Is all Canadian whisky rye? A guide to the grains

No. Canadian whisky can be made from rye, wheat, corn, barley or a combination of grains. Canada's standard for “Canadian Whisky,” “Canadian Rye Whisky” and “Rye Whisky” does not require a minimum percentage of rye. Check the producer's grain declaration to find out what is in a particular bottle.

Highwood provides three concrete examples: a 100% wheat whisky at five years, wheat and corn at fifteen, and 100% corn at twenty-five. All are Canadian whisky.

Wheat, corn and rye: compare the grain declarations

Scroll across the table to compare every detail.

Grain percentages describe the grain used to make the spirit. They are separate from the alcohol percentage printed on the bottle.

Why “Canadian rye whisky” does not tell you the recipe

Canada's current compositional standard groups Canadian Whisky, Canadian Rye Whisky and Rye Whisky under the same section, 2.1.3. It specifies a cereal-grain basis, Canadian mashing, distillation and ageing, at least three years in small wood and a minimum bottled strength of 40% alcohol by volume. It does not prescribe a minimum percentage of rye grain.

“Canadian rye whisky” is a category name; “100% rye” is a grain declaration. If rye grain is the reason you want a bottle, look for the second piece of information.

Four grains you will encounter

Rye

Alberta Distillers identifies Alberta Premium as a 100% rye whisky made with unmalted Canadian prairie rye. That is an explicit grain statement. Highwood's 5, 15 and 25 range focuses on wheat and corn; it does not include a 100% rye expression.

Wheat

Highwood 5 is our 100% wheat whisky. It is aged for five years, bottled at 40% alc./vol. and described with soft cereal, vanilla, gentle oak and toasted wheat notes.

Choose it if you want to explore a Canadian wheat whisky with those flavours. The tasting notes describe Highwood 5 specifically, rather than every whisky made from wheat.

Corn

Highwood 25 is made from 100% corn, aged for twenty-five years and bottled at 45% alc./vol. Its stated profile includes layered oak, warm spice and dark fruit, followed by a long finish.

Canadian corn whisky can be an aged whisky. Highwood 25 combines a single grain with twenty-five years of maturation and an oak-led profile. For someone seeking older Canadian corn whisky, those are the details to compare with another bottle.

Does corn whisky taste sweet?

Corn alone does not guarantee a particular sweetness. Highwood 25's notes emphasise oak, spice and dark fruit, while Highwood 15, made from wheat and corn, has honey, orchard fruit and baking spice. Read the finished bottle's tasting notes rather than choosing on a grain stereotype.

Barley

Glenora Distillery in Cape Breton makes whisky from malted barley, using copper pot stills and oak maturation. Canadian whisky therefore extends beyond the wheat, corn and rye examples above.

What about a whisky made from more than one grain?

Highwood 15 is made from wheat and corn, aged fifteen years and bottled at 43% alc./vol. Its tasting notes are honey, orchard fruit, toasted oak and baking spice.

Wheat and corn does not mean a 50/50 split. The published grain information does not specify proportions or the production sequence. Its fifteen-year age statement belongs to this whisky, not an average of the ages elsewhere in our range. Our age guide explains how to read the number.

Grain information is useful, but it is not a complete flavour prediction

Highwood 5 and 25 differ in grain, age and strength. Their flavour differences cannot be attributed to grain alone. Read all four details together: grain, age, bottled strength and tasting notes.

Tasting notes are flavour descriptions, not an ingredient list. “Honey and orchard fruit” describes Highwood 15's character; it does not say that honey or fruit was added.

How to choose your next Canadian whisky

Choose Highwood 15 for honey, orchard fruit and baking spice, Highwood 25 for older corn whisky with oak and dark fruit, or Highwood 5 to explore wheat, cereal and vanilla.

For a present, use our gift guide. To explore a bottle you already own, start with our guide to neat whisky, water and ice.