Recently, a lovely site called "Dramming.com" posted a nice review of Davin de Kergommeaux's "Canadian Whisky – The Portable Expert". I then posted the following...
This was respectfully countered byMoi: "I have always been a bit of a fan of David, and at The Rum Project we long awaited his new book, bought it early and posted a nice review. Accordingly, it is fair to say that David is perhaps both the best friend AND worst enemy of what is called Canadian Whisky. As for the former, his history of CW and of the nine major (and several minor distillers of it) is complete and extremely informative. Read it and you will vastly improve your understanding of recipes, fermentation, distillation and aging.
At the same time he fails to overcome what he calls the great myth of Canadian Whisky, namely that is largely composed of GNS (grain neutral spirits). This is barely true and here’s why. GNS is clear and near pure alcohol distilled at 95%, as is vodka. While it is true that CW allegedly does NOT contain any GNS, it DOES contain CWS (Canadian Whisky Spirits) which is distilled to – are you well seated? – 94.5% or even a tad higher. The difference between GNS, vodka and CWS is negligible.
He also confirms that Canadian Whisky then achieves its flavors only by adding small amounts of what are called “flavoring whiskies”, and worse yet almost any additive – including wine – up to 9.09% in complete accord with Canadian regulations.
This fact – that Canadian Whisky is largely composed of grain, er Canadian neutral spirts that must be flavored with additives – is exactly why Canadian Whisky is not a pure and noble spirit (think single malt whisky and bourbon), but rather a mystery mixed-drink-in-a-bottle. I’d long believed this, but I was glad that David himself confirmed what many have suspected.
Still, a must buy."
To which I respectfully replied...Oliver Klimek: "Canadian whisky is not neutral spirit flavoured with additives as you suggest.
What you write about GNS vs. CWS is only partly correct. Yes, CWS is basically neutral grain spirit. But what makes Canadian whisky different from US bottom shelf blended whiskey is that in Canada this spirit is matured in barrels until it becomes whisky, essentially a higher proof equivalent to the comlumn-distilled grain whisky used for Scotch blends.
US blended whiskey in contrary is a mix of proper whiskey and unaged neutral spirit. So US and Candaian blended whiskies are clearly not the same. And despite the high strength there are differences between various ‘neutral’ spirits since there are still enough congeners that make it through distillation to create a distinctive (yet subtle) difference.
And with regard to the additive issue, I think you are generalizing too much. Your comment reads as if all Canadian whisky was flavoured according to the 9.09% rule. In the book Davin clearly states that only the bottom shelf stuff uses additives, and he also states that not all distillers do it."
Moi:
"Fair enough, but it was David who called the use of GNS a myth, when in fact it is for all practical purposes indistiguishable from CWS. Sure it’s aged, but if I wanted a “whisky” based on aged vodka I’d buy one. To equate aged vodka, or CWS, distilled at 94.5 to 95% with a true aged whisky distilled at say 70% is folly. The goal of distilling GNS, vodka or CWS is to maximize output and alcohol at the cost of a very considerable loss of flavor.
If CWS was so tasty, they wouldn’t need to add “flavoring whiskies”, or wine, et al. And all of the major distillers do so to various degrees.
As far as additives go, you can be sure the ability to add up to 9.09% of flavorings, including wine, simply has to be meaningful. As in the United States – which allows up to 2.5% of certain unlabeled additives in rum – you can be sure that all regulations are heavily lobbied by the industry for a reason. Kindly compare to single malt whisky or say bourbon which allow no such additives – these are truly noble spirits.
The problem with the Canadian regulations is first, that they allow additives and flavorings – including wine! – in the first place, and second – that the distillers are not required to label additives. I am not aware of any major distillers of Canadian Whisk who claim purity, free of such additives. Although rum distillers are likewise not required to label additives, a few prestige rums actually promote their rums as “free of additives or coloring of any kind” and “unfiltered”.
With all due respect no spirit can have it both ways – you can’t allow unlabeled additives and flavorings on one hand, and promote unbridled quality on the other. Let’s be honest. Basing a whisky on what amounts to aged vodka, that is flavored with lesser amounts of real whisky, and possible allowable wine and other flavoring additives is not my cup of tea, however tasty.
I don’t imply that Canadian whiskies all use such flavorings, yet I can’t claim that they don’t. And that, my friend, is the problem."
