Raging Crow - Can't Call It B**rbon
It took the avian genus, Corvus about 30 million years to reach the 120 species of crows alive today. This makes the list of spirits coming from the Raging Crow Distillery in North River, Nova Scotia impressive. Just three years since starting production, the distillery has a prolific genus of sweet 16 spirits with more on the way.
Their latest may calm a raging crow but is bound to tie the bourbon militant’s underwear in a virgin oak knot. They will huff and puff that “by law” bourbon must be made in the United States. “Make it anywhere else and you can’t call it bourbon,” they insist forgetting that American laws do not apply outside the USA. Really, it is more a matter of goodwill, and formal trade agreements with the US that keep Canadian distillers from calling their corn-based, mixed-mash whiskies bourbon.
It does seem a somewhat ungrateful law though, given how in times of need – post-prohibition in particular – American distillers looked to Canadian distilleries to provide the whisky with which American bourbon bottles were filled. Yes, there was a time when the labels on Old Crow (and many other) bourbon bottles clearly declared that the bourbon itself was made in Canada.
Given that US laws allow distillers in any of the 50 states from Alaska to Florida, and Maine to Hawaii to make bourbon, terroir is not a factor, as it is for example for Champagne, which is the protected name for sparkling wine made in France’s Champagne region. And since the name “bourbon” is not based on the name of the country (as “Scotch” is on Scotland), there is no real geographical affiliation either. No, the claim, enshrined though it may be in US law, is arbitrary.
With clean wood, sweet cherries and vanilla on the nose come creamy oak caramels tempered with hints of vanilla and barrel notes on the palate, Can’t Call it B**rbon ticks all the boxes to please fans of what we can’t call it. A sweet, almost fruity palate weaves its way through a lush, creamy texture that leaps to life when the initial mild and warming peppers rage and caw like a Corvus chorus on subsequent sips. Bottled at 43% abv.
To produce the whisky, Jill Lindquist and her team at Raging Crow fermented a mixed mash of 65.2% corn, 17.4% rye and 17.4% barley, then aged the distillate in brand new Kentucky oak barrels for 13 to 16 months. US law also specifies that if it is aged at all, bourbon must be aged in new oak. There is no specific ageing requirement, though, unless you want to call it “straight bourbon,” or “bottled in bond.”
Raging Crow is an artisanal distillery that sources local ingredients where possible, to craft into small-batch, hand-crafted spirits. These include the locally grown rye used to make Can’t Call It B**rbon. Available in 375 and 750 ml bottles, this bourbon whisky spirit can be purchased online from Raging Crow Distillery Inc. for delivery across Canada.