Red Bank Whisky (40%)

So, Kiefer Sutherland has come out with a whisky. And as with so many other celebrity spirits, my first inclination was to stifle a yawn, until I started learning more about it and became at least a tiny bit intrigued.

While only Sutherland’s signature graces the label of Red Bank, the spirit is actually the product of a four-way partnership between Sutherland and his long-time friend, music industry mogul Gary Briggs, broadcasting executive and entrepreneur Rob Steele, and drinks industry veteran Shawn Hiscott. The quartet was aided in the whisky’s development by Michel Marcil, a 42 year veteran distiller and blender who has had a hand in the making of any number of other spirits, likely including a few that are in your liquor cabinet right now.

While Marcil told me that the flavour profile he was after was indeed dictated by Sutherland, who apparently couldn’t find anything on the Canadian whisky market he liked, the “eight or nine” blends that Marcil created were narrowed down to three by all four partners tasting together, and then sampled by the entire company team before the final decision was made.

In other words, as I wrote in Canada’s 100 Best magazine last fall, “Unlike any number of instantly forgettable celebrity spirits – I’m looking at you, Drake and Elon! – Red Bank is a quality whisky first and a celebrity endorsement only a distant second.”

Bright gold in colour, the whisky offers a highly floral aroma with first caramel, then sweet orange peel accented by hints of peach and pear, then finally a touch of peppery spice. The flavour entry speaks to wildflower honey and fresh peaches, leading to a drier but still honey-ish mid-palate of peppery vanilla, sweet raisin and a bit of green grape, and finally a just off-dry finish with peppery brown spice lingering and soon drying out completely with just a touch of toasted oak.

I have sampled this whisky in a number of ways, and while I find it a bit on the light side for a Manhattan, I am quite content sipping it on its own with a single ice cube, stirring it into an Old Fashioned made with minimal sweetness, or shaking it in any number of citrus-based cocktails. Priced well, it’s a solid addition to any whisky cabinet.

83 ($48 - $51)