A bit of a programming note before we crash the Corvette directly into the freeway median of nostalgia: I’m a native Detroiter, city and suburb, and my love for the Detroit Red Wings runs incredibly deep. My two favorite seasons are currently overlapping: autumn and hockey. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve the club, beginning with the arrival of baby-faced Steve Yzerman when I was 7. Thanks to the generosity of my father, I was present for The Fight at the Joe, the hoisting of the Cup, and the debut of Sergei Federov. I walked the metal tubes from the parking structure to the Joe and dutifully accompanied my dad on the shuttle from Nemo’s so we could get to the arena right as warm-ups started. Sometimes, if the winds were blowing in a favorable direction, you could smell the mash cooking at the Riverside Drive distilleries across the river in Windsor, Canada, on the arena concourse. I wasn’t exactly sure what those smells were as a child. I certainly know and love them now. I know this sounds like one of those intro paragraphs to someone’s recipe for their great-grandma’s Italian minestrone, and if you’ve read this far, I thank you for the indulgence.
Courtesy of David, Wiser’s has received acclaim on site this year, and he’s focused on its higher-aged, higher-end portfolio. Today, we’re turning our gaze to its ten-year-old baseline offering, complete with limited-edition Red Wings-themed packaging, leaving more questions than answers. More on that in a bit. But for now, let’s dig in.
J.P. Wiser’s Canadian Whiskey 10 Years Old – Detroit Red Wings Edition Review
It starts innocently enough, leading with notes of brown sugar, vanilla and toffee, sweet and unthreatening. There’s also a faint cinnamon apple note, somehow managing to get in on the action in the corners. Adding a few drops of water helps to temper the sweetness. It’s a perfectly respectable profile of what you’d expect from a Canadian rye, balanced similarly to meeting a mid-tier politician: vaguely agreeable but impossible to remember five minutes after the encounter.
Sweetness kicks in hard on the palate, with vanilla, dark chocolate, and caramel each trying to outdo the other in a cloying talent show of familiarity. Midpalate, clove and oak cut through underneath the sweetness to add moderate balance and some much-needed dimension. The medium-length finish brings oak, spice, and just enough astringency to keep matters from getting too comfortable. Thankfully, the bitterness recedes with a few drops of water. The whiskey itself is pure Canadian: it functions in earnest and delivers the job with a slightly apologetic undertone for being so sweet. It’s serviceable as a standalone or as a mixer with your favorite cola, and pairs well with Little Caesars, Kowalski smoked sausage, and all variations of Better Made BBQ chips.
Except for putting a different label on its front, I’m not entirely clear on what else makes this limited edition special — probably nothing at all. Perhaps that’s the biggest misconduct of the entire experience. It doesn’t seem to deviate from a standard bottling one may find at any party store along Jefferson or Ouellette Avenue. The packaging and presentation could have been so much more, and it feels unworthy of one of the all-time elite, original six NHL franchises. This could have served as a celebratory statement to kick off another season and to commemorate the team’s centennial year. It could have been perfect to celebrate the spirit of international cooperation between Canada and the United States with the imminent opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, named after one of the all-time greatest ever to lace up skates and hit the pond, especially as relations between the two countries are rather frosty. It could have been a higher-aged, higher-proofed variation, or finished in special barrels. Literally, any deviation from the norm would have been a worthy one. Presentation-wise, this feels like a missed opportunity for a proper celebration.
B / $25
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