Each year, Johnnie Walker Blue Label designs a special bottle to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The bottles are particularly striking and beautiful and feature designs created by famous artists many of us—including this writer—would not be familiar with if not for these bottlings.
By no means is Johnnie Walker alone in this somewhat avaricious celebration of the arts and tradition. The Macallan, Cognac house Martell, and a slew of others also release special bottles, but Johnnie Walker’s happen to be some of the most stunning. This year, the year of the Wood Dragon, the distillery teamed up with influential Asian-American artist James Jean—whose work you probably are actually familiar with, even if not aware.
Born in Taiwan and raised in New Jersey, Jean cut his teeth in the world of advertising and comics. You’ve probably seen his art in the pages of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, ESPN, or Playboy. You might recognize his work in the comic series The Umbrella Academy, on the CD case fan of My Chemical Romance ‘s album The Black Parade, in numerous high fashion stores, or on posters for movies like mother!, The Shape of Water, and Blade Runner 2049.
Jean’s more recent focus, however, points to painting, as seen on the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Year of the Dragon bottle. The dragon symbolizes might, life, and creativity as well as future prosperity, while its combination with wood indicates innovation, vision, and growth, which according to the whisky brand works well with their “Keep Walking” motto. Optimism and power can be seen across the bottle and box for the 2024 release.
“With Johnnie Walker Blue Label Lunar New Year, we wanted to create a dragon that felt different, new and innovative—respect for the past but also looking into the future with optimism—in the same way that Johnnie Walker stands for progress through that incredible Keep Walking spirit,” says Jean.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Year of the Dragon
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“The Year of the Dragon is rich in symbolism and tradition in Asia,” he says. “Many consider the dragon the most powerful animal in the Chinese Zodiac and the Wood Dragon felt remarkably close to me because of the natural elements prevalent in my own work..Evolved from traditional depictions of Chinese dragons, my dragon is composed of flowers and organic elements, from which emerge tendrils and arcing lines, evoking the idea of roots and connection.”
Jean also took inspiration from the flavors of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which is made from a combination of some of the rarest whiskies in the brand’s reserves. He describes hidden elements in his art that are emblematic of the whiskey: “chrysanthemums, from which flow liquid gold” and “hummingbirds sipping on the precious nectar.”
Bottled at 40 percennt ABV, the 2024 edition of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Lunar New Year is priced at $269 and can be found in stores across the globe.
Umami is the flavor of now. Dubbed the fifth primary taste—along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty—chefs, burger chains, and even spirits makers are getting in on the action. Last year, Johnnie Walker released a special savory edition of its classic Blue Label called Elusive Umami. Now Canadian whisky maker Bearface releases its own umami spirit, Matsutake 01.
Bearface launched back in 2018 with a focus on elemental aging, meaning that the whisky was finished in ex-wine casks, matured in sherry pipes, and placed in shipping containers out in the Canadian wilderness. Exposure to the elements “amplifies how the whisky and wood interact,” reads the brand’s website.
Matsutake 01 is the first bottle of Bearface’s new Wilderness Series. The limited-edition release was made with matsutake mushrooms, a scarce brown and white fungi found in Vancouver. By infusing three special casks with the mushrooms then aging the barrels for six months before blending with the other casks, Bearface imparted unique flavors to the final whisky. The result is complex, with savory and cinnamon notes, followed by wild, earthy warmth, and an umami finish featuring subtle forest floor notes.
“This Matsutake expression has been a long time in the making. With each new limited release, we strive to shatter category norms and challenge traditions,” says Bearface master blender Andrés Faustinelli. “The matsutake mushroom grows once a year in the Canadian wilderness, making it highly covetable and rare and brings a sophistication to this bottle unlike any other whisky.”
Bearface Matsutake 01 is bottled at 42.5 percet ABV. In Canada, the brand has already launched the second whisky in the collection, Mitlenatch Island 02.
If you want to mix a drink with Matsutake 01, the brand suggests this Krakauer-inspired cocktail called Into the Wild.
Matsutake 01 “Into the Wild” Cocktail
Courtesy of Bearface
Matsutake 01 “Into the Wild” Cocktail
Ingredients
2 oz Bearface Matsutake 01 Whisky
1/4 oz orgeat syrup
1/4 oz sugar syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass filled with ice and stir well.
The Canadian tundra’s cold, glacial waters shaped the warm body of Talisker’s newest whisky: Glacial Edge Aged 45 Years. As the final bottling in Talisker’s Xpedition Series, a group of whiskies inspired by adventure and wilderness, Aged 45 Year speaks to the ethos of the Scottish Isle of Skye-based distillery, which shares a bond with the great outdoors unlike any other Scotch maker.
Talisker—whose tagline is “Made By the Sea”— has always been connected to nature and all things maritime. The brand recently released the sea-inspired 30 Year Old whisky, and has partnered with environmental organization Parley For the Oceans, a non-profit that aims to prevent damage to the world’s oceans. But of all Talisker’s sustainability-focused efforts, the Xpedition Series has been its most extreme.
The series launched in 2021 with Talisker Xpedition Oak 43-Year-Old, a whisky aged in casks that used wooden staves that crossed the Atlantic. A year later, Talisker released Forests of the Deep 44-Year-Old, which was finished in staves that were brought on an expedition to one of the world’s largest kelp forests and finished in barrels charred with sustainably farmed sea kelp. For this third and final edition, the distillery took 12 heavily-charred American oak casks on a voyage into Canadian ice fields.
During the expedition, a cooper removed the ends of the whisky casks, exposing them to sub-zero temperatures and Arctic winds for 96 hours. The ice-fractured casks added a unique flavor to the finished Scotch.
The new Talisker Scotch was aged in ice-fractured whisky casks.
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On the nose, the Talisker Glacial Edge Aged 45 Years delivers the clear maritime aromas the brand is known for, alongside notes of seaweed, iodine, lime, smoke, and hints of dried fruit and vanilla. The palate is rich and full, boasting flavors of toffee, pepper, and sea salt. The finish is long and delivers notes of chili, salted caramel, and a touch more pepper, along with more smoke.
On the journey to the Canadian ice fields, Talisker was joined by Parley For the Oceans, and led by glacier scientist Alison Criscitiello, Ph.D. The team traveled across wild terrain and into ice caves, where Criscitiello helped them understand how the planet’s ecosystems are interconnected.
“From glacial ice to kelp forests, everything is interconnected and our world is changing faster than we know. Deep down, we all understand that we must rapidly transform how we create, think, and live together,” said Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley for the Oceans. “This limited-edition 45-Year-Old Whisky is an opportunity to tell the story of a fast-changing environment within a product shaped by time and nature, while supporting more of the climate research, activism and human connection that is urgently needed.”
Just 2,455 700 ml bottles of Talisker Glacial Edge Aged 45 Years Single Malt Scotch Whisky (49.8% ABV) are available at a price of $5,000.
When you think of the best whiskey, what’s at the top of your list—or, I guess I should ask, atop your bar? If you’re like most American whiskey lovers, you’ve got a healthy amount of bourbon and maybe a few bottles of rye. If your taste skews international, perhaps you’re well-versed in Scotch, Japanese whisky, and Irish whiskey. But there’s probably one type you’re overlooking: the best Canadian whiskies.
“Americans don’t know much about Canadian whisky,” says Noah Rothbaum, author of The Art of American Whiskey and the upcoming The Whiskey Bible. “But in the last few years, the perceptions of drinkers, bartenders, and connoisseurs have changed, and we’ve had to totally rethink Canadian whisky.”
The craft spirits revolution hit Canada later than it did the U.S., but it’s since taken hold—inspiring the emergence of new brands and renewed interest in longstanding ones. At last, imbibers are getting up to speed with what industry insiders have known for decades: the nation that gave us basketball, Wayne Gretzky, and Neil Young, can make a damn good bottle of whisky.
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Best Overall Canadian Whisky: Canadian Club 15-Year-Old Sherry Cask Invitation Series
Canadian Club 15-Year-Old Sherry Cask Invitation Series
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“This is new and my clear favorite,” De Kergommeaux says about Canadian Club 15-Year-Old Sherry Cask Invitation Series. It’s Canadian Club 12-Year that’s undergone a second aging in oloroso sherry casks for an added layer of complexity. Bottled at 42 percent ABV, it’s low enough to enjoy with just a single big cube. It’s obtainable both in terms of availability and price, and a whisky worthy of sipping and appreciating on its own as much as any fine bourbon or Scotch. I was totally blown away by craft expressions from Found North, one of which is on this list, but the lower price, wider availability, and nod from De Kergommeaux nudged this newly released whisky into the top spot.
Best Crown Royal Canadian Whisky: Crown Royal Barley Edition
Crown Royal Barley Edition
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While De Kergommeaux is also a big fan of Crown Royal 18, he singled out Crown Royal Barley Edition as particularly excellent. The 100 percent barley Canadian whisky uses a mix of malted and unmalted barley, which gives it a distinctive mouthfeel and flavor. Enjoy this one neat or on the rocks.
Best Canadian Whisky to Gift: Pendleton Whisky Director’s Reserve
Pendleton Whisky Director’s Reserve
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Pendleton Whisky Director’s Reserve is aged 20 years in American oak, then cut with glacier-fed water from Mount Hood in Oregon. Thanks to its rustic wooden box, the bottle’s leather neck, and a cork topped with a bronze cowboy, this is the best Canadian whisky for gifting. At 40 percent ABV, it’s a very easy sipper.
Best Rare Canadian Whisky: Found North Batch 007 18-Year-Old Cask Strength
Found North Batch 007 18-Year-Old Cask Strength
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For die-hard whisky fans, I strongly suggest hunting down a batch of Found North. And if you can get your hands on any of its limited batches, snap it up. Found North Batch 007 18-Year-Old Cask Strength sits at 62.2 percent ABV, so it can handle dilution from ice. It’s a mix of 83 percent corn, 12 percent rye, and 1 percent barley, aged in Madeira casks. Flavor-wise, it’ll take you places not even the best bourbon or Scotch has taken you before.
Best Single-Barrel Canadian Whisky: Caribou Crossing Single Barrel
Caribou Crossing Single Barrel
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Caribou Crossing Single Barrel is the first single-barrel whisky produced in Canada since the 19th century. While the age and blend are not stated, the single barrel gives every batch—which is bottled twice a year—its own subtly different personality. It’s distilled at Old Montreal Distillery and bottled at Buffalo Trace. At 40 percent ABV, it’s an easy one to sip neat, and doesn’t require dilution to tame it.
Best Canadian Rye: Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye
Alberta Premium Cask Strength 100% Rye
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Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye is distilled in Calgary and made of 100 percent prairie rye and Rocky Mountain water. This is a clear and elegant example of Canadian terroir in a glass, bottled at a range of 65.1 to 66.1 percent ABV. While we have some favorite bourbons for old fashioneds, this is a stellar Canadian whisky for a Manhattan.
More Canadian Whiskies We Love
Best Canadian-Ish Whiskey: Fraser & Thompson
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Fraser & Thompson is a North American whiskey, as it’s a mix of 92 percent Canadian whisky and 8 percent bourbon. It’s owned by Canadian singer Michael Bublé, and bottled at Heaven Hill in Kentucky. It’s approachable, affordable, and as smooth as Bublé’s baritone.
Best Splurge Canadian Whisky: Lock, Stock, and Barrel 21-Year
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Lock, Stock, and Barrel 21-Year sourced this 100 percent rye whiskey from Canada. It was double distilled in copper pots and barreled in 1999, then cold-weather matured. It’s bottled at a potent 55.5 percent ABV, and is astonishingly rich, viscous, and complex, offering just enough sweetness to make the 111 proof go down easy. That said, its spicy notes ricochet off the palate and let you know with every sip this is something special.
Best Value Canadian Whisky: Pendleton Whisky Midnight
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Pendleton Whisky Midnight is partly aged in ex-American brandy barrels for added richness. It’s smooth and full-bodied, with notes of baking spice like nutmeg and cinnamon, black pepper, dark berries, dried fruits, apple, and vanilla. The proof is amped up to 90, which brings a bit of heat, but also helps to augment the character of this lovely and assertive whisky. Even so, it’s still a smooth sipper you can enjoy on its own or in a cocktail.
Best Elementally Aged Canadian Whisky: Bearface Matsutake 01
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Bearface Matsutake 01 was “elementally aged” inside ex-wine and ex-sherry casks housed within shipping containers in the Canadian wilderness. Making a batch of whisky go on its own season of Alone yields a smoother, more complex sipper than you’d expect for the price point.
Best Canadian Whisky for Newbies: Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve
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Canadian Whiskey expert Davin De Kergommeaux, who just released a new edition of his definitive book, Canadian Whisky, called Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve one of “the most enjoyable Canadian whiskies to introduce whisky lovers to the category.” Rich, complex, and balanced, it’s finished for up to two years in Canadian oak casks, which impart spicier wood notes than American oak. Bottled at 40 percent ABV, it’s enjoyable neat.
Best Cask-Finished Canadian Whisky: Pike Creek 10-Year-Old Rum Barrel Finished
After a 10-year aging process during which oak casks experience frigid Canadian winters and scalding summers, Pike Creek 10-Year-Old is treated to a finish in ex-rum casks. The typical spicy Canadian whisky flavors are balanced by the rum’s dried fruit and vanilla influence, culminating in a smooth but interesting sipper. Try it in an old fashioned or just on the rocks.
Why You Should Trust Me
I’ve been writing about bars, cocktails, and spirits for 16 years—and, before that, I bartended for more than a decade at Hollywood’s legendary Chateau Marmont Hotel. In one way or another, I’ve been employed in the realm of booze since the turn of the millennium.
Despite all that experience, while working on this piece, I realized I possessed some of the same glaring blind spots about Canadian whisky that many Americans do. So, I reached out to one of the top spirits experts in the world, as well as the top Canadian whisky expert to put this list together, factoring in their recommendations and embarking on a lot of tastings of blends, ryes, and barleys.
The biggest asterisk on this list is that many great craft Canadian whiskies are not available in the U.S., so some great bottles are excluded due to a lack of accessibility. Moreover, there’s a slight bias in this list to more high-end connoisseur’s whiskies because that’s the side of the category that felt the least understood by whisky lovers in the U.S. There are more affordable whiskies, such as Windsor Canadian and Canadian Hunter Rye, that were also recommended by our experts.
What We Look for in the Best Canadian Whisky
To understand what makes Canadian whisky unique, I spoke to Davin de Kergommeaux, who’s book, Canadian Whisky: The Essential Portable Expert, dropped in March 2024. He’s been writing about whisky for more than a quarter of a century and is the founder of the Canadian Whisky Awards.
Canadian whisky has a reputation for being light in flavor, although De Kergommeaux says that tastings reveal a broad range of flavor profiles ranging from “austere and elegant to bold, muscular, and brazen,” and that what really matters for Canadian whisky is “balance, subtlety, and complexity.”
The flavor profile of good Canadian whisky has its own personality. “At first sip, Canadian whisky is often quite sweet, much like bourbon, though with less vanilla and more oak caramels,” De Kergommeaux says. “Then comes a spicy, peppery blast, often accompanied by floral tones and baking spices and, finally, a cleansing pithiness like the white of grapefruit skin.”
These are the basic touchstones of Canadian whisky, which blenders then add hundreds of subtler notes to. “Less expensive Canadian whiskies also show these three flavor markers,” says De Kergommeaux, but “if you pay just a little bit more, you experience a much fuller range of flavors.
What Is Canadian Whisky?
Most Canadian whisky is made from corn, wheat, and rye, just like bourbon, De Kergommeaux says. With bourbon in the U.S., distillers mix these grains together in a mash bill, then distill them. Canadian distillers, by contrast, mash, ferment, and distill each of these grains separately, then blend the mature whiskeys together.
“This practice allows distillers to maximize the flavor of each grain,” says De Kergommeaux. “For example, corn matures best in heavily charred barrels, while rye is much tastier when matured in toasted barrels.” He says that distillers make strongly flavored single-grain whiskies, then blend these with lighter corn whiskey matured in re-used barrels, therefore giving it a more neutral flavor as the canvas on which the stronger-flavored whiskeys can be painted.
The appreciation of 100 percent Canadian rye in the U.S. is what jumpstarted Canada’s craft spirits movement. The more we bought it and bottled it (for WhistlePig, for example), the more Canadians realized what they had was something special.
You might hear people refer to Canadian whisky as “rye,” even when it only has a small amount of rye grain. De Kergommeaux says the reason for this is simple: In the early days of whisky-making in Canada, most whisky was made from wheat, and European immigrants who knew rye-grain spirits from home suggested that Canadian whisky makers add a bit of rye to their mashes to improve the somewhat bland flavor of wheat whisky—especially since most whisky in those days was not aged. People buying whisky and wanting that flavor would specify “rye” and the name stuck.
The U.S. Open has its first-ever signature cocktail, the Dewar’s Lemon Wedge. That’s right, it only took 122 years for the third of the four major championships in golf to offer a boozy beverage synonymous with the tournament—right on par with Derby Day’s mint julep.
Named the Lemon Wedge—a double entendre for both the garnish and style of golf clubs used out on the green—the cocktail consists of Dewar’s 12-year old whisky, lemonade, and club soda for “a modern twist on the classic highball,” Gabe Cardarella, Dewar’s brand ambassador, tells Men’s Journal.
“This recipe was created in partnership with the creative minds at the USGA, who, like us, recognize that if you’re using quality ingredients, you only need a few of them to make something complex and memorable—suited to be the perfect drink to take in the greatest game on Earth,” Cardarella emphasized.
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The 122nd Championship is taking place June 16-19 at The Country Club in Brookline, MA. For the second year, Dewar’s Whisky is the official blended scotch whisky of the U.S. Open Championship, releasing a consecutive limited-edition of Dewar’s 19, “The Champions Edition” alongside the Lemon Wedge.
“Inspired by the rich legacy and ethos of the U.S. Open—”From Many, One”—this celebratory bottle highlights that from many casks, one champion blend emerges,” says Cardarella, adding that The Champions Edition comprises 40 different single malt and grain whiskies that are double-aged, then extra-matured in ex-bourbon and first-fill rye casks by Dewar’s Master Blender Stephanie Macleod. “The balanced and vibrant whisky is as complex as the legendary game of golf, featuring floral notes, honey, butterscotch, and spice in the form of toasted oak and cinnamon, with a rich and long finish.”
Drawing parallels between the sport and spirit, Cardarella likens Dewar’s humble beginnings in 1846 to the site of this year’s U.S. Open—where a modest caddie, Francis Ouimet, won the 1913 title. It was the first time the Championship was held in Brookline, igniting a golf boom in America. Nine years later, the tournament became so popular that the USGA introduced ticket sales for the public to watch the U.S. Open and, in 1924, introduced qualifiers. The Brookline Country Club has since hosted the Championship in 1963 and 1988, and now sets the scene for 2022—where both the U.S. Open as well as Dewar’s attract a global audience.
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For fans who can’t make it to the Country Club, Dewar’s created a cocktail kit available via Cocktail Courier, complete with a golf pick as a playful complement to your lemon garnish. The Champions Edition bottle is available in stores and online nationwide.
“Golf and whisky go together like, well, your hand and a golf glove,” jokes Cardarella, unveiling the official Dewar’s Lemon Wedge Cocktail recipe (below). “They’re about bringing people together, upholding tradition, and creating a few of your own along the way.”
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How to Make the Official Dewar’s Lemon Wedge Cocktail
Ingredients:
1½ oz. Dewar’s 12-year-old Whisky
3 oz. club soda
2 oz. lemonade (freshly squeezed preferred)
Directions:
Combine ingredients over ice and stir for desired dilution. Garnish with a golf tee pick and lemon wedge.
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Fukano 12-Year-Old Single Sherry CaskCourtesy Image
3. Fukano 12-Year-Old Single Sherry Cask
Made from rice and koji at a distillery that’s been operating since 1823, this whisky offers advanced age and complex character at an accessible price. Always bottled as a single cask, exact flavors vary from barrel to barrel, but typically showcase warm spice, deep fruitiness, and chewier texture than usual for koji whisky, thanks to the dozen years in oak. Limited edition by its nature, this whisky is still such a well-kept secret that finding a bottle won’t be too tough.
If you have serious dough to drop on whisky, consider this re-release of a classic from Japan’s oldest single malt distillery. With a new recipe by chief blender Shinji Fukuyo that incorporates American, Spanish, and Japanese mizunara oak casks, the whisky is a masterwork of maturation and balance. Aromas of apple blossom, sandalwood soap, and waxed lemon give way to a silky palate full of dried apricots, walnuts, spice, and gentle smoke. The days of finding extra-mature Yamazaki at everyday values are long gone, but this one gives ample reasons to merit its four-figure price tag.
The use of imported scotch and other whiskies as blending ingredients has been an open secret in the Japanese whisky industry for years. Most companies that practice this haven’t openly disclosed it until recently, but Ichiro Akuto, founder of Chichibu Distillery, has been transparent since the beginning. His Malt & Grain releases, which he calls a “world blend,” include Chichibu’s own single malt, as well as single malts and grain whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. The Limited Edition, released in smaller amounts than the widely available core Malt & Grain, ramps up the ages of the components, which range from 10 to 40 years old.
