Not a bad Canadian whisk(e)y. Most Canadian whiskeys, especially blended, are extremely smooth with sweet notes and some wood (think "sweet" maple vs smoky oaky notes... aligned with what Canadians like), but rather light on flavor than robust American bourbons/whiskeys. Kirkland's maintains the smoothness and sweet notes, but you do get more wood (at least for my palate) in the finish, probably from the aging in oak casks. There is still that hint of maple notes as well. Works well as a mixer, but still good neat or on the rocks when you don't want something heavy. Note: Some folks think this comes from the same distilleries that make Crown Royal (a Diageo company). But at least with the recent bottles, that can't be the case. If you look on the bottle, it comes from "Wide World Importers, Louisville, KY" which is an alternative business name for Buffalo Trace/Sazerac. So it CAN'T be from the same place as Crown Royal since Diageo and Sazerac are competitors.
About this bottle
This whisky is one of Costco's private bottlings. It is produced in Canada from a mash bill of 95% corn, 2% rye, and 2% barley. Aged for 6 years in charred white oak barrels, it is bottled at 40% ABV in 1.75L bottles.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 20 parsed reviews.
This one has a very light smell, there’s some vegetal rye notes coming through. Nose: 15/20 First sip: Vanilla, burnt caramel, cinnamon, some mild other baking spices. 24/30 Following taste and finish: This is a pleasant whiskey, it’s sweet, maybe sweeter than my ideal. I like the peppery finish, and the rye notes. A welcome balance to the sweet vanilla. 19/25 As for the experience and value, the bottle is really nice, looks good, has a composite cork with a pleasant pop, and was a 1.75 L for $19.95 plus Washington state liquor tax. 18/20 Total: 76/100
Probably, the best thing about this is the volume-price ratio. It tastes like your average Canadian whisky which may be what you want. It’s not the worst, specially when mixed, but, it’s not particularly good either.
Smooth, clone of Royal Canadian. Cheap enough that I drop a cinnamon stick in the bottle & have nice spiced whisky for winter sipping.
Basic/standard canadian whiskey. Maple/caramel notes. smooth. Very slight spice/wood notes to finish. Not bad for the price
Artificial caramel and acetone, just like all other cheap Canadian stuff I've tried. Maybe some rye spice. Truly terrible.
14 more reviews were collected for this bottle. The longest ones are shown first.
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