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Blame Canada for the World's Best Whisky

Every year, whisky geeks wait with bated breath to see what self-proclaimed “whisky authority” Jim Murray will choose as his “World Whisky of the Year.”
Foto von Roman Boed via Flickr

Every year, whisky geeks wait with bated breath for the release of the Whisky Bible to see what self-proclaimed "whisky authority" Jim Murray will choose as his "World Whisky of the Year."

This year's winner is not from the Scottish Isles, nor even Japan's ever-improving distilleries, but instead the far more remote shores of Lake Winnipeg in Central Canada. That's right, this year's "World Whisky of the Year" is none other than Crown Royal's Northern Harvest Rye.

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Until this announcement, Crown Royal was probably better known in heavy metal circles than in elite whisky tasting circles. That has much to do with the band Pantera, whose guitarist Dimebag Darrell concocted a Crown Royal and coke cocktail called Black Tooth Grin that remains a go-to among metal enthusiasts.

As a result, the recent coronation of Crown Royal came as a surprise not only to once-dominant Scottish whisky producers, but to Jim Murray himself, who did not mince words about Canada's less-than-stellar whisky reputation.

"To be honest, I had been considering actually demoting Canadian whisky from having its own chapter in the Bible," Murray said in a press release following the release of the annual list. "The quality of Canadian has been disappointing me for some time with too many non-whisky products, like fruit juice or wine, being added to give a softer flavour."

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"Then Crown Royal Northern Harvest pops up out of nowhere and changes the game. I think other distillers out there have to have a close look at this and see if they can at least have a go at reaching where this new bar has been set. Otherwise the name of Canadian whisky will continue to decline against the high standards being set in other countries."

This year's top five were (in order): Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye (Canada), Pikesville Straight Rye (USA), Midleton Dair Ghaelach (Ireland), William Larue Weller Bourbon (USA), and Suntory Yamazaki Mizunara (Japan). A closer look at this list reveals a second surprise for whisky purists: Scotch, long considered the historical benchmark for whisky production and complexity, is nowhere to be found.

To single out one whisky as the world's best is a bit of a lofty project, but Murray compiled this year's list after tasting some 1,000 whiskies, so he obviously takes his amazing job seriously. And Murray is no stranger to controversy, especially when it comes to pissing off whisky purists.

For the 2015 Bible, he chose Japan's Yamazaki as World Whisky for the year. "Last year people were shocked when I gave Yamazaki the award—until they tasted it. Then they saw it was not the affront to Scotch they first thought and something truly extraordinary.

"This year, doubtless there will be many more eyebrows raised because rarely is Canada mentioned when it come to the world's top whiskies. But, again, I have no doubt people finding the bottling I tasted will be blown away with this whisky's uncompromising and unique beauty. It certainly puts the rye into Canadian rye."