June 6, 2024

Alberta Premium Cask Strength!

Show Notes

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History of distillery
- Alberta Distillers Limited
- Started in 1946 by Frank Mchahon and Max bell
  - Ranch hands deserve great whisky at a great price
  - Frank Mchahon
    - Oilman. First to go into western canada to look for oil and discover it.
    - He was also a race horse owner and owned Majestic prince, winner of the Kentucky derby and Preakness in 1969
    - He seems to have been the money man
  - Max Bell
    - Married Franks Brothers wifes sister
    - Was a newspaper magnate and oilman
    - Inherited his dads paper that was riddled with debt, was able to get it out of debt, buy more papers, and then get into the oil game
    - Also owned race horses
      - Won the irish derby with Meadow court
      - ⅓ owner with Frank Mchahon and… bing crosby (Frank went to college with Bing at Gonzaga
  - George Conrad Reifel
    - Brought on shortly after
    - Brewer and distiller who worked in Japan to start the anglo japanese brewing company
  - The Why is not stated, but there is a distillation process that goes into oil as well, so that may have been part of the connection
  - Built outside of calgary on 23 acres
  - By 1957 had 3 heat controlled warehouses and 100,000 aging barrels on 28 acres
- After alberta Distillers Limited
  - 1967 purchased by National distillers and chemical corp
    - Expanded to 600,000 barrels on 42 acres
    - One of few warehouses in canada that can age both rack and pallet style
    - Has 2 rail spurs and can ship out and receive in tankers
    - They decided to sell when standard and poors gave a negative outlook for whiskey
  - 1986 purchased by american brands
    - Renamed to fortune brands in 1997
    - Split in 2011 to fortune brands home and security and Beam Inc
  - Beam purchased by Suntory
The juice
- 100% prairie rye whiskey (unmalted)
- Ground into a flour at the distillery using a hammer mill
- Distilled using continuous distillation then a pot still
- We don't know age but at least 5 years
- Aged in 3 different barrels
  - Ex-bourbon, Once used Bourbon, and new white oak charred
    - This three and then blended for final product
- This bottle
  - Originally only produced for canada in 1958
  - Cask strength was introduced in 2020 and that was its introduction to the american market.