Last Straw Darker Side of the Moonshine

Thanks to /u/devoz for the sample. I think.

North of me, in a magical place that grew out of grass fields, is a place called Vaughan. And much like the spelling of that, which all us white folks assume is an Ojibwa word, when it’s actually named after a British guy.

And of course, being the fastest growing municipality in Canada (which is like being the smartest turtle, if you catch my drift), someone decided they’d take on the extremely hard task of starting a distillery in Ontario.

Given the mountain of red tape, the general hatred the LCBO has for alcohol, not to mention their supreme anger for alcohol made in province which makes ISIS’ opinion of fucking an American pig look like kismet, it’s no easy task. Thus I commend them for even starting.

Thus in 2011, Last Straw started making spirits. Recently they started releasing Last Straw Darker Side of the Moonshine. From what I can pick apart, this is their moonshine that’s been aged for an indeterminate amount of time but less than 3 years. Why? Because if it was over 3 years, it’d be called whisky. Because this is a traditional moonshine recipe made with sugar and corn.

Also what I can read, it’s double distilled and aged in new charred American oak. Also I think this is Single Malt moonshine, but I’m piecing together Instagram posts like a kooky script written by Dan Brown, so I could be wrong. Was totally wrong, this is a Southern US moonshine recipe.

Fuck it, these guys follow me on Twitter and seem pretty cool. I’ll try their stuff.

Price: $50 (CAD) according to Instagram

Cask No: 1

Bottle No: 169

Region: Canada

Abv: 46%

Colour: 2.5Y 8/10

Nose: Caramel, nail polish remover, butter, ginger

It’s young. There’s an obvious smell of alcohol and chemical notes. Oddly enough it’s not the main note, it’s more the caramel.

I’m kinda surprised it’s not as rough as I’ve had before.

Taste: Butter, corn, pear

Weak taste. Not much to it. Really easy to drink, oddly. Lots of butter and corn, pear shows up after a few minutes.

Not much else. Makes for rougher jokes. Uh… I punched myself in the genitals there. Funny, right?

Finish: Butter, ginger, black pepper, peach

Big butter finish. It’s still rough, and the youthful black pepper and ginger notes are there too. But nice butter notes though.

Oh, and some peach, but that’s a given with new oak.

Conclusion: It’s young, rough, and if you’re going to buy it, you’re buying it in hopes that the distillery is able to survive under a group that hates alcohol. There’s no a lot to it. Mostly butter notes. Goes down smooth. Not a lot of rough notes, which I’m finding with more and more young whiskies.

Is this going to change your mind? Maybe. It’s a nice whisky, but it needs work. I think given some time, I hope they develop much more butter notes.

65/100

World Whisky review #186, Canada review #64, Whisky Network review #887