. The 12 Year, which is also of great affordability, is where you really start to make the jump to enjoying it either on the rocks or neat, but it too also performs very well in mixed drinks.
Not to be pigeon-holed as mixing fodder, Canadian Club offers a series of elevated whiskies that are of very old age statements and are typically best consumed neat. The CC Chronicles series are the oldest age statement whiskies the brand has ever issued (at the time of writing the 45 year is the oldest). Although the Chronicles are no means inexpensive, they are much more affordable (at between $320-450 CAD) than a Scotch single malt of similar age. As a stepping stone, the Canadian Club 20 Year Old is usually readily available, and more recently the iconic Canadian brand has released the second annual edition of their Invitation Series with Canadian Club Classic 18 Year Old High Proof (the first Invitation was a delightful 15 Year finished in Oloroso Sherry casks and bottled at 42% abv).
The 18 Year High Proof is carefully aged and bottled at a higher proof of 58% abv for a full-bodied tasting experience. Recently, this expression was awarded Gold at the 2024 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) and is Canadian Club’s first-ever 18-year-old whisky.
SHELF APPEAL RATING (Note: does not count toward final score, out of 5):
APPEARANCE: Clear. Mahogany.
NOSE: Trademark notes of caramel and baking spices manifest first, and are followed by rich tones of butterscotch, a quick whiff of coal, and creamy peach swirl hard candies.
PALATE: A slightly oily texture provides a medium-rich, coating mouthfeel. Medium-plus sweetness. The palate is loaded with herbal cola notes that are redolent of the Italian soda Brio, before a chili pepper spice takes shape and is accompanied by hickory, rye spice, caramel, dark espresso, and oak char.
FINISH: Medium-long, warming and pleasant. The finish is carried out with notes of burnt toffee, oak, and fiercely persisting spices.
ABV: 58%
AGE: 18 years
CASK(S): White oak
ENJOY: Neat or with ice.
RATING:
Conclusions
Sometimes it’s necessary to sidestep yet another craft whisky to enjoy the quality and value one of the world’s most successful major brands. Canadian Club is why much of the world still stubbornly chooses to call Canadian whisky “rye”, and with the prominent spice-laden notes to be found throughout this Invitation Series Release No. 2, it’s no wonder why.
At 58% abv, the Invitation Series High Proof 18 year Old still manages to stay true to the trademark smooth character of a Canadian Club whisky as there is little to no heat to be found. It sips more like something at around 50% abv rather than almost 60, and delivers an obvious great deal more character and complexity than the standard 40% offerings, some of which can be found in over 150 countries worldwide.
This limited release is a wonderfully mature, spice-driven Canadian whisky with an elevated age statement that can be enjoyed at an incredible price ($89 CAD at time of writing).
…And For Those So Inclined: A Recommended Cigar Pairing
Pair the Canadian Club Invitation Series High Proof 18 Year Old whisky with a Prensado Robusto cigar by Alec Bradley Cigars.
The 96-rated 2011 #1 Cigar of the Year (Cigar Aficionado Magazine) features a luscious chocolate-brown Honduran Corojo wrapper with Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos underneath, delivering powerful notes of chocolate, earth and baking spices which pair exceedingly well with the spicy rye-forward profile of the whisky.
Alongside the High Proof 18 Year Old whisky, roasted coffee notes unfold while new notes of cinnamon emerge before additional chili pepper spices become heightened in the whisky.
– Kurt Bradley
Reviewed October 13, 2024
Kurt Bradley is the founder of The Gentleman’s Flavor, to which he is also a contributing editor, host and curator.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Kurt has lived in Glasgow, Scotland where he developed a passion for understanding whisky. Kurt is a certified Whisky Ambassador accredited by The Scotch Whisky Association and has achieved Level 2 Award in Wine & Spirits Education Trust with distinction. He is a regular contributor to Cigar Journal Magazine, and has provided commentary to Cigar Aficionado, the world’s leading cigar publication.
He enjoys a fine, hand made cigar with a well-crafted Old Fashioned cocktail.
