In 1856, John Gibson purchased 40 acres and built a distillery along the shore of the Monongahela River in Pennsylvania. By the turn of the century, the Gibson’s Distilling Company was the largest producer of rye whisky in North America. In 1923, the entire contents of the distillery including the stills, the aging barrels, all of the remaining spirit, (and even the grain which was on site) was sold to Schenley Industries of New York. Fifty years later this whisky brand, which was born on the US side of the border in Pennsylvania, was resurrected by the brand owner at the Schenley Distillery in Valleyfield, Quebec. Now, of course, it has become one of the iconic brands of Canadian Whisky.
The Gibson’s Finest 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). Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 Years Old Whisky is limited to a production of not more than 12,000 bottles per year.
Here is a link to the review of the #55 spirit on my Rum Howler Top 100 Spirits Countdown.
#55 – Gibson’s Finest Rare 18 Years Old
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You may follow my Countdown list of the 100 Best Spirits here: The Rum Howler 2015 – Top 100 Spirits
Gibson’s Finest Whiskies are some of the smoothest Canadian whiskies ever made. This, of course, makes them some of the smoothest in the world as Canada is renowned for its smooth whisky. The 12 year old is a step up from Gibson’s regular Sterling brand. I found it to be a mildly sweet well balanced whisky with a nice honey and rye flavour profile.
The Rum Howler Blog 