Wild Life Single Malt Whisky (47.5%)

Welcome to Leap February, and what better way to start the quadrennially slightly longer shortest month of the year than with a review of yet another lovely single malt whisky from western Canada?

Opened in 2017 by two Bow Valley locals, Banff-born Matt Widmer and Canmore native Keith Robinson, Wild Life has kept its focus local since its earliest days, telling Christine Sismondo that the Valley accounted for 56% of sales in 2019, when she interviewed him for our Canadian distilleries guide, Canadian Spirits. (I haven’t asked the owners if this is still the case, but will update here if I hear one way or the other.) The approach worked, at least according to our palates, as we were impressed by all three of the company’s earliest products, two gins and a vodka, and found ourselves quite animatedly discussing the potential of the whiskies they were at the time putting into barrel for aging.

This single malt, labelled ‘Batch 001,’ proves our optimism correct.   

Pale to medium gold in colour, according to the label this is aged for “a minimum” of five years, which suggests that it is a mix of barrels of up to six or seven years. Like many of its Canadian single malt peers, it noses slightly older than its declaration, with charred oak-accented aromas of apple and fresh pear suggesting youth, but notes of orange peel, cooked stone fruit, vanilla, and dry caramel hinting at more complex maturity.

On the palate, there is honeyed malt, pear, and apricot up front, leading to more oaky, slightly charred, and vanilla- and cocoa-accented flavour, with light, dry butterscotch notes and a bit of peppery spice emerging towards the finish. With a few drops of water added, the heat of the alcohol mellows a bit to reveal more of the oak and vanilla alongside a raisiny fruitiness that dries and lingers in the oaky finish.

While still relatively young, this is a well-structured whisky that presents itself impressively even at its full strength. (Although I suggest adding just a bit of water to increase its complexity, which I do not necessarily advocate in a spirit of this elevated but still reasonable strength.) It is both a whisky for enjoying now and a portent of a bright single malt future for the Wild Life Distillery.  

79 ($86)