There aren’t many master blenders in the whisky world who have a PhD in distilling – but Dr Don Livermore of J.P. Wiser’s is one of them.

He earned his PhD degree in 2012 from Heriot-Watt University, for a thesis entitled “Quantification of oak wood extractives via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and subsequent calibration of near infrared reflectance to predict the Canadian whisky aging process” (available here).

He used over a hundred barrels of Canadian whisky for his three-year study, involving virgin wood casks charred to various depths (2 mm and 4 mm), refill American Bourbon casks, and refurbished re-char casks. The casks were filled in 2005, and were left sitting in Wiser’s warehouses. In late 2016, he decided to blend and bottle about half of these casks, to make Dissertation – a member of Wiser’s Rare Cask series.

This blended rye whisky also features a mix of distillation styles – column-distilled rye, column- and then pot-distilled rye, and double-distilled corn. Rye composes the majority of the blend – 87%, distilled to relatively low-proof (70-80% range). The remaining 13% is corn whisky, distilled to neutral spirit levels (94%). Note that this is a much higher percentage of rye whisky than most Canadian blends.

Released in the summer of 2017 exclusively through the LCBO in Ontario, Canada, you can still find bottles of whisky on the shelves in major metropolitan areas of this province. It won’t last forever though, so I thought it was about time that I get a review out. Amusingly bottled at 46.1% (which is the molecular weight of ethanol, in g/mol – a nod to chemistry geeks out there), it sells for $65 CAD.

Let’s see how it compares to other premium Canadian whiskies in my Meta-Critic Whisky Database:

Canadian Club 20yo: 8.62 ± 0.26 on 11 reviews ($$$)
Canadian Rockies 21yo: 8.96 ± 0.29 on 8 reviews ($$$)
Caribou Crossing Single Barrel: 8.55 ± 0.37 on 13 reviews ($$$$)
Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel: 8.77 ± 0.29 on 11 reviews ($$$)
Forty Creek Confederation Oak (All Batches): 8.75 ± 0.39 on 20 reviews ($$$)
Gibson’s Finest Rare: 18yo 8.97 ± 0.31 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
Gooderham & Worts 17yo Little Trinity Three Grain: 8.70 ± 0.38 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
Highwood Ninety Rye 20yo: 8.75 ± 0.31 on 12 reviews ($$)
J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation: 9.02 ± 0.27 on 11 reviews ($$$)
J.P. Wiser’s Last Barrels: 8.84 ± 0.33 on 12 reviews ($$$)
J.P. Wiser’s Red Letter: 8.79 ± 0.37 on 13 reviews ($$$$)
J.P. Wiser’s Seasoned Oak: 8.48 ± 0.54 on 4 reviews ($$$$)
J.P. Wiser’s Union 52: 8.81 ± 0.33 on 10 reviews ($$$)
J.P. Wiser’s 18yo: 8.57 ± 0.42 on 18 reviews ($$$)
J.P. Wiser’s 35yo: 8.98 ± 0.45 on 13 reviews ($$$$$)
Lot 40: 8.87 ± 0.34 on 22 reviews ($$)
Lot 40 Cask Strength 12 Year Old (2017): 9.09 ± 0.27 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
Masterson’s Straight Rye 10yo: 8.86 ± 0.39 on 17 reviews ($$$$)
Pike Creek 21yo Speyside Cask Finish: 8.68 ± 0.35 on 9 reviews ($$$$)

Here’s an interesting finding – Dissertation is currently getting the second-highest average score for any Canadian whisky in my database, after Lot 40 Cask Strength. That said, there are number of whiskies who are pretty close around the ~9.0 score, including Wiser’s 35yo.

And now what I find in the glass:

Nose: Very fruity up-front, a veritable fresh fruit salad (with extra cherries). Maple, caramel and vanilla. Baking spices, cinnamon and nutmeg especially. Somewhat nutty. Also has a mild tannic (black tea) note. There is a faint hint of acetone and turpentine, but not at all offensive. It has high-rye bourbon character to it.

Palate: Wow, it has much stronger impression in the mouth – huge blast of fresh cherries, apple and pear, but also sour cherries. Orange peel. Lots of vanilla and caramel now (reminds me of those soft Kraft caramels from Halloween). Heavy cinnamon, with cloves adding to the mix. Very bourbon-like, with the virgin wood coming through – but not over-oaked. Basil and that tannic tea again. No real bitterness, which is impressive for all the oaky spice notes. Warm afterglow on the swallow, with just the right ABV. Fabulous silky texture in the mouth, no off notes here at all. Outstanding.

Finish: Nice lingering finish, medium long. Fruit notes come back, but are more dried and candied now (I get dried banana and plantain chips). Nuts (peanut in particular). Again, no bitterness. Vanilla lingers. My only complaint is that it isn’t longer (a common issue with almost all Canadian whiskies).

Wow, this is an impressive whisky It has quickly become one of my new favourite Canadian whiskies – right up there with Lot 40, Lot 40 Cask Strength and Masterson’s 10 yo (and more in keeping with the style of the latter two). A more robust whisky than typical Canadian ryes, I could see this whisky going down well with American rye and bourbon drinkers.

This whisky gets top scores from Chip the Rum Howler (ranking it #2 Canadian whisky for the year), followed by Jason of In Search of Elegance, Andre and Patrick of Quebec Whisky, Mark Bylok of Whisky Buzz and Davin of Canadian Whisky. Among my stable of Reddit reviewers, TOModera, muaddib99 and Boyd86 are all extremely positive, followed by xile_, Devoz, MajorHop, and Lasidar. In contrast, Jim Murray gives it an average score. Personally, I’m closer to the top of this range. Well worth picking up a bottle while it is still around.