Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve

About the Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve

Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve is a whisky from Grimsby, Ontario. That puts it in the Niagara fruit belt, in the south of Canada. Three grain whiskies go into it: rye, barley and corn, each distilled and matured separately. They are married together, then moved into barrels of Canadian oak. The bottling is 40% ABV. Its name points at 1867, and the wood is the reason why. Owner John Hall found a grove of Canadian white oak about 40 miles from the distillery. Those trees first took root more than 150 years ago, around the time of Confederation in 1867. Foresters were culling them anyway, so the logs went to a cooperage in Missouri. The staves came back as new barrels, toasted to order. Cold Ontario winters make the trees grow slowly, and slow growth gives the wood a tighter grain. Vanilla and dried dark fruit arrive first, backed by butterscotch and toffee. There is a nutty, sweet edge to it, plus a lift of orange citrus. New oak then takes the lead: fresh-cut wood, white pepper, allspice and warm rye spice. The texture is full and faintly oily, which stops the wood from bullying everything. Toasted oak, a wisp of smoke and a flick of ginger carry the long ending. Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve is the bottling built around wood grown in Canada rather than imported barrels. Master blender Bill Ashburn had planned a short marriage in that oak. After a year the whisky was still too loud. It stayed in wood for about three years. The barrels were new and freshly toasted, so the spirit had nowhere to hide. That patience is what separates this expression from the rest of the lineup.