Broddy Balfour

I’m going to level with you: I don’t trust politicians. Shocking, I know. So when I heard rumblings of an Alberta-specific designation of whisky a while ago, I had my doubts. Doubts because when politicians get involved in specific things, many of whom are loosely educated and more akin to snake oil salesmen or a medieval court jester, those things get mangled. Garbled. Twisted.

Like, a lot. And I know quite a few around the Dramface writer desks tend to agree with me. But, as with some of the basic laws, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So when a distillery experiences success, so comes the rise of naysayers. Success can come in many forms. Take Ardbeg’s original special releases way back for example. They were apparently quite good (I haven’t tried them), but then came the corresponding rise of critics and vitriol. Some warranted and some unwarranted mind you.

Do you ever just keep reaching past a certain bottle, distillery, or category? For me, that’s Canadian single malt. Sure, there are exceptions, such as my growing affinity for Anohka which I’ve written about many times and have many more unreviewed bottles sitting here, but in general, it’s been quite lackluster for a long time. So I’m sitting here, on vacation at the lake with the kids and beautiful 30ºC weather in August, and I’m thinking about reconnecting with some Canadian single malt.