Canadian Club Classic 12 Year

Do you ever have those days where by its end, you just think to yourself: "oh my gosh, I survived"? Today is one of those days for me. My brain feels fried, my eyes are throbbing and I feel simultaneously like I could sleep for a month and/or be awake all night. On these types of days, I keep my expensive drams on the shelf and reach for something cheap and cheerful. Canadian Club 12 is aged in charred oak bourbon barrels and at a price point of $31.95 CAD, it's hard to beat for a 12 year old whisky. The first image that popped up when I nosed this was orange marmalade and a wet old barn. Comforting aged charred oak and vanilla custard reveal themselves over time. Canadian Club 12 has an initially sweet, faintly medicinal sip that ascends with baking spice. Woodiness and a slightly bitter note take over through a mellow and moderate vanilla finish. This is a decent budget bottle that would work nicely in cocktails as well. It's fairly straight forward, but its sweet-leading palate would be appealing to folks who prefer less smoke. 6.75/10

Nose: Maple, caramel, toffee, sap, wood spice,dried fruits (raisins, prunes, dates), dark fruits (figs, plum, blackberries) a little orange and candied lemon/lemon rind, sherry,butterscotch, rye greenness, hint of medium roast coffee, hint of pine, sweet creaminess, earthiness (slightest hint of rich tobacco, light chocolate) Palate: Caramel, vanilla, toffee, butterscotch, tannins, peppery spice, sherry, slight spicy bitterness, slight creamy sweetness, maple sugar, charred oak, wood sweetness, dried fruit, dark berries Finish: Dried fruit, molasses, spicy bitterness, rye, hint of creaminess, fig

Canadian Club 12 year, 40% abv. Imported then bottled in the US. Aged in "charred bourbon barrels." Aroma: sweet, vanilla, caramel, maple. Taste: sweet up front, both a pleasant and odd sweetness to it. Light to moderate charred/wet oak notes. Not very complex. Was expecting a little better but its not bad for the price, might revisit in the future. Pretty smooth. Cost: 19.99 plus tax, the same price as the 9 year where I bought both bottles but expect other places to price this higher. Only a slight improvement to the regular Canadian Club but much better than the 9 year expression. Grade: B-

It’s all a matter of perspective. When one calls this whisky lacking complexity another can call it highly refined. When one says it’s missing character another can call it exceedingly smooth. To me, CC 12 is probably one of the most refined, sophisticated whiskies available. Does it have bold flavors? Not at all. Does it grab your attention? It’s too well-mannered for that. What you have here is a pure expression of an elegant Canadian...it’s polite, smooth, and refined. If you seek a brown spirit that will not offend, then look no more, CC12 is it. What Crown Royal claims, CC12 delivers.

Look: Like a bourbon really: burnt orange, gold hues on the edges. Lacing, legs. Nose: sweetness, little to no spice or diversity seems like. Mainly a grainy smell I’d say. Swirling opens more ethanol than I’ve smelled in a whiskey. Palate: sweet as the nose insinuated, little bit more flavor though. Caramel and vanilla. Finish: somewhat astringent, some burn but no barrel at all. Reminds me of a rum almost. Overall: I use this for manhattans and old fashioneds, but figured I should give it a fair shake. Not the greatest neat.

Like a lot of the Canadian Club line, it's not an exceptionally deep or complicated spirit, but if you need that, you're looking in the wrong place. Think of the spirit itself to act as a fairly pure vehicle of the long wood essence. The underlying spirits is fairly neutral so you get a lovely expression of undaunted wood and vanilla. It's smooth, but not nearly as much as the blended Scotch of equivalent age (Chivas or Dewars, for instance). A bit of old world meets new world. I like it. But only when I'm in the mood.