JB Rye?

[cowdery]

I haven't seen them yet, but I suspect a more image-oriented motive. What is nicer than plastic but not quite as nice as cork? What do most imported spirits use, especially single malts?

Almost everything I have that comes from the EU has the metal screw cap. I suspect it might be a green thing too.

[squire]

Well it is attractive. The Beam black we opened a few minutes ago has the new metal cap and it is a far trimmer, neater and overall more stylish closure than its predecessor.

Squire

[Martian]

Here are two fun Youtube histories and tastings of JB Rye and OO Rye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kol9pd7aS2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_StUVh6ENuw

[HipFlask]

Just last night we stopped into a bar known for hamburgers. Behind the bar they had JB white, Maker's Mark and JB rye. I oredered the rye as I had never tasted this spirit before. I enjoyed the nose. Took my first sip and it reminded me of Old Grand BIB. The same sort of mustiness is present in the bottle. I happen to like that part of OGD so I give JB rye a thumbs up. I am sure a bottle of this will end up in the bunker.

[felthove]

On my most recent ABC store visit, I spied one bottle of JB Rye wearing a parchment-colored label with a slightly revised layout, as shown in this YouTube video.

Anyone else seen this? The Nov 13 posting date of the video suggests it's a recent change.

Larry

Wow -- those are some pretty sophisticated dudes. I wonder if that how is how the public at large perceives whiskey drinkers?

[barturtle]

Browsing through a store today I came across a shelf that just asked for a pic. Looks like Old Overholt got a new label too.

PIC-0244.jpg

[felthove]

Had a good sized pour of JB rye last night and found nothing at all wrong with it but just lacking oomph and personality. I was really looking forward to that rye zip on the tongue but didn't get much spice. Strangely when I want that zip I find myself reaching for the OGB BIB rather than rye such as JB or even Rittenhouse (which I absolutely love but it has a bit of hard candy sweetness upfront that I sometimes don't want).

I don't think I'll be buying anymore of the JB rye but I won't shy away from finishing this bottle when something easy to drink beckons me.

[burbankbrewer]

Then, as now, Canadian whisky blends an aged, vodka-like spirit, almost a neutral grain spirit, with a stronger (at that time, rye) whiskey, making a milder, smoother style.

*sigh* So many whiskeys, so little time.

My 85 yr. old neighbor gave me a bottle of Seagranms VO at christmas time bless his heart. It tastses exactly like vodka mixed with something else. I searched and found Seagram's VO Blended Canadian whisky.
www.vowhisky.com The only mention of the whiskey is for a mixed drink that includes it. But info on Crown Royal says this. A blend of more than 50 whiskeys including 15 bourbons and 13 ryes. They don't say what the other 22 or more whiskeys are, and they are not willing to preblend. Isn't that what they are actually doing? Now I don't know about you but I find this stunning. I guess they never heard the phrase, the simpler the better.

[Gillman]

I've never heard that about CR although the use of so many whiskies is entirely possible (I can't access the link you gave for some reason). I know for a fact that the new CR Cask No. 16 uses 50 whiskies because the label says so but I did not know that the other iterations of CR do as well.

In a recent Malt Advocate magazine on CR's plant at Gimli, Manitoba, the author spoke of five whiskeys being used but he might have said or meant 5 basic types (see further below). Some were classified as batch whiskies, light and heavy, and the rest as just light or heavy (this is from memory but it went something like that).

Batch would include the ryes and bourbons you mentioned since I think batch means pot-stilled or at least columnar low-proof whiskeys from mashbills similar to what makes bourbon and rye in the States. Heavy might be low, and light higher, proof, but hard to say what the range is for Seagram (maybe 120-160, 140-160, who knows). The non-batch whiskies would generally be high proof, near neutral distillates which however are aged per Canadian law (at least 3 years). Yet here too they could be a proof range, say 160-194.

It may be that each of the 5 whiskeys is a type that has sub-set whiskeys aged for a different time and/or in different wood and/or with different mashbills albeit within the definition (otherwise) of bourbon or rye if they are bourbon and rye, all of which add up to 50.

Why use so many whiskies? I don't know, they must feel it is the only way they can get, consistently, the palate they want. To me regular CR (in fact all CRs except to a degree for the new Cask No.16) are fairly bland in taste and I wonder too why a complex formula is needed for such a product but perhaps there is a good answer.

Gary

[Gillman]

On the palate of Canadian whisky, it really is a separate product (to bourbon). It is very popular and sells a lot around the world including the U.S. It isn't cheaper than good bourbon (the best Canadian whiskies aren't), so people must like it. It is similar to the good American blended whiskies, of which I have my favorites (I like some blends made by Heaven Hill and Barton) - but I like it only once in a while. Like once I did a 5 hour walk in sub-zero weather in NYC around this time of year - on a Sunday - and at 2:00 p.m. on the Upper East Side, with a smart set around me (some women looking like a young Jackie Onassis), I had a Barton blend with a coffee alongside. Bourbon would not have gone as well, I don't know why.

The best of it is quite good, e.g., Wiser's 18 year old whisky. CR Cask No. 16 is pretty good too, as is CR's Special Reserve. But in general, it is mixing fodder, yes.

Gary