The Bar Towel

N.A. Craft just Facebooked that 100 cases of Rogue whiskey coming to LCBO. Presume its this:

http://www.rogue.com/spirits/single-malt-whiskey.php

Cool to see. Anyone ever tried it? I was able to get my hands on a bottle of Anchor's Old Potrero and it was pretty intense.

Wow! Thanks for the heads up.

I've only recently gotten into whiskey, so I will want to try this.

Any word on pricing and when it will turn up on the shelves?

from FB: it's being tested now, no date yet.

I tried one of their whiskey's 2 or 3 years ago in Portland and I really enjoyed it. I was drunk before I even got to Rogue though, so that take that with a grain of salt. I remember my favourite of their spirits was the hazelnut rum.

I tired some of their rum in Portland, it was decent but nothing I'd rave about - if I was paying for premium rum I'd rather get some aged stuff. I'm not a big hard liquor drinker either.

I picked up a bottle of this a couple weeks ago in Florida. Outstanding Whiskey. The predominant flavor and aroma is sweet honey..like nothing I've tried out of Scotland.

It was ~$60 in Florida, so I imagine it will be about $100 here. Worth it.

I'll probably give this a shot, but I don't understand why we're getting the whisky when they make so many delicious beers that have never been sold in this market. A couple of questions come to mind:

Is the LCBO beer approval process so onerous and time-consuming that the brewery and/or agent opted for a spirit over another beer listing? Or is liquor testing and approval just as cumbersome?

Is the theory of Rogue "dumping" excess product in Ontario starting to become more apparent?

I'm guessing the brewery and agent just want to provide us with something different, but given the dynamics of our backward system, I'm left to wonder.

Good Evening,

We decided to bring in Rogue Whiskey into the Province simply as a new offering for consumers who demand a great product. As you might recall, Rogue was on a summer promotional fixture and had a number of brands that sold out very quickly. We plan on bringing more brands to the market as "One offs" to keep things nice and fresh (This will be outside of Rogue and would include our entire portfolio). I had the Whiskey when my travels brought me to Portland, Oregon in the summer for beer fest and enjoyed this after meeting Jack Joyce and dipping into copious amounts of fine Rogue on tap!

We do not dump product into the Ontario market as this is not how the channel works at all. And if it did, then sign me up as I have always been a fan of Rogue even prior to working with their brands.

I hope you enjoy!

North American Craft wrote: We decided to bring Rogue Whiskey into the Province simply as a new offering for consumers who demand a great product...I had the Whiskey when my travels brought me to Portland, Oregon in the summer...We do not dump product into the Ontario market as this is not how the channel works at all...I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for clarifying.

North American Craft wrote: We plan on bringing more brands to the market as "one offs" to keep things nice and fresh (this will be outside of Rogue and will include our entire portfolio).

This is great news. I'm looking forward to these one-offs!

Picked up a bottle today at Cooper Street. $88.80 (!).

Be sure to give us a review - I'm interested but don't know I'd want to commit to that price without trying it at a bar first

First impression:

Not the fullest body, but a pronounced spicy note. Finishes like Jamaican ginger ale.

zachariaIPA wrote:The predominant flavor and aroma is sweet honey..like nothing I've tried out of Scotland.

Yeah, I think it was the Dead Guy Whiskey that I tried a few years ago... and I was REALLY keen to try it, but I wasn't actually overly fond of it. It seemed to have A LOT of heat, with a sweet graininess.

Before I was really into craft beer I use to get Bourbon & Whiskey when I was in the US. Since then I got into Scotch. I think the Rogue had more malt character than any of those... but it just didn't seem to work for me. I wouldn't mind sampling some more though.

3 months for aging and it costs $90? I think I'll pass, I like a lot of wood in my whiskey and I'm sure there's better drinks at that price.

Is it value for money? Probably not when something like Ardbeg is only $10 more.

But this will get drunk. It's a nice whiskey and the Rogue name might encourage my beer drinking buddies to give it a go when they come by for a visit.

I'd like to try the Rogue gin as well.