Gooderham & Worts

Thanks to /u/muaddib99‘s friend who showed up with this. Sorry I can’t remember your name, mate. You are good people.

Gooderham & Worts conjures up many memories. Well, not literally. I mean, it’s not some inanimate magical potion. Don’t get ahead of me.

Firstly, if you’re from Toronto, and you’re as much of a yuppie as I am, you’ve been to the distillery district here.

Now that sounds like a fun place. Except we’re in Ontario, where making alcohol is so fucking hard that all the distillers are closed down. Including Gooderham & Worts, which proclaims itself loudly from an old sign, and is filled with historical notes. So seeing this whisky makes me wonder if they are back.

And then you realize it’s made by Corby Distillers, so… not, it’s not back. So that’s too bad.

Then I’m reminded of Warts. Yes, I dug them out with my own hands, the blood flowing. That pain. It’s not something I want to remember, but I do.

However I’m drinking whisky with friends, so I don’t dwell on it.

Then I remember a girl named Gooderham who was well known to be fingered at parties, and I giggle like a child.

Yet still, I’m not 100% on the whisky, as she wasn’t very bright.

So it’s four grain whisky. A wheater made in Canada, which is interesting. No Age Statement. They use the number 4 like it’s a good luck sign.

So let’s see if this is a gimmick for us Yuppies or rather a new Whisky in the Golden Age of Canuck Whiskies.

Price: $44.90 (CAD) at the LCBO (Should have been $44.44)

Region: Canada

Abv: 44.4%

Colour: 2.5Y 5/8

Nose: Lemon, smoke, cereal, honey

Nice nose. Really like the smoke on the nose. Reminds me of a lightly smoked Speyside I’ve never had.

Taste: Maple, earth, wheat, wood, basil

So I’m somewhat torn on this one: It has the earth and maple I know from Canadian whisky, yet it also has this wheated side, and this basil.

Almost like they’ve taken some rick, but not a lot of it. Odd. It’s somewhat watery. I worry that they watered it down too much for a gimmick.

Finish: Rye spice, grassy, lemon, coffee

Spicy finish. Makes up for the sweet, water taste. The earth is better now. The spice is somewhat muddled, yet trying. Best part of the whole dram.

Conclusion: I could see sipping this as a regular dram. It’s smooth, yet still has some gumption to it. Not too out there, yet changes a little bit. I like where it leads Canadian whisky.

That said, and this isn’t part of my score, I think they’ve priced it too high. Don’t get me wrong: I’d buy this over the more expensive Johnnie Walker Black, yet I still think making something like this didn’t do everything I had hoped it would.

It’s a good dram. A nice Canadian whisky. And a cool way to nod towards Toronto’s past. Now they just need to make it better.

75/100

World Whisky review #120, Canada review #43, Whisky Network review #585