National Bourbon Day 2024

To wrap up the 2023/4 tasting season, we were invited on June 14 to the National Bourbon Day tasting, held as a garden party at the residence of his Excellency, the US consul to Toronto. 

We arrived at the mansion that houses the consul's residence and we found stands from a few bourbon producers set up around the garden as well as a stage piping out country music.


We started the tasting at the Wild Turkey stand. This bourbon is aromatic with a deep aroma of wild berries.

We proceeded to Angels Envy where we first tasted the bourbon, finished in port casks. It was very smooth with light herbal notes reminiscent of Jack Daniel's Rye.


We were then treated to a tasting of a rare Rye from the same Angels Envy house. It was full of floral notes, and baked bread notes on the palate.


The Hirsch distillery presented two bourbons: the Bivouac, a Kentucky straight bourbon and the Horizon, a straight bourbon made in Indiana. The Bivouac has warm orange and strawberry notes, while the Horizon carries hay, vanilla and citrus aromas.


The same Hirsch distillery, after having acquired the facilities of Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, is now making the Old Potrero, a 100% Rye, the first copper-brewed whisky in San Francisco, on Potrero hill. It has cherry and black currant notes.


We then arrived the stand of the famous Jack Daniel's where we set upon tasting everything but the number 7. We commenced with the Bonded, a version of the number 7 but with 50% alcohol (100 proof). 

We continued with the Triple Mash, with fruity and baked bread aromas, and concluded with the Single Barrel, a bourbon with cherry notes and more body than the Triple Mash.


We concluded our tasting evening at the Sagamore stand, the baby of the bunch, having opened in 2018. It is a Rye only distillery. We tasted the Straight Rye with lots of caramel notes, the Double Oak with a strong body having been aged in two different barrels, and the Cask Strength, the same as Straight Rye but with alcohol content in excess of 56%

















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