Lot No. 40 12 Year Cask Strength

Lot 40 Cask Strength: Boyo, where to begin. To start, all reviews are subjective in nature. What tastes good from one person to another is different. Also, someone who drinks whisky neat vs ice or mix will have a different experience. Also, someone who drinks regularly vs. once in a while will experience variations. All options are great, but personally, I drink neat as I’m a believer as to that’s how the Gods of Whiskey would like us to enjoy this nectar. Tasting notes from the first dram are your basic vanilla, caramel, cinnamon and oak. When flexing the nostrils in your second dram you can further exude maple syrup and a bread type. Perhaps sour dough after reviewing other comments. On the front part of the tongue you get some spice of cinnamon and pepper. More of the cinnamon in my opinion, however, the flavour profile is quite robust, yet a short finish. Not a bad thing for a 12 year old whisky. No burn as it goes down the hatch. Perhaps a slight tickle of burn but nothing from what I would consider ghastly. The ABV is an impressive 55% at a 12 year maturity. You’re getting into Godly measures and how cask strength is meant to be enjoyed. The bottle itself is reflective of its tone. Copper style label that sticks out across the bottle that depicts a strong, appealing visual in relation to how it crosses the palate. A true pleasure of a top shelf product. I would have to say this is probably the best Canadian Whisky out there. It beats the pants off any Canadian distiller and is a no brainer to the collection. It puts the 40 creek, Alberta premium and others to shame with its beauty. Bow down to the master of Lot 40: Cask Strength! Baybah baybayyyy!

For starters, I LOVE Lot 40 regular. I think it's my favorite sipping rye to be honest. And at the price ($40 in Ontario), I don't mind throwing it in some ginger ale either. If there are any 'Rye and Ginger' lovers out there, give the regular a try. I guarantee it will change your life. Onto the cask strength. How can you make the regular Lot 40 better? Bump up the ABV to 55% and age it for 12 years obviously. I tasted the cask side by side with the regular. On the nose, the cask is as you'd expect, a little stronger on the alcohol side. But I was surprised at how little it burned. On the palette it was the regular amped up. Lots of dark fruit, spice and a hint of molasses. The finish lingered, as it should. Here's where it got fun! I added five drops of water and WOW!! Not only were the flavours more pronounced, but it became thicker and creamier. The regular Lot 40 just doesn't do that with water. I've had that happen with some single malts before, but never a rye. After letting it sit for a few more minutes, cinnamon starts to develop. And the finish is long bringing all the flavours back over and over again. I'm ecstatic about this rye. I won't be testing it with ginger ale, that's for sure. It certainly doesn't need it!

The crown jewel of Canadian whisky, full-stop. I am not going to go overboard on the ejaculatory adjectives, because this is not a perfect whisky (for my money, the younger, original release of Lot 40 was at a perfect age, and a cask strength version of THAT whisky was always the dream for me--at 12 years, this bottle leans a bit into bitterness on the finish). But it *is* absolutely the best Canadian whisky I've had. Needs time to open, but the smell is rich caraway, icing sugar, some dill, vanilla, sawdust, clove. Cinnamon, maple syrup. Mellower than an American straight rye, with a rounded sweetness and a sourdough bread base. Much less heat than you'd expect at 55% ABV. Fiery at first, leading with spice--caraway, clove, cinnamon. Then sweet bread or dough, dill, vanilla, some leather and rubber (not in a bad way). Sweet, but not quite "Canadian whisky" sweet--just a soft maple undercurrent. Finishes dry, vanilla, a bit tannic and slightly medicinal. Not perfect, but lovely. Limited to a few thousand bottles--if you can get your hands on one, please do so. (On the other hand, eww, it's gross; leave it all for me)

Not the strongest nose, but full. Smells like rye bread. Some sweetness, and herbal notes. It definitely kicks you in the face, way more than you would expect for a 110 proofer. Lots going on here. Lingering spice. Floral and herbal with a pleasant sweetness. Flavor bomb but not harsh. Definitely need to come back to this. 12/22/17 Same bottle, almost 7 months later. Unmistakably a rye on the nose. Rye bread and brown sugar, a slight floral note. On the palate, sweet flowers. Flavorful but light. Not as complex as I remember. I must not be a huge rye fan, this is a bit hyped. 7/7/18 Different bottle. A musty note on the nose that I don't think I've noticed before. Still stings. Sweet bread, cola. Nice nose. On the palate, a strong industrial note. Sweetness and a hint of tea. I can see why some would like this, but still not a huge fan. 11/29/2021

The one member of the 2017 Northern Borders Collection that I did not yet review here was the Lot 40 Cask 12-Year-Old Cask Strength, the standout of the series for many people. I did enjoy it at a festival tasting but never got around to the sample I had stashed away, an oversight I corrected after a recent visit to Canada. There’s lots to explore on the nose: butterscotch, oranges, ginger and baking spices. It starts oily and peppery in the mouth, with classic rye flavors like cardamon and caraway seed. A big burst of Seville orange marmalade mid-palate transports the whisky though to a long creamy finish with a hint of milk chocolate and more orange. A great whisky, though of the 2017 releases I preferred the JP Wiser’s 35. If only more of these annual releases were available outside of Canada.

The nose was nice - similar to the regular No.40 offering, but perhaps a little "darker". Although I'd heard raves about the flavour, it still knocked my socks off. The flavour profile was similar to regular Lot.40, but with more dark fruits, spice, and hints of licorice - and of course more intense. I've had some world class ryes (Willets, A.D.Lawes) and this whisky is firmly in that class. A superb rye at a very reasonable price point ($80 at LCBO) if you can get your hands on it. My only regret is that I didn't buy 2 more bottles when I had the chance.