Macaloney’s Island Distillery takes top honours at 15th annual Canadian Whisky Awards
A peated whisky from Vancouver Island — Macaloney’s Island Distillery Peat Project Moscatel Barrique single malt — has just been named the Canadian Whisky of the Year and upended all our perceptions of what Canadian whisky can be.
The Macaloney’s became the first peated whisky, the first from the Island and among a very few from Canada’s smaller distillers ever to win the top prize at the Canadian Whisky Awards, which were announced January 16 in Victoria. It led a pack of nearly 200 entries, which were scored by a panel of 14 judges for the 15th annual awards. Made with 100 per cent local malted barley and Washington state peat smoked at the distillery, the whisky was then matured in a European Moscatel wine barrique.
“This remarkably well-balanced whisky, fully matured while brightly youthful, shows a tightly woven interplay of sweet malt, discrete fruitiness, brisk peppers and, of course, peat smoke,” says awards founder Davin de Kergommeaux, who also is chair of the judging panel and author of Canadian Whisky: The Essential Portable Expert.
Prior to the awards gala, which kicked off the annual Victoria Whisky Festival, de Kergommeaux led a tasting of some of the winning whiskies, including the Macaloney’s. It provided an intriguing overview of the range of whiskies this country is producing these days — and how far they’ve come since the days of Canada’s “abysmal” reputation for producing sweet, single-note blends dismissed as “brown vodka.”
The whiskies at the tasting ranged from the citrus and botanical flavours of the Sons of Vancouver Realms of Rye to the sweet cherry notes of Wild Life Distillery’s wheat whisky to the distinctive coffee aromas of the Canadian Club 18 Year Old and, of course, the smoke and cereal sweetness of the Macaloney’s.
Despite that powerful whiff of smoke, though, the Macloney’s still displayed what de Kergommeaux describes as the three touchstones of Canadian whisky: It should start with toffee-caramel notes, go through a “peppery surge” in the middle and finish with a slight bitterness similar to grapefruit pith.
But as our tasting — and the huge range of award winners — demonstrated, three touchstones are just the starting point for hundreds of other unique characteristics that make Canadian whisky such an exciting and innovative category. After all, he points out, “Canadian distillers — every one of them is quirky and they have their own ideas and opinions.”
Here are just a few of the Canadian Whisky Awards winners:
- Blended Whisky of the Year: Signal Hill Founders Select Overproof Whisky
- Corn Whisky of the Year: Bearface Triple Oak Canadian Whisky
- Best Barrel Finished Whisky and Limited Expression: Bridgeland Distillery Glenbow, Canadian Single Malt Whisky, Port Finish
- Rye Whisky of the Year: Sons of Vancouver Distillery Realms of Rye – Release No. 01 “Citrus & Botanicals”
- Best Whisky, International Market: Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel
- Best Whisky Aged Nine to 15 Years: Alberta Distillers Rare Batch Issue No.1
- Best Cask Strength Whisky: Two Brewers Release 45
- Brand Ambassador of the Year: Chris Thompson, Forty Creek
- Best Whisky Broadcast, Podcast or Video Series: Mark Gillespie, WhiskyCast
For more information and the full results of the 2025 Canadian Whisky Awards, visit canadianwhiskyawards.com
—by Joanne Sasvari
