What Does John Know?

I knew that this was John Hall’s 15 anniversary of making Forty Creek whisky at Kittling Ridge, Ontario. Last year, when I visited John at his distillery, he told me he was working on something special for his 15th anniversary. Now we know what it is. He’s calling it Forty Creek John K. Hall Small Batch, and it will retail for about $60.

Here’s the inside scoop on this whisky from John Hall, Malt Advocate magazine’s “Pioneer of the Year” award recipient for 2006:

“Over the past 15 years I have come across some barrels that are just over the top, some that are just outstanding and I have set them aside, perhaps for a rainy day or just because they were exceptional. Some are rye, some are corn and some are barley. I selected 15 of these barrels and brought them together to make 6000 bottles of Forty creek Small Batch. The age varies from the oldest being 15 years and the youngest being 6 years. It is a one of a kind and as I said once it’s gone it’s gone.” 

I’m really looking forward to trying this, because his whisky is unique in the way that he makes it. Rather than making a whisky from mash bill of various grains (corn, rye, barley), he makes individual straight whiskies, ages them, and then blends them at the back end before bottling them. Sort of a whisky meritage, if you will.

But, if you want a bottle, here’s the inside scoop: it’s only for sale in Ontario and Texas.  Why Ontario and Texas? Well, according to John, these are the two biggest markets for Canadian whisky. Time to start looking up those retails shops in Texas and find out if they will ship to where you live.  All I know is that I’m already working on getting my bottle.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 10:15 am and is filed under Canadian whisky, New Releases. Trackback from your own site.