The Last Mountain Distillery is Saskatchewan’s original micro distillery. It is owned and operated by the husband and wife team of Colin and Meredith Schmidt. Colin Schmidt took a rather round about road into the distilling business as his original dream was to play pro hockey. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1992 and signed his first pro contract in 1996. Unfortunately Colin’s pro hockey experience was brief, cut off by a few shoulder injuries after a brief stint with the big club playing what Colin referred to as “left bench”.
According to the Last Mountain Distillery website their Single Cask Rye is made with locally sourced Rye grain (not malted). The Rye is matured a short time in new 10-gallon barrels (presumably to oak the spirit more quickly) and then it is placed in used bourbon barrels for 3 – 4 years. Single Barrels are selected for bottling without being chill filtered.
Here is a link to my Full Review:
Review: Last Mountain Single Cask Rye Whisky
“... Although the spirit is heated, the bitterness of the rye grain combined with the spicy oak and citrus zest puckers the palate which actually makes me receptive to another sip. There is a mild sweetness of butterscotch and vanilla which counter-balances the spice … “
Please enjoy my review as I look forward to becoming more active on the website again.
Great Plains Craft Spirits are 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. These whiskies can be quite rare with batches as small as two barrels as well as larger projects (up to this point) of up to twenty-four barrels.
Alberta Premium is a brand of Canadian Whisky made in Calgary, by Alberta Distillers Ltd. (owned by Beam-Suntory). The Whisky was released in the fall of 2019 along with a companion release Alberta Premium Cask Strength (
This past December, I noticed that Forty Creek Double Barrel Canadian Whisky had undergone a change. At least the bottle had changed. It was no longer sold in the typical tall sleek bottle which Forty Creek uses for all of their Special Edition Whiskies. It was now sold in the medium tall cylindrical bottle typical of their production whiskies. The change made sense as Forty Creek Double Barrel has for quite a while now been in regular production and probably belongs in the main line-up rather than in a bottle which identifies it as a special release whisky.
Alberta Premium is a brand of Canadian Whisky made in Calgary, by Alberta Distillers Ltd. (owned by Beam-Suntory). The Whisky was released in the fall of 2019 along with a companion release Alberta Premium Cask Strength. Alberta Distillers own the oldest distillery in Western Canada. The distillery is famous for its rich 100 % rye grain whiskies which are bottled under the Alberta Premium label. They also sell bulk 100 % rye whisky to other brand owners.