Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve

[portwood]

Aging whiskys individually then blending them together has been standard procedure for Canadian Whisky since the early days of the industry when Hiram Walker established the protocol.

Exactly!

John Hall, though, takes every opportunity to tell audiences how he uses his winemaking skills* to blend the various aged grain components. He even uses wine terminology (meritage) to make the point, and by implication, wants people to believe he is the only one doing it.

* some people say he wasnt much of a winemaker to begin with. Kitling Ridge isn't exactly a grand cru wine

[squire]

That has puzzled me in the past, why would a successful winemaker want to go a stillin.

[tanstaafl2]

That has puzzled me in the past, why would a successful winemaker want to go a stillin.

Perhaps he was prescient enough to recognize that wine had maxed out and whiskey was the next big thing and thought he could make a go of it enough to get one of the big boys to buy him out for ninety gazillion dollars.

Or maybe he just enjoys it!

I would probably go with the first one...

[sutton]

Huh, well I bought it. I did think he was doing something differently with his single grain distillate/whisky and then blending after some aging. Had no idea this was standard practice in Canadian whisky.

[squire]

There's another school of Canadian whisky production where the different distillates are blended before aging, married at birth I think they call it, which holds that this process makes a smoother whisky. Of course one man's smooth is another man's bland. I've compared the competing schools products in tastings and can't tell any difference.