Review: Last Straw Distillery Rice and Rye    (85.5/100)
a review by Chip Dykstra (AKA Arctic Wolf)
Posted on June 28, 2023

The Last Straw Distillery is Ontario’s smallest production micro-distillery located at 40 Pippin Rd. in Vaughan, Ontario (a wee bit north of Toronto) just off Highway 400 and around the corner from Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre. According to distillery spokesman, Mike Hook, the team at Last Straw Distillery come to the craft of distilling from a variety of different backgrounds, and surprisingly none have had prior experience in the beverage or alcohol business. They are self-taught, and developed their recipes in house, through research, and trial and error, without the use of outside consultants.

Last Straw Distillery’s Rice and Rye Whisky is the result of a question posed by Mark Hayhoe, then of K2 Milling. He wondered out loud when speaking to Don DiMonte of Last Straw whether wild rice make good whisky?

So the folks at Last Straw Distillery ran a batch of Argentinian Wild Rice through the distillation process. Problem was, the batch didn’t produce enough distillate to fill a cask. So they decided to to top up that cask (a #3 char re-charred ex-Bourbon barrel) with rye distillate. Four years and Nine months later, they decided to send out some samples and get a few opinions as they prepared to bottle their new creation.

The whisky sent to me to analyze was constructed from 55% Argentinian long grain rice, sourced from farms in Cordoba, Argentina and 45% Ontario Rye grain sourced from small family farms in York and Simcoe Counties. It was produced in a small batch format and bottled at 46 % alcohol by volume.

As I poured the whisky into my glass I was not sure what to expect. I don’t really have any experience with rice whisky. And as I nosed and tasted the glass, I have to confess that I couldn’t tell that there was anything different about the whisky that I could distinguish. It seems to smell and behave just like a rye whisky. A really good rye whisky, but a rye whisky nonetheless. So my tasting notes do not include valuable insights regarding rice based spirits, but fortunately they do provide insight into a really good whisky from Last Straw.

In the Bottle 4.5/5

My sample bottle of Last Straw Distillery Rice and Rye Whisky is shown to the left. The whisky is presented in a tall clear bottle which showcases the appealing bronze hue of the spirit. The labeling is professional, and represents a positive step up for the distilleries branded products. I especially like the narrow gold stripes  and lettering upon the label which adds class to the presentation, as does the black foil seal over the cork closure.

In The Glass 8.5/10

I poured out a small sample of the whiskey into my glencairn glass and began my review with a good look at the spirit. It is a rich amber colour, and when I gave my glass a tilt and a slow swirl and discovered a light sheen on the inside of my glass which gave up slender legs that ran back slowly down into the whiskey.

When I nosed the glass, I found it was full of leathery grain and rye spice. Some dusty dry grain is evident as well. Bits of sweet honeycomb is forming in the breezes and there is a little fresh tobacco as well some light baking spices (vanilla, ginger and cinnamon), graham wafers and maybe a hint of maple syrup.

As I let the glass sit the aroma deepens with vanilla melding into the baking spices giving me a hint of cinnamon rolls baking in the distance.

In The Mouth 51/60

The whisky has a rough side with burly rye, fine oak spice and even spicier baking spices (cloves and cinnamon) swatting at your mouth as you sip. The extra alcohol (46 % abv.) gives those spices a push and increases the heat in the mouth. Bitter rye grain is evident making the whisky taste leathery and dry. A presence of tobacco adds a pungent flavour to the dram. There is some sweetness in the form of treacle and butterscotch, and an underlying fruitiness of orange peel and dry fruit.

I like the flavour profile although I find myself wishing the dram had been bottled at a slightly lower bottling percentage. Although the rye grain offers us a nice complexity, I feel that a firmer oak presence would be welcome to give the whisky more structure to handle the higher bottling proof.

In The Throat 12.5/15

The whisky finishes with a swat to the throat with rye spice and cedar taking advantage of your tonsils. Dry fruit and chocolate form as does a light caramel sweetness as the spice fades.

The Afterburn  9/10

Sometimes a spirit is a little better than the scorecard’s individual stats reveal. We have a bit of that here as When I checked my overall score I thought it was too low, yet I felt I nailed each element of my tasting session properly. So here in The Afterburn I am being a little generous. It doesn’t quite bring my score into complete alignment, but then this is an inexact science.

I do find myself withing that I could have tasted some of that Rice whisky on its own. As I said earlier, I can’t really say that I have noticed its impact. The rye seems to overwhelm the whisky, which of course is never a bad thing.

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)