It’s U.S. Vs Canada!
These are both “Limited/Special Releases”, both high-proof, both around $70, both amazingly good, and couldn’t be more different!
Fancy Glencairn instantly jumped into the arms of that elegant Jack decanter… Let’s see if she can pull off a win today!

Alberta) Part of the Beam Suntory family, this is a 100% Canadian prairie rye mashed in Rocky Mountain water. 132 proof. Named “World Whiskey of the Year” by disgraced Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible 2021.
-The Nose is mouth-watering and starts with loads of citrus, leading into cedar, vanilla, dark cherry, and Earl Gray tea with honey.
-The Palate is velvety smooth and starts with honey sweetness, cedar, vanilla pudding, moving into brighter notes of citrus and dark cherry, cinnamon, and black pepper.
-The Finish is pretty long and turns more dry, with that cinnamon and black pepper becoming more prominent, but then that bright citrus and a little melon comes back in as the taste finally fades.
Overall I can’t talk highly enough about this rye. Absolutely world-class!
It did take about 3-weeks for this bottle to fully open up and lose some of the heat though!

Jack) 70% rye, 18% corn, 12% malted barley. 131 proof.
-The Nose is grain-forward, along with molasses, raisins, hickory smoke, and that classic Jack banana.
-The Palate explodes with sweet butterscotch, leading into white pepper spice, oak, raisin, caramel, cinnamon, and banana.
-The finish is medium-long, with the pepper spice leading into raisin and molasses, and a hint of that hickory smoke.
Overall this is another world-class bottle that’s hard to find any fault with!

VERDICT) This one SHOCKED me. I fully expected Jack to take the crown today, but after letting the Alberta bottle open up, it takes a definitive victory today. I absolutely love the JDBP Rye, but the incredibly unique, bright citrus/cherry/cedar notes of the Alberta just puts it into another league!
The more earthy raisin/banana notes of the JD are great too, but for my palate Fancy chose a GREAT bottle, but not the BEST bottle today!

Anyone else trying this USA Vs Canada matchup?