Northern lights
There's a noble tradition of whisky making in Canada based on the superb qualtiy of its grain. Kathleen Sloan and Ted Mcintosh pay tribute to a unique spirit.
With more than 85 per cent of Canadian rye whisky exported to the US alone, there’s definitely more than four and twenty Yankees singing the praises of this pale amber spirit that is exclusively associated with Canada.
Canada is the perfect place to grow grain, so producing quality whisky from it came a natural second. The country’s involvement in the world of whisky can be traced back to the small, water-powered grist mills of Upper Canada, the original name for the province of Ontario. These mills were also the country’s first distilleries, as canny millers turned their stores of excess grain into whisky. This happy invention grew out of a necessity to use grain that would otherwise rot or be devoured by rodents if stored for any length of time.
Centuries ago, millers in Italy turned a surfeit of milled grain into a rough flour before boiling, cutting and drying the dough to create what we now know as pasta. Canadian millers, many of Irish and Scottish descent, instead chose the ancient art of distillation. Whisky was cheap, plentiful and potent and was also believed to contain valuable medicinal properties. So much so that non-drinkers were unfavourably assessed by life insurance companies.
It was the undeniable beverage of choice among Canadian pioneers. Whisky fuelled the farmers, who often carried a crock along with them when working the land and it sat in communal pails at barn raisings and in barrels at the entrance to general stores where customers would hel.....
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By Kathleen Sloan
Section : Whisky History
Page number : 60
