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Chacha Premium Canadian Vodka 

Posted by Arctic Wolf on January 12, 2024

Chacha Premium Canadian Vodka is the creation of Will Webb, and is a 100% Canadian Owned Company who distill their vodka in Toronto, Ontario. According to Will it began with the positivity of enjoyment of being with the people he cared about.

” The summer of 2015, while boating with friends, I said “CHACHA” to them just for fun. They laughed and loved the expression, and naturally began to say it. All of a sudden, thousands of people enthusiastically said “CHACHA”, and people that I had never met before. To this day, they CHACHA!

From that moment, Will decided to build his vodka business around the love and positivity of that experience with his friends.

The vodka he produces is six time distilled from Canadian grain, and produced by the Toronto Distilling Group for Chacha Vodka.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Chacha Premium Canadian Vodka

“… the spirit demonstrated light wisps of lemon and lime aromas in the breezes above the glass with vague hints of mint as well. When I sipped, there was a light sweetness apparent, and the mild impressions of the nose translated well across the palate. It tasted nice especially as the flavour impressions were very mild as they should be when we taste vodka …”

Please enjoy my latest review which concludes with my cocktail suggestion, The Emissary.

Chimo!

 

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Review: Beatties Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 3, 2023

Beatties Farm Crafted Cranberry Blood Orange Gin is produced by Beattie’s Farms & Distillers in Alliston, Ontario Canada. Although the distillery is a more recent addition, the farm has has been in the family for five generations. It began with great-grandfather Roland Beattie, who immigrated from Scotland in 1876. He instilled the core values the family business lives by to this day:

“Work hard, love what you do and give back to your community.”

Today, Beattie’s Farms & Distillers is led by Ken Beattie and his team of family, farmers and distillery staff. They have one ambition and that is to make what they believe is the world’s best tasting spirits. 

The Cranberry Blood Orange Gin (like all of Beattie’s spirits) is produced from a base of potato spirit from  potatoes grown, peeled, mashed and distilled from their very own farm. This is a flavoured gin which of course features the combination of Cranberries and Blood Oranges.  I am looking forward to sampling the flavoured version which I understand is intended as a holiday offering.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Beatties Cranberry Blood Orange Gin

“… The flavoured gin is well balanced with the fruity aspect of the spirit leading the parade, and the juniper and gin botanicals playing a strong supporting role. Although sweetness was implied on the nose, I am glad that it is quite restrained as I sip. The balance appears to be about right …”

Please enjoy my review which includes a nice cocktail suggestion for your enjoyment!

Chimo!

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Review: Great Plains Cognac Casks 22 Year Old Canadian Whisky

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 27, 2023

Great Plains Craft Spirits are a small spirits company located in Calgary, Alberta. They are a small company which sources special whiskies for blending and finishing. The intent is to offer to the marketplace limited edition bottlings which feature custom blending and cask finishes. I reviewed their first offering, a stunning 18 year old Brandy Cask whiskey in 2020, and was contacted this year to see if I wanted to taste and review their latest offering,  Great Plains Cognac Casks 22 Year Old Canadian Whisky.

This new release is a 100 % corn spirit produced from stocks which were part of the last barrels of whisky from the Potter’s Distillery in British Colombia. Only 165 cases of this whisky were produced as the release was drawn from the last 3 remaining casks of the original barrel selection which Great Plains had acquired.  The corn whisky was originally aged for 17 years in ex bourbon barrels and then finished in for sixty months in ex-cognac barrels which it turns out had previously held cognac for a full 25 years.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Great Plains Cognac Casks 22 Year Old

“… The initial breezes above the glass bring me rich oak and oak spice, caramel toffee, baking spices, bits of orange marmalade and toasted corn cobs. As I enjoy the aroma, the oak and spice keep building and building bringing impressions of fresh wood sap and waving fields of dry grain …”

Please enjoy the review of this spectacular new whisky from Great Plains!

Chimo!

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Review: Basil Hayden’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 16, 2023

Basil Hayden’s was originally promoted as part of Jim Beam’s Small Batch Bourbon Collection. This collection is composed of Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s  and Basil Hayden’s bourbon whiskies. Although Jim Beam Distillers no longer promotes the Small Batch Collection, I would like to suggest that this selection of premium bourbon played no small part in the explosion of popularity of the spirit for whiskey enthusiasts. (It certainly has a positive impact on me.)

Basil Hayden’s is unique in that it is produced from a distilling mash which has an especially high rye content, twice as much rye in fact as would normally be used in a Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey. The whiskey is aged in American white oak for 8 years, and then bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Here is a link to my review of this stellar whiskey:

Review: Basil Hayden’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon

“… The normally strong aroma of freshly fallen timbers which we usually find in bourbon is muted as if a light rain has fallen to dampen the effect.What is not muted is a firm presence of spicy rye grain which rises with oak spice and vanilla making this a bourbon aroma which has an immediate appeal for a Canadian like me who loves a rye forward whisky …”

I hope you enjoy this review which continues my look back at the original Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon Collection. 

Chimo!

 

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Review: Hendrick’s Orbium Gin

Posted by Arctic Wolf on October 5, 2023

Hendrick’s Gin is produced in Scotland, in the village of Girvin, Ayrshire by William Grant & Sons (who are perhaps better known for their whisky distillations than their gin).  It is made small batches using two unusual stills, a copper Bennett Still which has been dated to 1860, and a Carter-Head still made in 1948. These stills each serve a different purpose, but together they create a unique gin spirit which is infused with cucumber and rose petals.

Hendrick’s Orbium Gin is one of the new peculiar Limited Edition spirits in the Hendrick’s Cabinet of Curiosity lineup which has recently arrived in Canada sporting odd names like Flora Adora, Neptunia, Lunar and in this case Orbium Gin.

Orbium Gin was created by their Master Distiller Lesley Gracie, and released as a Limited Edition in 2019. According to the promotional materials the new Orbium is:

Henndrick’s Gin reimagined with additional extracts of Quinine, Wormwood and Lotus Blossom. Deeply and dazzlingly complex, Orbium combines surprising sweetness with a distinct lingering finish that spirals from zesty to floral, moving onto an altogether unexpected alluringly bitter climax.

Here is a link to my recently published review of the peculiar spirit:

Review: Hendrick’s Orbium Gin

“… The nose is a contrast of personalities. On one hand we notice immediately the floral impact of rose petals and Lotus Blossom, and then on the other hand we notice the herbal thrust of anise, wormwood, and quinine. Juniper is left lost somewhere in the middle of the schizophrenic personality of the gin …”

Enjoy the review which concludes my series of reviews of spirits in the Hendrick’s Cabinet of Curiosity lineup which has recently arrived in Canada.

Chimo!

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