Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky

Review: Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky (82/100)
Review By Chip Dykstra
Posted June 22, 2023

On March 12, 2014 spirits conglomerate Campari reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Forty Creek Distillery Ltd., the producer of the premium branded Forty Creek Canadian Whiskies. Previous to this, John Hall was the driving force behind Forty Creek Whisky. (He owned the distillery, and has been making his Forty Creek Whisky since 1992.) His flagship brand was, Forty Creek Barrel Select Whisky, constructed as a blend of three grain whiskies: a corn whisky aged in heavily charred white oak barrels; a rye whisky aged in lightly charred white oak barrels; and a barley whisky aged in medium charred white oak barrels. Each grain whisky and each barrel type was chosen by John Hall to add specific characteristics to the final blended whisky which was then ‘married’ or finished in Forty Creek’s own sherry casks.

Today, almost ten years since Campari assumed the reigns of the iconic whisky brand, some changes have taken place. Now Bill Ashburn is Forty Creek’s Master Blender (although is is very likely that Bill has had his hand in most of the Forty Creek whiskies since the beginning). Forty Creek has shifted the branding of its whisky adding the term Niagara Whisky to their labels attaching themselves firmly to the Niagara Peninsula and Canada’s largest wine region. New bottles have been introduced for many of the whiskies; and for some of their whisky brands, lower prices as well.

The flagship brand is still Forty Creek Barrel Select, and the website still promotes this whisky as a blend of separately aged grain whiskies (corn, barley, and rye). However, whereas the distillery once promoted this spirit as having a wine barrel finish. This tidbit of information is now absent from Whisky’s description on the the shop website (maybe I missed it).

Curious about this, I reached out to Forty Creek to ask for clarification regarding the production process and I was answered by non other than Master Blender Bill Ashburn. A statement from Bill carries more than just a little bit of weight and so I thought I should share it with you.

“The removal of some of the production steps in the messages on the labels and website is strictly to allow room for new messages and different focus on the product. What I can assure you is that Forty Creek Barrel Select today follows all of the same production and maturation steps that have been done from the very first bottles. Nothing in our production process has changed from the beginning and we have no intention of doing so.”

I thought it was about time I revisited the whisky, and wrote a new review based on the new bottle and my current perceptions of the whisky inside.

Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Bottle:  4/5

The new Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky bottle is a medium-tall clear bottle with a lightly bubbled long neck and metallic screw cap closure. I’ll be honest and say, I liked the older bottle design much better. This presentation is sort of lower shelf. And, considering I see these bottles at the volume discount retailers, maybe that is the new plan for the Barrel Select brand. As noted earlier, Forty Creek has dropped their prices at roughly the same time as the branding switch took place, and maybe a less expensive bottle presentation helps to make this happen.

In the Glass 8/10

The Forty Barrel Select displays an amber/copper colour in the glass, and when I give my glencairn a slow tilt and twirl I see that the whisky leaves a light film on the inside of the glass, the crest of which gives up slender leglets which drop quickly back to the spirit at the bottom of the glass.

When I bring the glass to my nose, the breezes bring me a light sweetness of corn and butterscotch mixed with almond, vanilla and orange peel. There is a lot of fine wood and grain spice and perhaps just a touch of alcohol. As I let the glass breathe, scents of marmalade begin to form as does a light impression of fresh cut grain laying in the windrows. (I grew up on a mixed farm, and you never forget the aroma of the dusty dry grain and straw every autumn.) 

I am happy to find some development in the glass, but that touch of alcohol in the air seems to warn me that the whisky is going to have a little bit of rough and tumble.

In the Mouth 49.5/60

The Forty Creek crosses the palate with a light sweetness of caramel and butterscotch. It is heated as well with orange peel and wood spices as well as some unwanted alcohol astringency and winding grain spice. Fruity notes of canned apricots come forward as does a sweep of vanilla and tastes of almond. Although I can imagine that I taste dry fruit, the impression is not firm. The whisky seems hotter and drier than it did several years ago. Interestingly my tasting notes are very similar to those I wrote about ten years ago

When I add ice, the whisky settles into flavours of vanilla, almond, orange peel and butterscotch. The wood and grain spices have become a winding grassiness that settles in the background.

In the Throat 12.5/15

This Forty Creek Whisky has a short dry finish with hot oak spices and orange peel warming the throat perhaps just a little more than I would like. Fortunately butterscotch and menthol arrive to provide some relief. I do wonder though, is that just a touch of burn?

The Afterburn 8/10

Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky seems to have slipped a little in stature. It is still a good lightly complex Canadian Whisky; but I am sensing more heated grain spice and alcohol than I would like. This means my score has dropped a little, and whereas I use to be able to recommend sipping over ice or mixing cocktails, my inclination now is to believe the current spirit is almost exclusively a cocktail mixer.

You may read some of my other Whisky Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

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Suggested Recipe:

Ice Storm

1 3/4 oz  Forty Creek Barrel Select Niagara Whisky
1/3 oz Lemon Juice
2/3 oz Orange Juice
Dash of Fees Cocktail Bitters
1/4 oz Sugar Syrup (1:1 ratio)
Ice
Lemon Peel

Chill a small cocktail glass until it is very cold.
Place the five ingredients into a metal shaker with cracked ice.
Shake until the outside of the metal shaker begins to frost.
Strain into the chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a twist of lemon peel

Enjoy Responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

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As always you may interpret the scores I provide as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74   Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79   You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84   We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89   Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94   Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+        I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be more familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)