Anohka Distillery Progress Report #3 (50.5%)

I’ve been hearing about this distillery west of Edmonton for well over a year now, with those in the know touting it as an important up-and-comer on the Canadian whisky scene. It’s been some time since I was last in Edmonton, though, so I personally know little about the operation and have neither met nor spoken to founder and head distiller, Gurpreet Ranu.

When I saw this, Ranu’s third whisky release, at Calgary’s famed Kensington Wine Market last month, however, I knew I had to buy it. And I’m very glad I did.

The back label describes this as being among Anohka’s first peated whiskies, explaining that it was aged for two years in quarter casks, some of which previously held American rye and others that held “lightly peated single malt,” then blended, proofed, and left to marry – presumably for at least another year – in second fill bourbon casks.  

Fairly light gold in colour, the peat in this whisky is announced with vigour, although much more in a beach campfire way than peat and iodine. (Romantics among us might smell it and wish to break out the beach chairs and acoustic guitar.) Raisin and prune notes add fruit, cooked and slightly burnt vanilla adds depth, and a touch of toasted spice makes it all rather intriguing.

While this is unquestionably a youthful whisky, its character belies its age, with the palate entry showing an elegant mix of smoke and caramel, with buckwheat honey in the background and little initial suggestion of its fairly elevated strength. The mid-palate adds a hint of green apple and some candied almond notes before drying considerably with oak and a more profound and savory nuttiness, finishing with smoke, oak, and a touch of peppery spice.

Overall, for this is an admirable effort for a young whisky, and perhaps more evidence of a theory I am developing that Canadian malt produces superior whiskies at relatively young ages. But at the price I paid for a 200 ml bottle, it is hardly a value pick!

Still, I feel a bit like the purchase price was an entry fee to witness the development of what might and, frankly, could very well become one of Canada’s finest single malt distilleries. “Progress Report” is a well-chosen name, and I very much look forward to seeing what that progress might bring.

87 ($42/200 ml)