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For the last seven years or so, there has been a large amount of Canadian Rye Whisky that has crossed over our borders and landed into the warehouses of barrel brokers. As bourbon and US-produced rye whiskey became more scarce and more expensive, many non-distiller producers (NDPs) were left scrounging for whiskey of all kinds to put into their products. Canadian Whisky seemed to offer relief for many of them. And while I won’t try and claim that enthusiasts looking for bourbon will always accept whisky made in Canada, I will say that the rye whisky they make is somewhat comparable to ours.
Canadian Rye Whisky does not have the stringent rules that we have in the United States. Three of the biggest differences is that theirs can have additives (and it doesn’t have to be disclosed), doesn’t have to be aged in a new, charred oak container and doesn’t even have to contain 51% or more of rye grain in the mash bill! But overall, barrel brokers have sourced rye whiskey that – by-and-large – does resemble ours. Most enthusiasts seem to have gotten so comfortable with it that they have started to identify their favorites.
Aside from Alberta Distillers, Black Velvet Distillery and Hiram Walker Distillery, there is one other distillery that American whiskey drinkers might recognize by name: Valleyfield Distillery. This unique distillery is situated on an “island” with the St. Lawrence River (Seaway?) on the north side and the Canal Beauharnois on the south side. Diageo purchased the distillery in 2008 from the defunct Schenley Corporation and began to do some house cleaning by selling excess barrels.
A particular rye whiskey that they make – using 53% rye, 39% corn and 8% malted barley – has popped up in products from many producers since then. Most notable users of these barrels have been Barrell Craft Spirits (single barrels starting with “V,” Seagrass, etc), Backbone Bourbon Company (Old Bones Rye Whiskey) and Jypsi (Legacy Whiskey). This rye may or may not have been aged in used cooperage and it may or may not have entered the barrel at a proof higher than 125 proof, but as long as US producers declare it to be a “Product of Canada,” then the rules on what they call it aren’t as strict.
Treaty Oak sources Canadian Rye Whisk(e)y
While the producers I have mentioned do commonly refer to the source of that style of rye whiskey as having coming from “Valleyfield,” Treaty Oak out of Texas prefers to call it from its previous name of “Schenley.” They first started to release these barrels back in 2020 with a 10-year age statement on them. Since then, they’ve only gone up in age. Occasionally, they’ll bottle some at cask strength (which I have seen as high as 132 proof), but mostly will bottle them at 100 proof.
When I initially saw the wording of “Schenley Reserve,” I was curious if they were trying to disguise the fact that they were bottling rye whiskey from MGP. I know that many of you that know your stuff will rebuff me and say “but Schenley’s Indiana Distillery (which was also known as Old Quaker because that’s what they produced there) was not the same as the Seagram’s Distillery!” and you’d be right. They were very close to each other, basically separated by a fence.
However, after Schenley was purchased by National Distillers, many of their physical buildings sat vacant until buyers could be found. Eventually, some of their aging warehouses in Lawrenceburg, Indiana were purchased by MGP for additional capacity. If you’re curious, I laid out a map in this article showing the Old Quaker warehouse locations. Look for warehouses F, H and K.
Anyway, I was wrong and all it took to realize it was one glance at the side label of this bottle where it says “Product of Canada” to realize that they were talking about the Valleyfield Distillery location. I would believe that these barrels spent at least 7-8 years of their life aging in the cool climate of Canada before being transported down to Austin Texas. How they survived multiple more years in that hot climate without completely evaporating is beyond me. Their limited warehouse space does not look large enough to tuck barrels on the bottom for a cooler aging experience. So maybe Treaty Oak has their barrel broker store the barrels in a state farther north until they’re ready to use them? I don’t know. Tell me in the comments if you do.
The bottle I’m reviewing today carries a 15 year (and 7 days) age statement and comes in at 100 proof. It was being sold at the gift shop and bar on site at the Treaty Oak Distillery. I was curious enough to give it a shot. So what did I think? Read on. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: I can pick up on the fact that this is a rye whiskey by the handful of herbal notes that seem to attach themselves to every other scent I can find. It’s light and soft with cinnamon and whipped honey butter. I’m also picking up on the scent of soft molasses cookies. Fruit scents are light and basically revolve around baked apples/pears. As for tannins, I’m not picking up on much, but that allows everything else to stand out more.
Palate: Each sip delivers more light herbal flavor like mint, tarragon and forest floor. Sweet flavors of honey, cinnamon cake and molasses cookies make each sip rewarding. It’s not too cloying either. Spices consist of cinnamon and clove. There’s even a bit of chocolate it seems like. Orchard fruit continue from the nose and are now accompanied by some citrus.
Finish: Almost every flavor found on the palate follows to the finish. Nothing is bitter and nothing is overly sweet. Each sip leaves a satisfyingly long trail of flavor on my tongue that I continue to enjoy for extended time between sips.
Score: 8/10
This was a fantastic, easy-sipping rye whiskey. It was flavorful and sweet with just the right amount of rye spice and herbal notes. The absence of a lot of oak/tannins made these flavors stand out even more. If this was aged in a used barrel as I assume it might have been, then I am amazed to find such a viscous mouthfeel. I don’t know if there is any scientific reason why I associate new charred oak with thick mouthfeels and used barrels with thinner mouthfeels, but that wasn’t the case here.
The proof was perfect and I thought I’d be missing out after staring at a bottle of cask strength rye whiskey they had on a shelf in the gift shop but WASN’T for sale. What a tease. But I ended up feeling just fine about how this turned out. Well done, Treaty Oak.
Final Thoughts
In my introduction, I mentioned 3 other producers who were using the same kind of rye whiskey that was found in this bottle. All of them – to my knowledge – do something with it like blending or finishing. That makes the one that Treaty Oak puts out a little different from the rest. It gets to spread its wings and show you all that it’s capable of. I’m a rye whiskey guy and I found enjoyment every time I raised the glass to my mouth. There’s no overt wording here from me to try and warn you about the whiskey within, it’s just good, honest rye with plenty of flavor and a price that isn’t outrageous based on the stats. If you don’t have an unfinished Canadian Rye in your collection, this is as good a place as any to start.