Despite its image as being tasty with Coke or gingerroot ale , Canadian whiskey is in the middle of a resurgence . wiliness distillers are popping up pull up stakes and veracious , and turgid brands are introducing new program and innovations . To give you a appreciation of the spirit , we ’ve put together seven thing you might not know about it .
1 . All Canadian whisky can be labeled rye whisky . agree to Canadian Food and Drug Regulations , a product must “ own the aroma , sense of taste , and fiber of Canadian whisky ” to be labeled Canadian whiskey , rye whiskey whisky or Canadian rye whiskey . Within Canada , they ’re synonymous . For about 200 eld , Canadian whisky producer have been using rye whisky to make their product more complex . This praxis was instal more than 150 year before the U.S. required 51 percentage rye whiskey message to be called rye .
2 . Prohibition did n’t make Canadian whiskey popular in the U.S.—the Civil War did . Many of the whiskey still in the South were either abandoned or demolish during Civil War battles . Since troops used whisky as an anaesthetic agent , they turned to import Canadian whiskey to fill the interruption when their stores dried up .
3 . 70 percentage of Canadian whisky is exported to the U.S.
4 . Canada was the first nation to pass an age requirement for whisky . In 1887 , Canada passed a legal philosophy that required a feel be aged for at least one year in wood to be called whisky . Great Britain was 25 years behind .
5 . With few exception , Canadian whisky is blended after distillation . Instead of combining the grains in a mash bill before distillation , each grain is distilled separately and later fuse . Therefore , the most of import figure in a Canadian whisky still holds the form of address of sea captain liquidizer rather than master distiller .
6 . During its early childhood , Canadian whiskey was made mostly from wheat . Canada had an teemingness of wheat , so settler used it to distill their whiskey . It was n’t until German and Dutch immigrants wanted more saporous whisky that rye whiskey was added , but this style quickly became so popular that wheat whiskey most vanish .
7 . From 1865 - 2010 , Canadian whiskey was the best - selling whiskey in the U.S.As of 2010 , bourbon outsold Canadian whiskey in the U.S. , but Canadian whisky is still the substantially - selling whiskey in all of North America .
Special thanks to Canadian whisky expert Davin de Kergommeaux for the information !
