Top Shelf Distillers are located in Perth, a town in Eastern Ontario, located on the Tay River, about 80 kilometres southwest of Ottawa. At one time, Perth was home to four distilleries the two most famous of which (McLaren and Spalding & Stewart) were located in limestone buildings alongside the Tay River catering to the tastes of the early Scottish settlement by producing malt whisky similar to the Scottish style of the day. Prohibition (the Ontario Temperance Act of 1916) is largely blamed for the demise of the distilling industry in Perth; but now, just over one hundred years later, Top Shelf Distillers have began to once again bottle whisky in Perth.
Their Perth Whisky is a recent release and they have only limited quantity available, (35 cases currently in the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Control (AGLC) warehouse in a 500ml format bottle). They have also began to bottle the spirit in a 750ml format, and one of those bottles was sent to me for review. According to the information given to me, Perth Whisky is produced from from locally sourced ingredients, and is aged in both new American Oak charred barrels, as well as various used barrels from some of the larger distillers.
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: Perth Whisky
Please enjoy my review of Top Shelf Distillers brand new Perth Canadian Whisky!
Chimo!
Santos Dumont XO Rum is produced by A.H.Riise Spirits in Dragor, Denmark. A.H. Riise, for those who do not know is one of the largest Scandinavian spirits companies which manufactures, sells and distributes brands of whiskey, rum, vodka, gin, bitters and aquavit. The company (established in 2016) is named for it’s most well known spirits brand A.H. Riise Rum which is an homage to Albert Heinrich Riise who established rum production of rum on Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies (now the United States Virgin Islands) in 1838.
The Spring Mill Distillery has roots in Upper Canada that stretch all the way back to 1836 when the Sleeman Family built a Distillery to augment their Brewery built 2 year earlier. While the Brewery became a Canadian success story, the Distillery didn’t fare so well as it ceased operations almost immediately after it was founded. However, the seed of that distillery must have have stayed with the Sleemans, as 183 years later they did it all over again and launched the Spring Mill Distillery on the banks of the Speed River in Guelph, Ontario.
The triticale grain that they use comes from a breeding program at Swift Current Saskatchewan with genetic lines going back to the CIMMYT breeding program in Obregon MX, which was originally started by the famous Norm Borlaug. This line of triticale has a unique flavour profile, and when grown under prairie conditions with strict attention to specific agronomic factors, John and Barb believe they are able to intensify these flavours found naturally in this grain variety.
The Rum Howler Blog 