Lot 40<\/a> has always been one of the darlings of the Corby whisky catalog. Not well known outside of Canada, it is invariably the first thing every Canadian whisky nerd points to when asked for a recommendation of a Canadian rye. It is a very reasonably priced and widely available Canadian 100% rye whisky – please see my earlier review above for more info.<\/p>\n Recently, in anticipation of this Northern Border Collection release, a number of Canadian reviewers received access to a small number of single cask samplings of Lot 40.\u00a0 But this review is of the official bottling now hitting retail shelves in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. It is bottled at 55.0% ABV, and is sold for $70 at the LCBO.<\/p>\n As with regular Lot 40, with is a 100% rye whisky – only now with an explicit age statement and higher cask strength. My bottle is numbered 3754 for this “First Edition” official release (out of 4968).<\/p>\n Here is how it compares to premium Canadian whiskies in my Meta-Critic database. Note that I have separated out reviews for the single cask Lot 40 in its own category.<\/p>\n Canadian Club 20yo: 8.63 \u00b1 0.30 on 10 reviews ($$$) And let’s see what I find in the glass:<\/p>\n Nose<\/strong>: As expected, Lot 40 on steroids! Heavy doses of rich baking spices – including cloves and cinnamon – plus cardamon, anise and dill. Main fruits are pears and plums (dark-skinned plums, specifically), with some citrus (oranges).\u00a0Honey, with a touch of caramel. I also get a definite black tea note now. The extra strength can be a bit overwhelming, and drowns out some of the more delicate floral notes of regular Lot 40. There’s also something here that reminds me a bit of the original Pike Creek<\/a> – likely the sharper rye notes.<\/p>\n Palate<\/strong>:\u00a0 Thick and syrupy now, this is one you want to hold in your mouth. Cola and milk chocolate add to the honey and caramel from the nose, and cherries join the oranges. Heavy rye spices (cloves, cinnamon), with some actual dusty rye on the way out. A touch of bitterness (not sure if its from the rye or the wood, but I suspect the former). Dried herbs and tobacco, plus some sort of tannic black tea. And very peppery.\u00a0 A much stronger presence that regular strength Lot 40.<\/p>\n Finish<\/strong>: Longer lasting than regular Lot 40. Spicy cloves and cinnamon (plus pepper) linger the longest, turning a bit candied over time (cinnamon red hots\/swedish fish). Some astringency builds (that black tea note in particular). Dark chocolate-like bitterness also creeps in, but never overwhelms. Certainly a more substantial finish than other Canadian ryes, which tend to be a bit anemic. A nice, long-lasting glow.<\/p>\n With water, the nose is tamed a bit, and a breakfast fruit jam on toast note emerges. The caramel sweetness increases in the mouth, as do the more candied rye spices. Mouthfeel lightens quickly, so go easy on it. Seems to help with the bitterness on the finish. Personally, I find this one quite easy to drink to neat – but a bit of water will enhance the sweetness factor.<\/p>\n Although this is just now hitting shelves at the LCBO (and won’t last long!), there are a few reviews of the official bottling. See Davin of Canadian Whisky<\/a>, Mark of Whsky Buzz<\/a>, and Neversafeforlife<\/a>, TOModera<\/a>, Sinjun86<\/a> and muaddib99<\/a> on Reddit for very positive ones. For the single cask Lot 40 samples Corby circulated prior to release to some reviewers, you will find very positive reviews of one batch (bottled at 55.8%) by Devoz<\/a>, Lasidar<\/a>, Ethanized<\/a>, Boyd86<\/a>, and kinohead<\/a> of Reddit, and Jason of In Search of Elegance<\/a>. Andre of Quebec Whisky<\/a> also reviewed a single cask sample (not sure if it was the same one as the others above). All agree, this is a top pick Canadian rye whisky.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the surging popularity of whisky these days, it has been rewarding to see Corby come out with some innovative Canadian products (especially through their Wiser’s brand).\u00a0 Many of these have been limited releases (often geographically restricted within Canada), but widely appreciated none-the-less by the local enthusiast communities. Here I have one of the new bottlings from their new Rare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28,203,21,55,40,151,201,25],"class_list":["post-4613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-12yo","tag-203","tag-canadian","tag-cask-strength","tag-corby","tag-lot-40","tag-northern-border-collection","tag-rye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4613"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5619,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4613\/revisions\/5619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCanadian Club 30yo: 9.01 \u00b1 0.18 on 6 reviews ($$$$$)
\nCanadian Rockies 21yo: 8.96 \u00b1 0.26 on 8 reviews ($$$)
\nCaribou Crossing Single Barrel: 8.55 \u00b1 0.38 on 12 reviews ($$$$)
\nCentury Reserve 21yo: 8.73 \u00b1 0.20 on 10 reviews ($$)
\nCrown Royal Hand Selected Barrel: 8.83 \u00b1 0.25 on 10 reviews ($$$)
\nCrown Royal Noble Collection Cornerstone Blend: 8.39 \u00b1 0.69 on 5 reviews ($$$)
\nCrown Royal Noble Collection Wine Barrel Finished: 8.70 \u00b1 0.55 on 5 reviews ($$$)
\nForty Creek Confederation Oak (All Batches): 8.79 \u00b1 0.37 on 19 reviews ($$$)
\nGibson’s 18yo: 8.99 \u00b1 0.32 on 10 reviews ($$$$)
\nHighwood Ninety Rye 20yo: 8.77 \u00b1 0.32 on 11 reviews ($$)
\nJ.P. Wiser’s Dissertation: 8.97 \u00b1 0.25 on 6 reviews ($$$)
\nJ.P. Wiser\u2019s 18yo: 8.59 \u00b1 0.44 on 15 reviews ($$$)
\nJ.P. Wiser\u2019s 35yo: 8.55 \u00b1 1.00 on 3 reviews ($$$$$+)
\nJ.P. Wiser’s Legacy: 8.97 \u00b1 0.36 on 16 reviews ($$)
\nJ.P. Wiser\u2019s Red Letter: 8.80 \u00b1 0.37 on 13 reviews ($$$$)
\nLot 40: 8.90 \u00b1 0.34 on 22 reviews ($$)
\nLot 40 Cask Strength (Single Cask): 9.17 \u00b1 0.10 on 6 reviews ($$$)
\nLot 40 Cask Strength 12 Year Old: 9.25 \u00b1 0.10 on 6 reviews ($$$)<\/strong>
\nMasterson’s Straight Rye: 10yo 8.87 \u00b1 0.40 on 17 reviews ($$$$)
\nWhistlepig 10yo: 8.82 \u00b1 0.42 on 16 reviews ($$$$)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Lot.40.Cask_.jpg\")
<\/a>No doubt about it, this is an enthusiasts’ rye whisky. Much stronger rye presence than anything I can think of, including Masterson’s Straight Rye<\/a> (which is probably its closest comparable). I don’t think it’s automatic that you will like this if you are a Lot 40 fan – there is an elegant subtlety to regular Lot 40 that is a bit lost here.\u00a0 But for fans of cask-strength whiskies, this is really a no-brainer – I’m glad to see Corby roll this out (although sadly as only a limited release). There is talk of making some variant of this an annual release, though.<\/p>\n