In 1832, an Englishman named Henry Corby emigrated to Belleville, Ontario. After arriving in Canada, he opened a bakery and began supplying the local militia with bread and other grains.
After a few years, Corby shipped his surplus grain to Kingston, where it was sold to other bakeries and restaurants. After purchasing a grist mill in 1855, Corby began distilling his surplus grain into whisky and opened the doors of the Corby Distillery in 1859. The Corby Distillery first introduced Pike Creek Whisky in Canada at Christmas 2012. At the time, the distillery had no intention of launching the whisky in the United States, but after much buzz and incredible reviews, the whisky was imported to the United States in 2013.
Pike Creek Whisky is a traditional Canadian whisky that is twice distilled in small copper pot stills. After distillation, the whisky is aged in first-rate bourbon barrels, which rest for an average of seven to eight years in a warehouse in Pike Creek. In the cold Canadian winters, temperatures drop, while in the hot summers, they soar - Windsor has one of the largest annual temperature fluctuations of any whisky region in the world.
As a result of the dramatic temperature fluctuations, the wooden barrels are forced to contract and expand, maximizing the interaction with the whisky, giving the whisky character, complexity, and concentrated flavors. After maturing in used bourbon barrels, the whisky is finished in barrels previously used to age port wine. The port wine barrels add notes of sweet, dried fruits to the whisky and provide an additional layer of complexity.
Pike Creek Whisky is amber-colored and has a nose of dried fruits (especially cherries and strawberries), along with a subtle underlying peppery spice.
