The Gibson’s Finest Whisky brand was purchased by William Grant & Sons in 2002. Some time after the acquisition, William Grant & Sons moved the production of Gibson’s Whisky from the Schenley plant in Valleyfield Quebec, to the Hiram Walker Distillery in Windsor, Ontario. According to my correspondence with the media company responsible for Gibson’s Finest Whisky, the Gibson’s brand is produced from of two sources: a base grain whisky (which would be a corn-based column still whisky), and a blend of rye based flavouring whisky which contains rye and malted barley (distilled by a single column still and a pot still).
When aging their whisky, Gibson’s Finest uses a variety of barrels: ex-bourbon barrels, new oak barrels, etc. The ratio of each barrel-type used can differ from batch to batch because the whisky is blended to a specific taste profile rather than to a specific barrel regimen.
Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 Years Old Whisky is limited to a production of not more than 12,000 bottles per year. All of the whisky in the blend, is of course 18 years old or more, and it is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume. It is also the Number 5 spirit in my Top 25 Canadian Whisky Countdown. Here is a link to my review published earlier this year:
# 5 Canadian Whisky – Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 Years Old
Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 Years Old gives the whisky connoisseur all the clean spicy oak and rye flavours which our Whisky is famous for. Although there are many other wonderful nuances within this 18 Year Old whisky; these nuances within are subtle and serve as accents upon the flavour profile without disturbing the grandeur which is Canadian Whisky.
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Note: You may follow my Countdown list of the 25 Best Canadian Whiskies here: The Rum Howler 2013 – Top 25 Canadian Whiskies
Cask No. 16 was introduced in 2007; but was apparently discontinued in 2012. However, the whisky is still readily available (at least in the Alberta market), and when I checked the Crown Royal Website, I found it was still listed as part of the Crown Royal family.
Note: I was able to confirm that the whisky is distilled by Alberta Distillers Limited (ADL) in Calgary, Alberta. ADL is the largest distiller of rye whisky in the world.
When I first encountered this spirit in early winter of 2009 I was quite smitten the whisky’s smooth character and lovely flavour nuances. I was pleased, when after I wrote my review, that almost everyone who commented upon my website seemed to echo my sentiments. This year, in the fall of 2013, my judging panel echoed those sentiments as well, and when the scores were tallied, the Centennial 10 Year Old Canadian Whisky was found to be ranked Number 8 in my Top 25 Canadian Whisky Countdown.
An unfortunate victim of all this disruption was those “Ninety” branded whiskies which all but disappeared from liquor store shelves as Highwood had to temporarily abandon production of this new brand in order to focus on re-establishing their other major brands across Canada. The good news is that the Ninety branded whiskies are about to be relaunched. Sometime in early 2014, both the Ninety 5 Year Old and the Ninety 20 Year Old should be making a re-appearance in Alberta and British Columbia, and their first appearance in Ontario.
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