Cellar Masters’ Select 17 Year Old Canadian Whisky

Longer aged Canadian whisky is a fun category, as we have discussed before in our review of some of Found North’s whiskies, but what happens when it’s not part of a multi age, cask type, and distillery source blend and and is a more concise expression of older whisky?

Cellar Masters’ Select answers that question with this 17 year old whisky that has been distilled and aged for most of its life before being imported from Canada and further aged and bottled in the US.

As described on Cellar Masters’ Website:

“Distilled in 2004 and set to age deep in the cellar in hand selected 53 gallon ex-bourbon barrels. Each barrel chosen and specially blended to bring out the most desirable characteristics in whisky; oaky, flavorful, a whisky to savor with each sip.”

The nose is pleasantly delicate with notes of dry caramel and toffee. A bit of slightly astringent dusty old oak as well. The astringency is mild however, and it is not a detractor from the overall enjoyable aromatic experience. In fact at this age it would be surprising to not find some astringent oak notes. Very wafty and light but not thin.

The palate is very similar to the nose, delicate and pleasant with just the slightest hint of wood tannin astringency. Dry toffee and burnt sugar, dusty oak, and almost hidden sweet orange peel notes on the back end. Overall very candy-like but not overly sweet by any stretch.

Overall the whisky is airy and light. It’s like drinking whisky flavored cotton candy. Cellar Masters’ Select does a great job of presenting a perfect example of what older Canadian whisky is supposed to be.

I shared this whisky with half a dozen friends with widely varying personal preferences and it was universally well received. While the sample size is small, I stand behind the assertion that this is incredibly crowd pleasing whisky that will be well received by both the casual appreciator and the avid enthusiast.

On the scale of love it, like it, or leave it — I like it a lot!

This was not a completely objective review as it was not done blind. I was aware of what I was drinking at the time of drinking it. This bottle was provided for free by Cellar Masters in exchange for an honest evaluation with no strings attached and without compensation.