RYE RECIPES

    Old-Fashioned....
2 oz.  Mountain Crest rye, sugar cube, Angostura bitters, 1 tsp water..  Place sugar cube in rock glass and add a few drops of bitters.  Fill glass with ice, add the rye and stir well.  Twist lemon peel over drink and drop in.  Garnish with orange

Whiskey Sour.........
1 1/2 oz. Mountain Crest rye whisky, lemon juice.  Shake ice with whisky and lemon juice.  Strain into a cocktail glass with a twist of lemon peel.

MOUNTAIN CREST WHISKY

PURELY CANADIAN WHISKY TO ITS ROOTS

Full bodied flavor and a mild mannered finish are the hallmarks that best describe this authentic Canadian Whisky. Distilled from 100% Canadian grain and aged in seasoned oak barrels, this whisky is produced under strict Canadian government guidelines and supervision.

CSPC +578807 - 750ml
CSPC +550446 - 1 Litre
CSPC +550434 - 1.75 Litre

ALL ABOUT CANADIAN WHISKY

  • Canadian whisky (rye) continues to be the most popular distilled spirit in Canada, capturing 38.1% of domestic market production in 1999. Canadian rye whisky accounted for 26.4% of the total Canadian spirits market in 1999.
  • Canadian whisky exports increased 8.03% in 1999, to $621,935,000, the bulk of which was marketed to the U.S.A
  • Distilled spirits shipments in Canada totaled $0.8 billion in 1998.
    Canada exported $655 million worth of spirits (primarily Canadian whisky) in 1999, with 90% of the value of these exports going to the United States and the remainder going mainly to the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom. Imports of spirits were valued at $342 million in 1999.
  • Spirits have been distilled for more than 200 years in Canada. The first distilling licence in Canada was issued in 1794.
  • In Canada, the production, blending and bottling of distilled spirits is carried out by about 48 distillers licensed by the federal government.

History

     Whiskey Gap was named by American whisky traders who took advantage of this natural gap in the Milk River Ridge to smuggle liquor from Montana to Fort Whoop-Up (now doesn't the name just tell you straight out what it's all about) in Lethbridge, Alberta,  the most famous of whisky trading posts during the 1870s and 1880s. On May 23, 1873, the Canadian Parliament formed the North West Mounted Police to abolish the whisky trade. They formed with Indian Leaders concerned about the effect of "fire-water" on their people and soon had the trade quieted down.  

     During the prohibition era in the USA, Canadian whisky poured across the border and many Americans -particularly residents of states along the 49th Parallel- acquired a taste for Canadian whisky - one famous Canadian company owes much of its success to bootlegging.

     In Canada, the temperance movement began in 1915. Prohibition was declared in the United States in 1919. Alberta's prohibition lasted from 1916 to 1924. With over 3,000 miles of lake and river frontage, whisky was passed back and forth.   In 1924, two-thirds of the whisky imported to the US came across from Canada, according to the US Coast Guard. This accounted for approximately $40 million worth of liquor.

     Although the most famous, Al Capone wasn't the only supplier to the States. Seagrams was acquired by Samuel and Alan  Bronfman, in 1927. Their new company, The Distillers Corp. founded in 1928, shipped thousands of gallons of liquor into the U.S.  Another company that originated during prohibition was Schenleys.   Canadian whisky popularity, and in particular Seagrams, can be attributed to prohibition. There was bathtub gin, homemade, and "the good stuff" or "the real McCoy".  Seagram's jumped on the bandwagon to become a legitimate importer and manufacturer with the repeal of prohibition in the U.S., in 1933.