The Humours of Whisky

A history of whisky in Niagara offers a flavourful glimpse into Loyalist agricultural industry and trade in Upper Canada, the social nature of tavern culture, and the unexpected outcome of the temperance movement. Ajay Bhardwaj, Canada’s first certified whisky ambassador, leads a live, guided tasting of three select whiskies paired with insightful stories from Niagara’s past to help us understand whisky culture today. 

Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:08] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Open Door, brought to you by The Brown Homestead, in the heart of the beautiful Niagara Peninsula. 

[INTERVIEW] 

[00:00:16] Andrew Humeniuk: If you asked my daughter, it was inevitable. Yes, welcome to the Whiskey Episode of The Open Door podcast. Whiskey, the best thing in nature for sinking your sorrows and raising your joys. And who are we to dispute the wisdom of the 200-year-old Irish folk song ‘The Humours of Whiskey'? Actually, we have to agree. Last fall, we had our first whiskey-tasting event here at The Brown Homestead. The turnout was fantastic, so much so that we had to repeat it again this past February. 

There were two wonderful evenings of sinking sorrows and raising joys. One of the consistent comments we received was how special it was to have that experience in an early colonial tavern, which the John Brown house was from around 1809 to the mid-1830s. 

And why not? One of the fun things about whiskey history is the unique regional stories. And Niagara is no different. As our guests those evenings learned, whiskey and the culture that surrounds it runs through our understanding of early loyalist trade and commerce, tavern culture, and our dalliances with the temperance movement and prohibition. All of these, of course, are building blocks of the Niagara community of today. And, therefore, stories worth telling. 

And I couldn't think of anyone better to help guide our journey than Canada's first certified whiskey ambassador and the Director of North American Operations for Scotland's prestigious Whiskey Ambassador Program, Ajay Bhardwaj. Ajay is also the Director of Spirits at Iron Gate Auctions, Canada's largest wine and spirits auction house. 

As you may have guessed, he's passionate about sharing the story of the spirit and continuing to learn through sharing with others. And if I keep listing your credentials Ajay, we're never going to get to open those bottles you've got sitting in front of you there. At this point, I'm just going to say welcome. 

[00:02:02] Ajay Bhardwaj: Thank you. 

[00:02:02] AH: It's great to have you here. And for those of you who caught it. Yes, I did say open those bottles. Today we're going to do something a little different. We're going to taste a few special bottles from Ajay's esteemed collection and pair them with stories of Niagara's whiskey history. 

To do this, Ajay and I are going to call in some reinforcements. And here to help us with both the history and the tasting is Sara Nixon, one of the crack historical detectives here at The Brown Homestead. Sara's also the Producer of The Open Door and hosted our two on-site tasting events. It's great to have you back on the mic today, Sara. 

[00:02:36] Sara Nixon: Thank you so much. I've really enjoyed learning about the intersection between whiskey and history. The stories we uncovered show that the connection between past and present that we love. And most importantly, it is really a unique community story. I'm really glad to hear this. 

And I really just want to say to everyone listening that don't feel left out. We will be sharing our tasting list on the episode as well as links to Ajay's website. Let our stories inspire you, share them, and try them on your own for tastings. Or even better, you can join us here at the Brown Homestead for our next history and whiskey-tasting event. It really has been really fun working with Ajay hosting these events. I think my favourite part is watching our guests who show up as strangers laughing together like old friends by the end of the evening. There really is an uncanny power to this golden elixir. 

[00:03:35] AB: Sara, I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, this is such an interesting project, right? The history of the homestead with the history of whiskey, bringing people together, it's an incredible way to meet people. I don't know any better way to meet with people to learn by having a drink. It's a really incredible whiskey community. And I'm so proud and so happy to be part of it here at the homestead. Thanks for inviting me. 

[00:03:58] AH: It's really great to have you. And, honestly, it's a bit of a privilege and an honour with how many events you've hosted to be able to say we've given you a different experience is pretty special. That's wonderful. And we're glad to have added that to your experience. And what you added to my experience at the last event was as a novice whiskey taster. Giving a little bit of guidance in terms of how to taste whiskey. For the people listening who are like me, novices, how do we do this correctly? And what should we be looking for when we taste these bottles? 

[00:04:26] AB: I get that question a lot, Andrew. I think it's a great question. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to buck the trend. How do you taste whiskey properly? There is no proper we to taste whiskey. Here's why. You drink it any way you want. Whether it's that $30-dram, $30 bottle, or a $3,000 bottle, you drink it the way you want. 

Now if we're talking about appreciation of whiskey, yes, there's definitely a standard way to do that. And we will do that today with the three whiskies that we're going to experience on the podcast today, which I believe is the first time you've ever done that. And quite frankly, the first time I've ever done that. That's even more interesting. 

[00:05:00] AH: It's definitely the first time I've had a drink during a podcast. I can't speak for Sara. I don't know. But definitely a first for me. 

[00:05:07] AB: In terms of properly tasting, I think maybe we'll just go basically you want to have a nice, clean glass. Okay? For people who are appreciating whiskey, usually it's a tulip-shaped glass. If all you have is a wine glass at home, that's fine too. Some people have Glencairn's, Sherry Copitas, but you want a nice, clean glass. Right? You want to be able to see the whiskey once you pour it in. You want to see that golden colour or that reddish hue in the whiskey. That's really important. 

Speaking of colour, when you have a glass of whiskey, you want to be able to see the colour. When we're looking at the colour of a whiskey, we're really looking at not age necessarily, but how it was matured. And what kind of cask? Was it in an ex-bourbon barrel? Do we get that nice golden colour? Was there a bit of sherry maturation, a sherry barrel? Get a bit of that reddish tinge. That's really what the colour tells you. The next step when we look at it, look for the colour, we look at nosing it. I'm just going to ask you to bring your glass, just slide it over and under your nose right now. Okay? 

[00:06:02] AH: It's not subtle. You know what you got. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:06:03] AB: It's not subtle. I've always been told, if you're in – and it's true, if you're in a room with several people drinking – hundreds of people drinking wine, that's fine. But if there's one person with a glass of whiskey, you know there's whiskey in the room. There's something about that. You really don't want to necessarily jump in and put your nose right into that whiskey. You kind of want to introduce yourself to the whiskey, right? Just put it under your nose and you can start feeling it right away. 

And then, eventually, you can put your nose into the glass. Some people like to sort of move the glass from side to side on their nose just to kind of get a different experience. Each nostril does work differently at a different time. Changes every 20 minutes or so basically. Unfortunately, if my wife is out with me and we're nosing a whiskey out in public, yeah, it takes about an hour for me to just get through one little dram. But that's probably why she doesn't go out with me as much anymore. And I'm invited to things like this. Right? 

Then we're going to go ahead and we're going to taste it. When you want to taste your whiskey, we're just going to put a little bit on or palette. You hold it there for 5 to 10 seconds. Some people would say you hold it as long as the whiskey is old. Not necessarily. Just 5 to 10 seconds. And then you swallow it. And then you see what the finish is. And then you just kind of talk about it if you want. Or just enjoy it quietly. It's your dram. You do whatever you want. 

Tasting notes that people come up with and that we hear about. Boy, they're really good on the boxes and on the label. I think they're fantastic. The problem is it may not relate to your own experience. It's always about your own experience, right? When someone says that there's Christmas cake. I did not know what that meant growing up in a South Asian family. Right? What does that Christmas cake mean? But then when I got married, I actually got to sample Christmas cake or fruit cake. And before you know what, I actually understood what was going on. It's all about your own experience. What you've nosed? What you've tasted in life? And then just bringing and expressing that into the spirit. Yeah, in terms of how do we properly taste and appreciate whiskey, it's pretty straightforward. Colour, nose, taste, and finish. And enjoy. 

[00:08:03] AH: You see why Ajay's so good at this. Now I'm itching to get into that first glass. But before we do, let's take a little bit of a trip back in history. And, Sara, how long was it after the United Empire Loyalists started settling in Niagara that they began distilling whiskey? 

[00:08:18] SN: Yeah. It followed pretty closely. The rise of Niagara's whiskey distilling industry is closely connected to agriculture. Prior to European colonization, corn was the main field crop grown by indigenous peoples in the area. The Loyalists on the other hand were mostly interested in growing wheat. Today, Niagara is known for its wineries, its fruit orchards, plant nurseries. But at the turn of the 19th century, wheat was the dominant field crop. In 1802, I have a stat here, Niagara exported 4,161 barrels of flour, and by 1803, just a year later, this increased to 6,406 barrels. 

Typically, farmers would sell and trade their best wheat and the middlings or the poorer quality byproducts of the grinding process were used for things like distillation. Whiskey was produced for at-home use as well as for sale and trade. In fact, I found this interesting, whiskey was often used as a form of payment for labourers and soldiers. The abundance of wheat really inevitably meant that whiskey production would flourish. By the year 1803, an estimated 15% of wheat grown in upper Canada, that's about 80,000 bushels was distilled into whiskey. 

[00:09:50] AH: And the following year, in 1804, that meant the production of 159,000 gallons of whiskey across upper Canada, of which approximately a third, over 50,000 gallons, was made right here in Niagara. It sounds like our early whiskey game was pretty strong, Ajay. 

[00:10:07] AB: It's fascinating to hear what was going on during that time period. And to think, correct me if I'm wrong, the population around in this area is around 11,000 people, I'm not sure if all of those gallons of whiskey were for just that 11,000 people. Really, it's fascinating to know that, again, yes, the middlings were used to produce. That's very, very typical. Especially if we look at the history of Scotch whiskey, which is something I'm passionate about, it’s used to preserve barley and also prevent it from being eaten by other rodents, and so on, and preserve it and easy for trade. And as you mentioned Sara, for payment of labourers and so on. It's an absolutely remarkable spirit, isn't it? 

[00:10:48] AH: As you said, just around 11,000 people. It was so central to the economy in so many ways. We're talking about whiskey. If you also consider in addition to that, they were trading brandy, rum, gin, wine, and cider. Yet, the records seem to suggest that whiskey was really special even among that group and that there was a demand for Niagara's whiskey. 

[00:11:08] SN: And that's what was so interesting learning about this history for me. As a historian of Niagara's history, that there's thread of whiskey can be taken as early as this early settler Loyalist history. But, Ajay, we do know that whiskey wasn't invented here in Niagara. It does have a long history. That goes way back. And even across continents. In fact, we have in front of us our very first whiskey tasting of the episode, and this relates to the earliest written record of Scotch whiskey production. Isn't that right? 

[00:11:38] AB: Absolutely. After learning about the history of whiskey distillation in Niagara, thanks to Sara and the team at the homestead, I felt it was natural to talk about the earliest written record in Scotch whiskey history. Now the earliest written record was in 1494. It was in the Exchequer rules. It's actually a taxation rule. It sort of shows exactly who's paying taxes. And the exact quote from 1494 is this, "Eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae." 

[00:12:13] AH: What would that equate to? A bottle size? A bigger, smaller? 

[00:12:17] AB: Yeah. It was actually boll. It's a dry measure. Okay? And it would actually equate to about 200 bottles. Based on what the Scotch Whiskey Association has produced and published, in 1494, that would have equated to about 1,500 to 1,800 bottles in our current time. That really tells you. That's the first written record. There's no way that that was the first distillation of whiskey, or spirit, or aqua vitae at that time. 

And we know that there are records in Ireland, for example, in terms of the production of whiskey. We also know that there was distillation that came in from the Middle East that was used in things like chemistry, in the production of makeup. And, also, if we go even further east, distillation was definitely there in terms of whiskey production. The earliest record though for Scotch whiskey is from 1494. 

That's why I decided it'd be interesting to try this first whiskey of ours. Okay? It's on our left. All right. And we can nose it as – we can bring that to our nose. I'll tell you a little bit about it. It's a Lindores Single Malt Scotch Whiskey. Now, Lindores is a relatively new distillery. They first had distillations in 2017. 2020 was their very first Scotch whiskey. After 3 years, you're able to call it Scotch whiskey. And in 2021, they released their first commemorative edition. It was a limited-release, commemorative edition. That's exactly what we're going to be nosing and tasting today. 

For those who want to know, Lindores actually means church by the water. It's beautiful in itself, right? That story in itself. And Lindores, again, represents the area in which they believe this record where Friar John Cor actually did produce whiskey. All right? Fun fact for this one is, in 2018, on the site where the current distillery is for Lindores, they did find a distillation vat in the ruins of the property. And that was evidence for them that whiskey production did take place. It doesn't specifically say that Friar John Cor did the distillation there. But I'm telling you, the marketing team must have been loving that. They're just producing their whiskey. They're trying to tie it to the heritage and to that actual 1494 date, and here they are finding a piece of history. 

If you guys in the Niagara region, if the homestead ever finds any distillation equipment from the last hundred years or so, just give me a call. Because I would love to do a little bit of tasting around that and connect the history. 

[00:14:51] AH: Well, it is possible, because we know they did do some distilling on site here for the tavern. I love that story, how you're relating. It's a newer distillery but with a very old history in and around it. And let's see if we can taste that. 

[00:15:04] AB: Yeah. Let's get our noses right in there. It's 46% alcohol by volume. The nose is really soft, mellow. Really easy introduction into our tasting. Right? Vanilla. Some caramel notes. You might be picking up some pear and perhaps even some apple. For me, the orchard fruits – 

[00:15:25] AH: I was going to say, almost a little citrusy. But when you mentioned that – 

[00:15:28] AB: Yeah. Absolutely. It kind of reminds me of fall harvest. 

[00:15:31] AH: For me, it's almost a little peppery too. Does that make sense to you? 

[00:15:34] AB: Absolutely. That pepperiness definitely comes from the fact that we're 46% alcohol by volume. That's a prickliness, a pepperiness that comes from there. And if we look at the finish, I'm thinking it's usually defined finish by its length of time. Is it short, medium, or long? 

For me, I still feel like it's a medium finish. It's only been in operation since 2017. And here, a really balanced, warm, inviting single-malt Scotch whiskey. Right? Again, tracing it back to the first written record of Scotch whiskey, which really ties really well with all the written records that the homestead has put together around distillation in the Niagara region. 

[00:16:14] SN: All right. We're one tasting in. And I feel like maybe it's because I'm technically drinking on the job and with my boss. But I can't help but feel a little rebellious-tasting whiskey in this setting. Again, this kind of makes sense, right? Our cultural attitudes around whiskey today are influenced by things like the temperance movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Drinking whiskey or other spirits and liquors has a different connotation than drinking beer or wine. I think this is a remnant of the temperance narrative around the societal ills of alcohol and spirits. When doing research for the events that we've done with Ajay, I learned that the growth of urban centres in Niagara and elsewhere meant that problems that accompanied industrialization were more likely to be on display and society had to come to terms with poverty, unsanitary living conditions, gambling, and other illicit activities. Often, the blame here was put on the consumption of alcohol. 

Advocacy groups called for the ban of alcohol in order to uphold moral order, and in Niagara as well as elsewhere, these groups were often led by women. This was a time when women didn't have the right to vote and social activism movements like temperance were one of the few ways that women could have a voice in the public sphere. 

Looking into this, the first temperance group in the area was the Thoral Temperance Society. They held its first meeting on December 25th, 1829, which was around the building of the first Welland Canal, which I think is an interesting connection with the labourers and the new immigrants that were in the area for this. But the Niagara Temperance Society and the Women's Christian Temperance Unit in St. Catherine's also gained a large following and support as well. 

[00:18:11] AH: What's really fascinating to me is when you look at a historic movement like that, the temperance movement and look at the societal roots that it had, you see that it's even a little more complicated than you thought. That becomes even more impactful when you can connect it to individual people. 

For example, a couple of years ago, we received a donation of Brown family artifacts and research from Eric Brown in Ottawa. His branch of the family established one of the very early Niagara Vineyards called the Hill Rust Wine Company, which is a bit of an unfortunate name. But nevertheless, despite the nature of the family business, the artifacts he donated included a Women's Christian Temperance Movement medal that belonged to one of the ladies of the family. Clearly, these things were not necessarily absolutes. 

Another more immediate example was found at my own parents' wedding in 1966. My mother, Barbara Brown, born in a farmhouse on Thorold and growing up in a family that didn't drink at all, married my father from a Ukrainian family, and well, you probably know some Ukrainians, they were not dry. But anyway, after some serious negotiations, their wedding was the first non-dry wedding that anyone in that branch of the Brown family could remember. At the reception, my great-grandmother created a bit of a stir by accepting an offer of champagne. As a hush fell over the room, she raised a glass to her lips for the first time in her almost 80 years, took a sip and said, "Not bad." 

[00:19:38] SN: I really love that story. And I think it's interesting, because most of the older generation at that time would have been alive when Canada's temperance movement reached its peak of influence. This was around the time of the outbreak of the First World War. Temperance societies quickly leveraged the war, campaigning for prohibition as an act of patriotism to redirect time and money towards the war effort. 

In 1915 and 1916, every province, except for Quebec, banned the sale of alcohol. In Ontario, taverns, bars, and any other liquor outlet was shuttered. This was except for government-run dispensaries. But, of course, the ban didn't restrict production or consumption. It just meant that alcohol couldn't be sold in Ontario. Distillers could still sell their product to Quebec, and even the United States, which had its own prohibition laws as well, but this led to the creation of a huge bootlegging industry, especially in border areas like Niagara. 

After the war, public opinion began to change in part because of the government's inability to control the illegal activity that grew out of prohibition. Ontario's Temperance Act was overturned in 1927 and replaced with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario or the LCBO, which, of course, still exists today. 

[00:21:05] AH: And which some might say is our last vestige of the temperance movement in a way. And this reminds me of something that you talked about, Ajay, at one of our events, that temperance and prohibition may have actually led to an improvement in the production of whiskey. 

[00:21:20] AB: No. Absolutely. What I heard about the temperance movement, and the influence of the temperance movement, and its connection to the homestead, I found it really interesting and it made me think about the Immature Spirits Act which happened in 1915 in the UK. There was a movement. The temperance movement in the UK was saying we have some public health issues. We're concerned about overconsumption. 

The government looked at this and this burgeoning movement. And, again, women having a voice and really using, exercising that voice to make change. And so – but there was this flip side for the government. Say, "Well, from a public health perspective, we probably should have to curtail it. But from a taxation perspective, we could really use those revenues." Right? 

In 1915, they came up with the Immature Spirits Act which forced producers to age their whiskey for at least 2 years, and then later on it became 3 years, before they could sell their whiskey and call it whiskey. What that ended up doing was is all the smaller distilleries would shut down that didn't have the financial pockets or the wherewithal to hold inventory for 3 years. But those who could hold it for 3 years would then bottle it up and sell it. They found one really interesting thing. The whiskey tasted better. It tasted better than just coming off distilled. The wood had an influence on that whiskey, on that new mate. It added not only colour, it added flavour like the vanillas and so on, and it made for a better product. Instead of the sales of whiskey going down which was the intent likely of the temperance movement and likely of the act itself in 1950, it actually went up. 

Now the UK was not the first jurisdiction in the world to actually have a maturations requirement. It was actually Canada was the first major jurisdiction in the world. It was in 1887 that it was federally legislated. It was, I believe, one year in 1889 and then later on it was for 2 years. Then later to 3 years. But, again, it was the same movement. The idea was let's curtail overconsumption. But it ended up having the opposite effect in the sense that the whiskey tasted better. 

Now our second whiskey is a local whiskey. It comes from Niagara College from their actual artisanal distilling program which started in 2008. The first class graduated in 2019. The reason why I picked it, one, we were talking about the temperance movement. But, two, they have to consider aging, maturing their whiskey as well, and this is their first rye whiskey that was produced by that graduating class in 2019. That's the second dram that we have. All right? 

I love the name and the branding around it. It's called School Spirits. Okay, you can't beat School Spirits like this. Right? This is Spirits 101. A spirit lesson in a bottle. This is their rye whiskey at 40% alcohol by volume. Let's just bring it up to our nose. Now I spoke with their head distiller or the schoolmaster, if you will, David Dixon. Lovely chat. And he talked a lot about this whiskey. And he told me it was made from various distillations of corn, barley, and rye. That really spoke to me because those are things that would have been locally available or grown locally. I thought that was a nice connection. This was a pot distilled. Well, actually, there's various types of distillations, but it was like a pot still with sort of a column still and some classic pot still whiskey. We can nose that right now. 

This was the first release. All right? and I know more is to come from the next graduating students. The students actually came up with notes for this. Okay? And I'm just going to share them with you. On the nose, it was mixed grain, very rye dominant, and a bit oaky on the nose. 

[00:25:01] SN: I get that oakyness. I also find it's not as strong as the Lindores in terms of what I smell. Does that mean something? Do you get that too? 

[00:25:12] AB: You're absolutely right. Sara, you're so good at this. I mean, it's bottled at 40% alcohol by volume. Our previous whiskey from Lindores was at 46% alcohol by volume. I know it's only 6%, but that makes the difference. There's a sweetness that comes very clear. Almost a malty sweetness. It's delicate. But what we really are getting is the influence of the wood. When we're talking about maturation – I know we talked about the temperance movement and that really created the maturation, the need for maturation. But what we're tasting is wood. 

They used a cask that was only 57 litres in size. A very small cask. It had bourbon in it previously. Only used once for bourbon. All right? And because it's a small cask, you get a lot of high contact. The surface ratio. High contact of the spirit to the wood. And then has more of an influence. And giving us not only that lovely colour but also that beautiful malty sweetness and definitely that delicate character that we're tasting. 

[00:26:08] AH: It is interesting what you're saying. Because even though it is a little more subtle, it still has a lot of character, which I'm attributing now to that surface contact that you're talking about. But being more subtle, I get more of the vanilla notes that you were talking about with the first one. And, also, in terms of the spicy side of it, it's a little less peppery a little more varied. And I'm starting to get a little bit of that Christmas cake sensibility that you talked about, and I see why, because sort of the range of spices is similar to the spice blend you might find in a fruitcake. 

[00:26:37] AB: When a whiskey maker, and in this case, a class makes the whiskey, it's nice to see that the maturation doesn't take over on all the flavours. And what they put into it, how they distilled it is still part of the final product. And I think that's important to know. Because, you know what? A lot of rye whiskies today, you don't actually taste the rye, right? It's not what it's made of. It's how it's made that's important. And I think that's a good reflection of the artisanal distilling program here at Niagara College. 

[00:27:03] SN: And it was interesting also because now that we've had our trip to Scotland and now we have our trip to Niagara, we can come up with some of those differences as well. And what's similar? What's different? How they're made? I think that's really, really fascinating. I'm really getting into this tasting culture. 

Now we do have one more story to pair with our whiskey tastings for today. We'll go back. We'll step back in time. We can stay in Niagara. But back into the early 1800s in upper Canada, Niagara, we know that there were limited spaces where it was socially accepted to consume alcohol. You could have a drink in the privacy of your own home or in the public setting of a tavern, which was almost always within a family home at this time. 

The terms tavern, public house, and even hotel, they were all used interchangeably in the early 1800s. But whatever the name, they all offered rooms in a family home reserved for travellers and guests. This includes the John Brownhouse where we're recording this episode right now. 

[00:28:11] AH: That's right, Sara. And I was thinking about that while you were talking, we're sitting here in the living room of what used to be a tavern back over 200 years ago. A little bit of history for people listening. By 1809, the house was inhabited by the second generation of the Brown family, specifically Adam Brown and his wife, Elizabeth, who opened their home to travellers along Pelham Road. And sometimes in those days, it was as simple as placing a sign above your door letting people know they were licensed to sell wine or other spiritous liquors. 

Of course, we can't really know what led to their choice to take this route. But we do know that it was the location that afforded them the opportunity. Because by the end of the 1790s, part of Pelham road that runs in front of the house here, which followed the path of the pre-settlement Mohawk Trail had become a major transportation route and stagecoach line between Niagara and Dundas. By then, there was typically a tavern every 10 to 12 kilometres along country roads like Pelham Road was. But, also, they could be found on prominent street corners or just among houses and shops on smaller streets in town. 

[00:29:13] SN: Some people have asked us if the Browns opened a tavern because it was easier than farming. But operating the tavern was hard work. For example, taverns never really closed. Adam and Elizabeth would have been expected to provide around-the-clock, 7-days-a-week service to their guests. On top of taking care of their growing family, Adam and Elizabeth would have had to make sure that they had enough food and liquor for guests that would have been arriving at any time. This was almost certainly on top of the responsibilities of farming rather than instead of farming. 

Brown's Tavern was a busy social space frequented by neighbours too. Taverns weren't just for travellers. They were public spaces to conduct business, talk about the news of the day, share gossip and stories, listen to music, or have community meetings, and they were open to everyone. Gender, class, and race did not matter here. Women could share space with men. Farmers could share a conversation with prominent businessmen. And inside the tavern, social barriers were forgotten. I really love this concept of these public spaces where people could gather, no matter their background, who they were, or where they came from. 

[00:30:36] AB: Sara, that is just beautifully articulated. And it really feels like what the whiskey community is like today. I travel coast to coast and I meet all sorts of folks. And quite frankly, I don't know if I would ever meet them if we didn't have this sort of place to gather. And perhaps we're gathering around this spirit. But it really resonates with me. Social barriers are forgotten. Gender, class, race did not matter. Women could share the space with – I mean, it really feels the way the whiskey community is today and to see that it was like that at the tavern. 

Even in this room that we're in right now, you can hear the excitement in my voice. I really think it's beautiful. This is what whiskey is. This is what the distilled spirit is like. And this is what the community is like. It is a really open and inclusive sort of space. And you ask me how do we taste a whiskey properly. There's no rules, right? We have a structure. Yes. But really, it's just getting together and enjoying something, and learning about it, and sharing that. 

[00:31:37] AH: It definitely resonates with me as well when you talk about it that way, Ajay. Because especially today, I think we'd all agree, is having more of those public spaces where we can gather and people from different backgrounds can gather and talk and relate to and understand each other. It was certainly something we could use a lot more of today than we have. It's a great example. When you look at a tavern and the way it operated as a community space back in the day. Great model for today. But we're leaving the most important question unanswered here, which is, Ajay, what kind of whiskey would you have expected to find at the Brown Tavern circa 1809? 

[00:32:09] AB: Well, that is a great question. And I think what I have here for us is our third whiskey. And the third whiskey we have and our final whiskey is actually a raw cask whiskey from Blackadder. Now what is a raw cask whiskey? Now, if you're to look at the bottle and if you were to look at your glass, you might see some sediment. This particular raw cask whiskey, and I'll tell you more about it, came directly from the cask. And it was meant to look and feel like the whiskey you would get from a tavern, a public house that was taken straight out of the cask. 

You would have all of that sediment in there. In this particular bottling, they just didn't run it through a fine filter. They did a coarse filter, but they didn't run it through a fine filter. So you would get some of the remnants from the cask in there. This is exactly how it would have been served or likely would have been served at a tavern or here. You'd have the cast come in, and you'd order up your whiskey, and it would be poured out of the cask and you would have these little black diamonds, if you will, that would settle, then you would have a taste. 

Now, about this particular whiskey, all right? It is a Scotch whiskey from an undisclosed distillery. We just happen to have one of 275 bottles that were ever produced. It is a little bit high on the alcohol. All right? We had a 46, a 40%. This is 60.4% ABV. We're cask strength again. It would have been straight from the cask. Not diluted with water or anything like that. It is a single-cask whiskey. No colour has been added. And it has been non-chill filtered. All that basically means is that the fats have not been scraped off the top. It is basically as it should have been when it came out of the cask, right? Does that make sense? Let's have a nose on that? And what do you think? 

[00:33:58] AH: Well, definitely with the sediment. But, also, the colour. But then on the nose, it definitely has a presence. It says hello pretty aggressively. 

[00:34:06] AB: Yes. It's very welcoming. It says hello. It's really like light on the citrus. Even though it's at 60.4% alcohol by volume, let's have a taste, hey? Let's have a taste and see what we think. 

[00:34:18] SN: Wow. 

[00:34:19] AB: Exactly.

[00:34:21] SN: That's a lot different, because like it smells so light. It's very inviting. And then it's quite powerful to taste that. 

[00:34:29] AB: It is. 

[00:34:30] SN: Right. And like right in the front. 

[00:34:31] AB: Absolutely. Yeah. Right. It's right in the front. You're probably, for lack of a better word, salivating a little bit. Trying to dilute that whiskey, right? Because it's at 60.4%. 

[00:34:40] AH: The interesting thing about it though, it definitely is assertive, but not at the sacrifice of flavour and complexity. I'm sure everyone's had some high alcohol-by-volume drink at some point where you lose all the flavour, it's all lost to the alcohol. Not so in this case. 

[00:34:56] AB: Absolutely. And that is – when we talk good whiskey making and when we talk about good maturation process and picking a good cask, Blackadder is an independent bottler. They're not a distillery. But they buy casks from distilleries. And in this case, this distiller is undisclosed, okay? They're not sharing the name of that distillery. 

But what they've done is they picked the cask that they feel would suit the palette of their clients, but also be really interesting. And you're right. High ABV. Full of flavour. It almost doesn't make sense. We would expect it to just be like alcohol. High peppery, burning. I'm not feeling that. How are we feeling? Everybody looks happy in this room. We can only imagine having a whiskey like this and sharing it in a social setting like at the tavern here at the Homestead, at the John Brown home. You can imagine, it would just be such an inviting space. Relaxed, end of day. The pains, the worries are gone, and we can actually just have a dram together and chat about the things that are going on in our lives that are important. No social barriers. I think it's just absolutely beautiful. 

And this is exactly why I'm part of this whiskey community. I love it. And I love sharing it. Because this is what it does. We've tasted three different whiskies. Okay? Essentially, made the same way. Same ingredients. Right? We've got barley, water, yeast. Yet, somehow, they all come out a little bit different. Right? But they have their own stories. And I think that's just a beautiful thing. 

[00:36:27] AH: And made for conversation. Made to be sipped in a public house and along with a great conversation and some community connection. And thank you so much, Ajay, from Sara and I both, for sharing these three fantastic selections with us today. 

[00:36:40] AB: No. It's been a pleasure, again, to pair history of the region in the homestead with some whiskies. One of the most interesting projects I've been involved with. Thank you for inviting me. It’s been a real pleasure to share the spirits and some history with you. 

[00:36:54] AH: Mm-hmm. Well, we'll definitely have to do it again. Thank you also, Sara, for your research. We're a little bit wiser for the stories that you've put together for us, and better yet, I feel like we've been given a glimpse into the day in the public lives of regular Niagara residents of 200 years ago. These little pieces of what we hear at the Homestead, I like to call every man's history, help us understand the stories of our community of how we got from there to here and who we are. It also informs our choices when we talk about the next stage of the Brown Homestead as a social gathering space for the Niagara community. For us to be able to have this conversation here today and remember the two centuries of conversations that took place in this room, in the adjacent room, in that time period, it makes it extra special. 

For everyone listening, we invite you to come and see that for yourself. If you'd like to come taste some whiskey at the old Brown Tavern, check our website or follow us on social media for information about coming events. And if whiskey's not your thing, there's always something going on. We'd love to see you anytime. For the real enthusiasts, Ajay, maybe you can tell us a little more about the Whiskey Ambassador course and how people can sign up and connect with you in different ways? 

[00:38:02] AB: Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. The Whiskey Ambassador course. I deliver the course here in Canada, the next course. We're holding courses throughout the year. We're in over 20 countries. But I run the course here in Canada. If you go to thewhiskeyambassador.com, you'll find our most recent postings, our upcoming dates. We're usually seasonal in terms of we'll do one in winter. We do one in spring, fall.

Toronto, we're just at Spring Mill Distillery doing a course there. The advanced course that I teach with a colleague of mine is three days in Scotland. If you're up for a little travel and having a great time learning about the theory of production, I call them field trips. And then, of course, our social aspects. Field trips are all the distillery visits, and malting process, and so on. And then a bit of social at night. Then that's at the end of April every year. 

And, of course, throughout the year, I'm running auctions for Iron Gate Auctions. We have our Spirits auctions happening in February, in April. Also, in June and in November. Have a busy 2024. At any time if you want to connect around the spirit, we'll leave a contact information on how to get a hold of me. And I'd be happy to chat with anybody who wants to talk about whiskey. 

[00:39:12] AH: We'll put all that information on the episode page on our website. You can go and see it there and link directly to Ajay and learn more. All right. Thank you so much to both of you. And look forward to our next conversation. 

[00:39:23] AB: Let's raise a glass. 

[OUTRO] 

[00:39:26] ANNOUNCER: Thanks for listening. Subscribe today so you won't miss our next episode. To learn more or to share your thoughts and show ideas, visit us at thebrownhomestead.ca, on social media, or if you still like to do things the old-fashioned way, you can even email us at opendoor@thebrownhomestead.ca. 

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