Tired of the same old whiskey you find from your friend’s personal bar to your favorite hangouts?  I have some good news by the name of Canadian Club Whiskey that I think many of you will appreciate.  So far, it’s been available in every liquor store I’ve visited, but most hangouts don’t seem to allow my new Canadian friend a place at the bar.  That doesn’t surprise me here in the South.  We are proud southern folk, but damn!  If we can start cheering for Georges “Rush” St-Pierre (who happens to be a mixed martial arts fighter from Canada), then maybe we can put the redneck juice aside for a while and try some of this stuff.  It will get you drunk just the same, and it tastes pretty good too.  Before I continue, here’s a little boring history and a few facts about this stuff.

    Canadian Club Whiskey was founded in 1858 by Hiram Walker.  The distillery originated in a town that was then known as Walkersville, Ontario.  Today, the same distillery produces the Canadian Club brand whiskey in Windsor, Ontario across from Detroit, Michigan.  Canadian Club blended whiskey comes in seven different varieties aged from five to ten years and distilled up to 100-proof.  It is a blend of corn-distilled whiskey and rye, malt, and oat-distilled whiskey.  This is a review of the Reserve, which is aged in white oak barrels for 10 years to a deep gold color and a strength of 80-proof.  Okay, are you still with me?  Well, hopefully this will wake you back up.  STRIP CLUB!  Since I’m going way back to the late 19th century, I’ll use the more politically correct word: GENTLEMEN’S CLUB!  Why am I capitalizing these words, you may ask?  It’s because I have the utmost respect for those beautiful ladies working hard trying to pay their way through college.  Okay, let’s stay focused on the whiskey.  Notice anything interesting?  If not, that’s just fine.  The word “Club” which happens to be part of the name of the Reserve has something in common with a thing we all love.  It’s not a coincidence, either.  Canadian Club Whiskey was the thing the gents drank while their wives thought they were hard at work.  Contributing to a bright, educated future for those young ladies is a noble thing.  I’m sure the wives would appreciate that.  Speaking of ladies, I’d like to think they trimmed the hedges back then, but I kind of doubt it.  I guess you can learn to love it if that’s all you know.  Well, it’s time for the tasting…no pun intended. 

    As odd as it sounds, the first impression of scent from the BoozeBasher staff ranged from dirty corn to spicy fruit mixed with corn.  When sampled straight, the general consensus was that the taste was much better than the smell.  The taste provided an immediate sensation of spicy fruit followed by a slightly sour aftertaste.  Overall, I thought it was surprisingly smooth without a strong, lingering aftertaste, but several of the crew members were not impressed and disliked the taste completely.  Canadian Club Reserve on the rocks rendered a similar result, but it felt more refreshing with the lowered temperature.  I personally recommend trying this stuff on the rocks before mixing because you just might like it.  When mixed with Sprite and Coke, the whiskey provided a unique, fresh beverage that is great for sipping.  It was a toss-up for the preferred mixer, but both of them took the slightly sour edge off and left a fresh, light taste of rye and malt with a hint of corn and spice.  This time, the majority of the crew agreed that Canadian Club Reserve gave much better results.

    After a long delay between the taste test and suffering through the worst case of stomach flu ever, I was finally ready to take on Canadian Club Reserve, one on one.  It was rough being sick for a week and having the bottle stare me down day after day, so I was ready to get at it.  I decided to used Sprite as the mixer because it happens to be my favorite from experience.  Just two rounds into the fight, I was feeling quite good, and knowing that I didn’t have to work the next day made me want more.  While drinking the tasty beverage and writing I couldn’t help but open a new browser and YouTube some Joe Satriani.  The air guitar was jamming to “Surfing with the Alien.”  My guitar skills seemed just fine until I made the mistake of watching that guy.  It made me so sick that I haven’t picked up my guitar since.  Several drinks later, I realized I was a bit drunk which was obvious to me due to a stupid grin I seem to wear, even when alone.  I decided to throw in the towel and live to fight another day.  Ten hours later when I awoke, I felt a little dehydrated but overall fine.  This stuff gave me a very clean drunk, but if you decide to drink a little excessively, I don’t doubt this stuff will treat you any different than the rest.  However, it’s only a matter of time before I find that out for myself, and I’m looking forward to it.

    To sum things up, Canadian Club Reserve is like a decent-looking, educated, middle class girl that has a bunch of rich, stuck-up, hot friends.  She tasted pretty good, she doesn’t treat you too bad, and she’s not high-maintenance.  Not to mention, she’s foreign too.  Compared to other similar whiskeys she’s very affordable, costing only around $17 after tax.  That reasonable price will buy you a whiskey that’s aged for 10 years to a reserve quality.  Canadian Club Reserve is pretty good stuff that is well worth its price to me, so I hope you give it a try.  Let us know what you think.   

Sipability - 6.0

Mixability - 6.5

Drunkability - 7.0

Hangover-ability - 6.5

Bang for the Buck -  10.0

Overall -  6.5    

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     Jim Beam Black is the 8-year-old elder to the regular 4-year-old Jim Beam.  If I could borrow a phrase from the great Ella Fitzgerald, “What a difference a day makes!”  Well in this case it’s, “what a difference 4 more years makes!”  Black has all the quality that the regular Beam has, but it takes all those qualities and raises them to the next level.  The difference between the two bourbons is like the difference between a pro exotic dancer and your grandma, unless your grandma is an exotic dancer, and in that case, good for her.

     Jim Beam Black goes through the same distilling process as the regular Jim Beam except for one easy-to-see, major difference.  It’s aged eight years.  That’s four more than the regular stuff.  Black is aged in new charred oak barrels and bottled at a full 86-proof, making a bourbon with its own distinct character.  I personally believe at some point in the extra four years of aging, a magical liquor fairy comes and embues Black with the power to overcome all the short comings of regular Beam.  The crew of BoozeBasher determined that the only reason the people at Jim Beam are still selling the regular Beam is to showcase how good the Beam Black really is.  If that was your plan, guys, good work.

    The smell when pouring out of a bottle of Black is one of strong sour mash, alcohol, and charred wood.  And the taste is more of the same.  It has a sour, woody taste when it first hits your tongue, then that mash flavor really pulls through.  It gives a slight burn, but right after the burn is gone, there’s an aftertaste that can only be described as alcoholic candy.  All of this makes Beam Black perfect for the morning.  I like to set the bottle next to my bed and take a swig when I wake before doing anything else.  It leaves my mouth with that clean feeling and really helps to shake that morning grogginess right out.  If you do the same, you’ll be ready for work, or another swig, in no time.

     I mixed Beam Black with the only other thing I know to mix bourbon whiskey with (besides ice), a little soda.  The only way I can describe it is with a except from the dictionary:

de·li·cious [di-lish-uhs] –adjective

Yes thats from a real online dictionary and I agree fully.  Nothing should be this damn good (excluding grandma’s pole dancing ability, again that’s only in certain cases).  The burning from the strength of the whiskey is gone, and all you have left over is that sour mash woody flavor, which makes this stuff really easy to consume.  After all, when you make a mixed drink, that is really what you want to be able to do.

     Another fun part about this booze is it carries a pretty good drunk with it.  Black is one of your strongest weapons in the war against sobriety.  I got a very clean drunk off this Beam.  It’s not a groggy tequila drunk feeling but a clear vision, slow-motion kind of drunk feeling.  The only real downside of Black’s drunk is, unless you are a drinking pro, you might not be able to gauge how drunk you really are until you are telling your problems to the porcelain therapist.  However, if you can control your intake, the next morning shouldn’t be too brutal.  I went a little into the excessive range and awoke in a pretty weakened state.  There was an horrible case of cotton mouth and a headache that made it rough for me to run and scamper about house.  It was well into the afternoon before I was able to drink again.  Not that it was a bad thing.  Even the best drinkers need a little time to recover.

     All the perks of Jim Beam Black can be yours for around $26 for a 750ml bottle.  If you like the regular Beam, Beam Black will be the reason you never buy the regular Beam again.  If you don’t like Jim Beam, give Black a try and see why so many people still come back to drinking Jim Beam Black.  If you ever needed proof that experience makes things better, then look to Jim Beam Black.  Who knows, maybe you should pull a dollar out and give granny a chance; you may learn a thing or two.

Sipability - 6.5

Mixability - 7.5

Drunkability - 7.0

Hangover-ability - 6.5

Bang for the Buck - 8.0

Overall - 7.0 

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    Many liquors claim distinctions to set them apart from the other bottles they share shelf space with.  While claiming to be the the world’s oldest single barrel bourbon is impressive, I think bearing the name of America’s first cocktail is even more distinguished.  So what exactly was America’s first cocktail?  The Sazerac of course!

    The cocktail was originally mixed up by an apothecary named Antoine Amadie Peychaud in his New Orleans shop around 1803.  It was used as a remedy for the ails of his clients.  The initial version of the concoction was a mix of Cognac, Peychaud’s own bitters, water, and a little sugar.  I have no idea what specific ailment this was used to treat, but I bet one of those would make anyone feel better just about anytime.  But wait, you say, there is no whiskey in there; how is Sazerac Rye associated with it?  Well, it didn’t take too long for the demand for Peychaud’s drink to grow to the point that it was served throughout the city’s coffee houses.  One of the largest of these coffee houses was owned by Sewell Taylor and named the Sazerac Coffeehouse.  In the early 1850s, Sewell decided that he needed to brand the drink and declared that in his coffee house, the beverage would be made with only the Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils, which was the namesake of his business.  At some point, a bartender there added a few drops of absinthe to the recipe, creating the classic version of America’s first cocktail.  Hmmm, still no whiskey involved.

    Thomas Handy took over the Sazerac Coffeehouse around 1870 and made a change to the recipe by substituting Rye Whiskey for the Cognac.  This drink was more suited to the American tastes.  This recipe persisted until Absinthe was banned in the U.S. and was replaced by the anise flavored Herbsaint.  The final version, consisting of rye whiskey, Peychaud bitters, Herbsaint, sugar, and water exists today as the modern version of The Sazerac.  Hold on though, Thomas Handy’s link to the drink is not over yet.  One of his former secretaries chartered the Sazerac Company, which eventually purchased a struggling distillery known now as Buffalo Trace.  The Buffalo Trace Distilleries produced the Sazerac Rye, Peychaud bitters, and Herbsait needed to make America’s first cocktail.

    Ok, now that the history lesson is over, let’s move on to the actual whiskey at hand.  We got our hands on a bottle of the junior version of the Sazerac Rye which has been aged for about 6 years.  The big daddy Sazerac has been aged 18 years and is just a little more expensive than the $25 or so that it costs for the 6 year.  Released in 2005, the 6-year version we tasted might be a little tough to find if you don’t live in the New Orleans area, as most of the product was slated for that region.  Your first sip will tell you that this is no bourbon, and it is not a liquor for sissies, either.  It has a strong spicy flavor that really warms you up as it goes down.  It finishes with a little peppery sweetness, yet it’s dry at the same time.  Sazerac Rye is 90-proof, and it lets you know.  That pleasant warming sensation will be with you long after the flavors have left your pallet.  It has been aged 6 to 7 years, but the oak flavors do not come through much unless your are so much of a Nancy that you let it sit with ice until it’s watered-down.  Honestly, we all agreed that it was just a bit too harsh to put it up there as a great sipping whiskey.  Do I enjoy drinking it on the rocks?  Absolutely, but we at Boozebasher think there is a much better way to enjoy this tasty whiskey.

    No, we aren’t going to suggest a Sazerac but instead a similar drink called The Old Fashioned.  You may have never heard of it, and I bet many bartenders would just stare blankly at you if you ordered one.  Fortunately, our forum member stochasticjack had provided us with easy to follow directions.  Simply put, this drink is amazing.  It is like a sunny afternoon, a front porch with comfy rocking chairs, a healthy serving of what is known in the South as “sweet tea,” and a refreshing nap all rolled into one.  The bonus here is that since an Old Fashioned is mostly Sazerac rye whiskey, it will get you nice and toasty with a quickness.  All good things must come to an end, and that end was the next morning for me.  I would like to place blame for the headache that persisted for the entire next day squarley on the sugar in The Old Fashioned, but I know that the Sazerac had a little something to do with it too.

    Even though I am mostly a bourbon drinker, I really enjoyed this bottle of Sazerac Rye.  It is a bit sharp at first, but the spirit wins you over with the big bold flavors for which ryes are known.  If you are a big whiskey fan, this is a bottle you definitely have to get your hands on to, at the very least, just enjoy an Old Fashioned or a Sazerac.  The only problem will be the sad day when your bottle of Sazerac runs dry.

Sipability - 7.5

Mixability - 8.5

Drunkability - 7.0

Hangover-ability - 6.0

Bang for the Buck - 8.0

Overall - 7.5  

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