Black Velvet Reserve 8 Year Old Canadian Whisky

Black Velvet is a hugely popular Canadian whisky, both in the home market and abroad. However, massive sales in the U.S. have led the marketing branch of Schenley, with which the Black Velvet brand was consolidated in 1997, to give special attention to the American market. The hugely popular three-year-old Black Velvet mixing whisky had already been tweaked to suit American palates before Black Velvet joined the Schenley family, but that was not enough for some whisky lovers. Its popularity led to demand for an up-market version in the U.S. as well, and as a result we have the eight-year-old Black Velvet Reserve.

Black Velvet Reserve 8 Year Old Canadian Whisky Tasting Notes

Nose: Rich and expressive, with sweet rye spices, prunes, peaches, sweet citrus and kiwi. Well-integrated oaky notes – stacks of freshly cut lumber – settle in to stay. Heavy sweet notes include butterscotch, caramel, toffee, and burnt sugar. It has the dusty smell of hard rye, yet somehow it also smells oily, with just a hint of spirit. Neither overly complex nor particularly subtle.

Palate: Caramel and pepper dominate as sweetness and heat joust on the tongue with burnt sugar, caramel, toffee, and lots of white pepper each taking their turn. The pepper generates a lot of heat, but seems to stand apart from the rest. Faint whispers of fresh-cut wood slowly turn to shouts. Cutting zesty grapefruit peel that appears early on, balances an otherwise creamy mouthfeel. Dark fruits contribute a sweet fruitiness. The wood, too, is held in balance by a subdued sweetness with hot pepper on top so it never becomes astringent or pulling. A bit softer than the Deluxe, and both sweeter and hotter. Although quite rich and flavourful, the palate remains a bit simple. Loads of caramel, vanilla like crazy, blackstrap molasses, rye spices, burnt sugar, sweet ripe black fruit, and zesty undertones.

Finish: Medium-short. The pepper lasts a long time eventually fading out on prune juice, ripe black fruit, and toffee to a cleansing zestiness. Lots of wood.

Distillery Information

The Black Velvet Distillery is a very modern and fully automated production area with an immense output. This automation was already installed 1991. It can be read for example that every week eight to ten rail carloads of corn arrive. Production process is extremely efficient and the company is proud to “extract every last bit of alcohol from the starch”.

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