Review 224. Broadening the horizon, part 1: Macaloney’s Killeigh, a cheeky Canadian?

As I keep on rummaging through my  sample box(es), it struck me how quite a few of them are actually non-scotch whisky. And seeing how in the past I tended to do a series on ‘foreign stuff’ at least once per year (the most recent ones were on ‘American legends’ back in August and September, and ‘around the world in 80 drams or less’ about a year ago), I figured why not do it here and now as well. As much as I love Scotch single malt whisky, I also firmly believe that variation is the spice of life and that it’s always a good idea to see what else is out there, either to keep the Scots on their toes, or to be assured of the fact that, although there are plenty who might consider themselves the heir apparent to the Scottish throne, nothing beats the real thing in the end. Either way, not being fully and completely focussed on Scotch single malt whisky all of the time has never proven to be a bad thing.

So for the coming weeks, I’ll semi-randomly be picking samples from all over the world: Japan, France, the UK, Sweden and Canada. Until further notice still very much an independent country and NOT the 51st state of the US of A, I’ll always have a soft spot for Canada as we (mrs. Malty and myself) spent our honeymoon there. Despite us traveling  for 3 weeks through Ontario and Quebec, we only got to see a tiny bit of the country focussing on Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa and Niagara and all the beautiful countryside in between (Canada’s a pretty big place, in case you hadn’t noticed) and, little did I know back then, from a whisky enthusiasts point of view, these 2 provinces might not be the place to be when visiting Canada. But then again, we weren’t there to try or discover whisky and if anything it gives me a damn good reason to revisit this astonishing country some day in the future.

Canada, despite its long tradition with distilling and whisky (becoming more or less synonymous with ‘rye’ as a category, a somewhat flawed analogy but one rooted in history) is, or at least was, one of those countries that doesn’t really get enthusiasts jumping out of their seats with excitement or anticipation. Despite significant parts of the country baring quite some similarities with the Scottish climate, Canadian whisky was (and perhaps still is) often greeted with a bit of a ‘meh’ response. And that’s mainly their own fault! Not because they’re not making good whisky, far from it, but because they tended to keep all the good stuff for themselves, which essentially means that what the rest of the world came to associate with Canadian whisky, would be stuff like Crown Royal or Canadian Club. There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Canadian whisky, and I’ve been making a note to myself to acquaintance myself more with them. Davin de Kergommeaux is probably a good place to start.

However, things are changing here too. Much like everywhere else, Canadian whisky has seen a Renaissance in recent years, and nowadays quite a few of these new wave of Canadian distilleries can be found on shelves near you. It’ll likely still be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack in some markets, but here in Western Europe, we can at least find some.

Macaloney’s Killeigh. Signature Selection Canadian Pot Still Whisky. Matured in Kentucky bourbon barrels, Moscatel casks and virgin oak. 46% ABV, NC, UCF. Batch 3, 2024 release. App.€70 – €80 (£65-£70)

Macaloney’s (full name Macaloney’s Island Distillery & Twa Dogs Brewery) is named after the founder Graeme Macaloney, who, as you might have guessed by the name, is indeed a Scots expat who now lives in Canada. In Victoria, British Columbia to be precise. Bringing with him a passion for whisky and beer he picked up in Scotland, he found the ideal location and circumstances to start brewing in distilling in Canada’s most western province on Vancouver Island. Bringing in the necessary help, knowledge and skill with former Diageo master distiller Mike Nicolson and whisky legend dr. Jim Swan, he managed to crowd fund and loan the needed funds to get the Macaloney’s Caledonian distillery  going back in 2016… only to run straight into some legal problems with the SWA, who weren’t all too pleased with the use of the name ‘Caledonian’. This ended up with a name change, dropping the word  ‘Caledonian’ and replacing it with ‘Island’. If I were a downright cynic I would suggest that this legal dispute and controversy only helped them getting some free publicity, but then again I also never had to pay their lawyers, so ‘free’ might be very, very relative as well. In any case, they have been on my radar for a while now, also after a very positive review by Klaas from  the excellent blog site Words of Whisky, but have yet to pull the trigger on a bottle. Cue the wonderful Belgian barflies! Tom has kindly offered mee a sample, so keen to dig in to this one.

Nose

A bit dirty-fruity, as in overripe forest and orchard fruit with a hint of antiseptic sweetness to it. Touches of wood and wood varnish. Give it time to breath and open up and that overripe fruit note fades out, making room for even more distinct notes of wood and polish and vanilla oil.

Palate

Dark, deep notes of treacle and toffee. Viscous  - oily – polish like texture and some wood notes. That’s it, really.

Finish

Quite long, lingering on those wood and treacle notes.

Final thoughts

Well this isn’t what I was expecting, to be honest. I quite enjoyed it for what it is, but somehow the nose was writing out cheques the palate couldn’t always deliver. Also, if you’re expecting those signature pot still notes, you might end up a bit disappointed, as it’s nowhere near the likes of, say, Power’s or Yellow Spot. Don’t get me wrong, this is perfectly decent, yet perhaps also somewhat straightforward. Due to their location I might have expected some coastal notes too, but I’m finding little of that and overall the end result is that of quite young whisky relying a lot on the casks to do the heavy lifting. Nothing wrong with that, obviously, but I prefer my whisky when it shows  a bit of the spirit character and I feel as if there might just not be enough of that shining through in this one. Decent stuff, nothing more, nothing less.