"We" call it Canadian whiskey? Personally, I had never heard of Canadian Whiskey until I went to the US and I tried to order a rye and ginger and the server had no idea what I was talking about.

I know nothing - I only thought that is what is written on the bottles.

Sure, that's what's written on the bottles, but I've only ever heard "real folks" call it rye. :-)

You realize now I will have to go to the liquor store and examine all the bottles.

Ick. Me no like Rye or Gin.

Rum be the beverage of choice (other than beer) for pirates. arr

OK, folks, I DO know a lot about whiskey and whisky and have tasted hundreds. Canada last.
Blended Scotch contains clear flavorless spirit, plus malted scotches blended in for flavor.
Single malt Scotch contains a product of only one distillary, with no flavorless spirit, just malted barley peat smoked and distilled with water added. 2nd hand Bourbon or sherry barrels can be used for the aging.
Those definitions are clearly laid out in Scotland. Johnny Walker has an excellent blend out now, Greenlabel, composed of four different single malts together, and represents a new and expensive trend, but the stuff is fantastic!!!
Bourbon has to be from Kentucky, and contains a certain amount of corn, and is aged in new oak barrels. Congress passed a law defining this. Tennessee bourbon, Jack Daniels, is a whole different product.
Irish whiskey is a different style altogether, and although I have heard Jameson was the traditional Catholic drink, and Bushmills the protestent drink, I believe they are both owned by the same company now.
Down here we call it Canadian whiskey, but in Canada the other day I noticed the liquor store called it rye. In the US the law states that rye is boubon made from rye and corn in a certain way, which is different from regular bourbon. BUT, Canada is interesting, because your laws are very open for distillers, and they can toss in all kinds of ingredients for flavoring up to a certain percentage of the whole, which could include cognac or wine--so, something like Crown Royal is wicked tasty, and who knows what you people toss in there to make it so good?

pardon my random spellings above, but:

it is spelt whiskey in Ireland and the US and
spelt whisky in Canada and Scotland.

I got this quote from an interesting article in Popular Science on pre-1954 technology. I checked for the link, but it's no long available.

<i>"Rye, the spicier, more flavorful predecessor of bourbon, was crippled by Prohibition and never recovered," says Anthony Giglio, Boston Magazine wine and spirits columnist and author of the forthcoming Cocktails in New York. When alcohol was re-legalized in 1933, liquor companies wanted to get their product out in a hurry. They tended to ignore rye because it takes six years or more to age, as opposed to bourbon's four. Also, rye's powerful flavor came as an unwelcome shock to drinkers who had become accustomed to watery bathtub gin.</i>

You people are making me thirsty and I still have 5 hours before I can imbibe ... :-(

Gordo, some good curry might go down nicely, yes? (that was a heck of a dish ya'll had the other day, curried whatever loaded onto a platter of fries!) Big date with my wife shortly, to the library, then some drinks and Indian food. Living the good life, baby...

I'm definitely putting some curry on the menu for the weekend, Gary. I have more time to cook, then. That was curried pork and fries. It was amazing. :-D Especially washed down by the hemp ale.

Sorry, I can't resist correcting people, especially when erroneous information is being disseminated.

GR Said:
>"OK, folks, I DO know a lot about whiskey and whisky and have tasted >hundreds. Canada last. Blended Scotch contains clear flavorless spirit, >plus malted scotches blended in for flavor."

Blended Scotch does not contain "clear flavorless spirit". In order to be called whisky, the distillate MUST be aged in oak casks for a minimum of 3 years. This includes both grain whisky AND single Malt whisky. Since both types gain 60-70% (or more) of their flavor and a good portion of their color (except where spirit caramel is added) from the oak cask.

>"Single malt Scotch contains a product of only one distillary, with no >flavorless spirit, just malted barley peat smoked and distilled with water >added. 2nd hand Bourbon or sherry barrels can be used for the aging.

Peat Smoke is not required to make Scotch. ANY oak cask can be used for maturation - it need not be "2nd hand" nor must it be previously used to age Bourbon or Sherry.

>"Johnny Walker has an excellent blend out now, Greenlabel, composed of four >different single malts together"

By the new SWA definitions, JW Green IS indeed a Blend: Blended Malt Whisky, but by your definition it is not.

>"Bourbon has to be from Kentucky, and contains a certain amount of corn, >and is aged in new oak barrels."

Bourbon is a protected term in the US, but does not need to be made in Kentucky. It must be made of a distillate comprised of AT least 51% corn.

>"Congress passed a law defining this. Tennessee bourbon, Jack Daniels, is a >whole different product."

Jack Daniels is Tennessee Whisky - is indeed identical to Bourbon (at least in it's production, right up until the point that the Lincoln County process is employed, where it is filtered through Sugar Maple Charcoal.

>"Irish whiskey is a different style altogether, and although I have heard >Jameson was the traditional Catholic drink, and Bushmills the protestent >drink, I believe they are both owned by the same company now."

Bushmill's is now owned by (English) Diageo, Jameson's is owned by (French) Pernod Ricard.

>"In the US the law states that rye is boubon made from rye and corn in a >certain way, which is different from regular bourbon."

I don't even know where to start to correct this.

KE-well, seems to me all you have done is expand what I said. I do not have a doctorate in whiskey nor did I consult references before writing the above. No need for a snippy or uppity tone here KE:
-the spirit that goes into blended Scotch starts out clear and flavorless
-OK, sure, not every single malt has peat smoked malt, perhaps you would prefer I put it this way 'barley that may have been smoked with peat', and as for barrels, I said 2nd hand bourbon or sherry barrels 'may' be used, as perhaps other kinds of barrels also
-It has always been my understanding that in order to be called bourbon, it must be from Kentucky, unless a clarifier is added, therefore 'Tennessee Bourbon', but I don't have the US code in front of me
-see, like I was saying, Bushmill's and Jameson 'I believe' are owned by the same company, so maybe they are now owned by somebody else
-don't know what there is to correct about 'rye', as I hardly said a thing about it

Why didn't you just say 'I'd like to add something to what gr said up there'?

<blockquote><i>Sorry, I can't resist correcting people, especially when erroneous information is being disseminated.</i></blockquote>Listen up, Kevin: I run this here blog and I expect a good clean scratchy fight. It is true that the spirit originally is clear, "can be used" means optional and "whole different" is a definition accepted for what it is under the Blog Rules of 2002. Other than that, let 'er rip.<p>But your URL does not work. Are you http://www.thescotchblog.com/ or http://www.scotchblog.com?

It is obvious the gentleman has much to share, but I would like to think the tone at gen x at 40 is friendly, good-natured, back and forth and such. Maybe I should have stated 'I know a lot about whiskey but certainly many people know more'. I could have said the same for cat litter types or Earl Grey tea, as I have a great deal of experience with both of those as well. I will state this, however, as a likely fact for the record: I know more about whiskey than most 8 year olds, although it is also possible they can kick my tail in basketball.

Not here o start a fight, I guess I simply didn't know that providing correct information was considered "uppity".

Or correcting someone was considered to be "fighting words".

But I have to clarify one last thing:

ALL distilled alcohol starts out clear, - but not exactly flavorless
Single Malt Scotch starts out clear, Corn whiskey Bourbon, Rum, you name it - it all starts out clear.

Sorry, I won't correct anyone anymore :)

Ahhh, the gentleman wrote the book, quite literally, and even revised it. Hats off to you, sir. Perhaps in a generalized discussion where nobody is claiming expert status all you need to do is add your two cents worth, and my using 'uppity' may sound uppity actually, but nobody has said anything about 'fighting words' because who has the energy?
Not sure how the Cowboy Junkies got linked to my http

"Who has the energy?
Too true, gr :)

You are quite welcome to discuss anytime, Kevin, but one might suggest one couldn't think of a less charming way of introducing oneself than "I can't resist correcting people, especially when erroneous information"...OK, to be fair, I can - <b>but</b> I think you can be assimilated to the borg. Plus we are keen to expand our knowledge in beverages as you may be aware of our sister station, <i>A good Beer Blog</i>. <p>We admit we know nothing perfectly and are dry sponges. Chant it everyone.<blockquote class="smalltext">We admit we know nothing perfectly and are dry sponges.<br>We admit we know nothing perfectly and are dry sponges.<br>We admit we know nothing perfectly and are dry sponges.<br>We admit we know nothing perfectly and are dry sponges.</blockquote>Good.

soakin' it up, baby....

You are quite right Alan, but I'm one of those uncouth Americans, you've heard of :).

Sponges are better when you soak them in Beer.

So is Gary, actually - a central New Yorker. But your craft beers are far couther than ours. I am hoping to pick a load of couth-o-sity on my pre-Christmas shopping run south tomorrow as a matter of fact.

Maker's Mark and tacos for dinner. Another bottle bites the dust.