Rye Whiskey - Canadian Rye Whisky

Canadian Rye Whisky

Canadian whisky is often referred to as "rye whisky," since historically much of the content was from rye. With no requirement for rye to be used to make whiskies with the legally-identical labels "Canadian Whisky", "Canadian Rye Whisky" or "Rye Whisky" in Canada, provided they "possess the aroma, taste and character generally attributed to Canadian whisky", in some cases the corn-to-rye ratio may be as high as 9:1. Most contemporary Canadian whiskies contain only a fraction of rye, with the exception of Alberta Premium which is one of the very few whiskies made from 100% rye mash.

In contrast with the US "straight rye whiskey" counterpart, a minimum of 3 years of small (700l/~185USG or less) wooden barrel aging is required for the "Canadian Whisky", "Canadian Rye Whisky" and "Rye Whisky" labels, although they need not be new oak, nor charred.