Review: Golden Stag Blended Rye Whisky   79/100
Review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Posted on November 1, 2019

Golden Stag Rye Whisky is produced by the Sperling Silver Distillery in Regina Saskatchewan. The Distillery began as the Slow Food Brew Pub which produced 6 different varieties of beer, cider and wine. During the production process they found that there was unfiltered by-product left over after every fermentation. So, an application was placed with the Saskatchewan government to build a small micro Distillery so that they could recycle these left overs into distilled spirit.

Upon receiving approval, the Sperling Silver Distillery was created.

One of the distilled spirits which the Distillery currently produces is Golden Stag Blended Rye Whisky which has undergone a special 3 step carbon filtration process using distilled well water and silver impregnated carbon filters. This three step process is outlined on the company’s website as follows:

1. The spirits are carbon filtered
2. The spirits are filtered with a silver impregnated carbon filter
3. The spirits are frozen 48 hours and then filtered through a fine head filter.

This process is used for all of the distilleries products as they use walk-in freezers to freeze all of their products to below minus 20 Celsius for 48 hours prior to the final filtration. The cold temperature ensures the distilled spirit has essentially become a syrup which allows for an extremely clean and pure final product.

Golden Stag Blended Rye Whisky is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Photo Courtesy Sperling Silver Distillery

In the Bottle 4/5

The 750 ml bottle for the Golden Stag reflects an economic approach to the presentation of the spirit which is meant to keep costs in check. This long-necked cylindrical bottle is meant to be easy to grab from the shelf, easy to hold in your hand, and easy to pour into your glass.

It doesn’t have a lot of pizzazz, but it serves its purpose.

In the Glass  7.5/10

The Whisky displays an amber colour and when my glencairn is tilted and twirled I see lots of small droplets forming which fall leaving slender legs.

The initial aroma features oak spice and butterscotch with vanilla, corn and dusty grain spice building. As I allow the breezes to gather I notice additional scents of almond and sweet and sour fruit.

There is a light astringency which indicates a youthful whisky.

In The Mouth  48/60

I notice a light push of alcohol astringency and grainy spice as I begin to sip. I taste a melding of vanilla, almond and corn flavours with rye and grain spice heating up the palate. Sour fruit, fine oak spice, a touch of dank corn with ginger and touch of cinnamon spice complete the tasting notes.

I found the spirit easier to sip with a well placed ice cube, and perhaps even better is a dash of ginger-ale to lengthen the drink. Actually it tastes pretty good with a dash of ice and ginger-ale.

In The Throat: 11.5/15

The spirit is light bodied with a short crisp finish. We taste hints of menthol sour fruit and grain spice during the exit with a lingering herbal sweetness. There is also a light taste of sour corn mash (Similar to Jack Daniels) and some lingering heat.

Final Thoughts  8/10

Golden Stag Whisky is a good mixer for back deck parties that feature good friends, and lots of ice and Ginger ale to mix with. There is enough depth here that with a lager sample, I think I could have mixed a nice Manhattan as well.

You may read some of my other Whisky Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

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As always you may interpret the scores I provide as follows.

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74 Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84 We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89 Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94 Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be more familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)