*Found North Whisky Hover Hawk First Flight. Photo credit: Found North Whisky, Jennifer Regan.*

Over the summer of 2024, I got a chance to talk with Nick Taylor, co-founder of Found North Whisky, about this new adventure into the Canadian whisky category. The biggest takeaway for me - and there were many from that conversation - was that Canadian whisky lacked a true premium tier. A limited release here or there, one or two consistent cask strength products, that’s about it. The overwhelming majority of “Canadian” is low-cost, low-proof, low-flavor (in my opinion) blends meant to be exactly what the market demands.

It was also what the market demanded during Prohibition. To this writer, it seems that although a century has passed, Canadian producers and the brands under which they release their whiskies are content with being seen as the lesser option, the cheaper filler for equally cheap cocktails and something you throw into the well. Seriously - next time you’re out at your neighborhood bar, look at the shelves and see how many Canadian whiskies are on anything but the bottom shelf or behind the bar.

I’d like to say there are exceptions, but there are so few among the large producers that it’s a waste of your reading time. If you’re here, you likely can already rattle them off.

The most interesting uses of Canadian whisky in the past…i don’t know…decade?…have been on the part of American producers like Barrell Craft Spirits, Dancing Goat in Wisconsin (Nick Maas), and Proof & Wood (Dave Schmier). Finding casks, totes, vats of 15-, 20-, even 30-plus year-old Canadian whiskies have opened many eyes to the potential in these spirits. There is immense flavor there (and for the strong-willed, immense proofs, especially in the light whisky category). Would Canadian producers allow others, American or otherwise, to take their whisky and do something more with it? To prove that Canadian whisky in and of itself could be the equal of anything we’re more familiar with from America and abroad?

For all the work the brands above have devoted to elevating Canadian whisky (and having talked to all three), a Canadian premium product produced by a brand committed only to Canadian whisky remained elusive. The mantle needed picking up. Found North grabbed it and ran.

Over their first few years, Found North has rocketed out of the gate. Blends of ryes and corn whiskies, unique finishes, blends of finishes that are further matured; in lesser hands, these components could easily be lost or overwhelm each other. It helps that Nick and the founding team were already Canadian whisky aficionados. The team was further strengthened by Chris Riesbeck’s joining, whose experience at Barrell blending these types of stocks brought another perspective.

Every release has been sought-after. Batches 001 - 010 are already out, many of them sold out for some time. Add to that Peregrine and Hell Diver, the first two releases in the High Altitude collection. Not every blend will please everyone (I wasn’t a huge fan of Batch 005, a wheated blend), but I also think there is something in the lineup that everyone can enjoy. And for what it’s worth, when I spoke to Nick and was honest about my feelings about Batch 005, he told me to wait for Batch 010, another wheated blend - that ended up showing all the complexity and depth I was missing, showing that the product and the producers can both evolve along the way.

This release - Found North Whisky Hover Hawk - still took me by surprise. I tasted it semi-blind, knowing only the proof and age statement (15 years) and nothing about which finishes or components were within (at least six whiskies, 22, 23, 24 and 27 year old corn and 15 and 18 year old rye). The rest of the details came out later and, while I did re-taste it again post-info release, I found my original notes to be nearly unchanged. This was simply a masterclass. The Moscatel and American new oak bring sweetness and body, an array of brightness and fruitiness that bounces back and forth across the palate, each bounce adding momentum. Nick, Chris, and the team did with this what I felt they did with Hell Diver: set an incredibly hard goal to create something spectacular.

I think they outdid themselves.

This is a “buy” on every rating scale I know. This might be hard to find, even with 4,500+ bottles, and $160 isn’t cheap, but I’m still calling this a must-buy for 2024/2025.

I thought I’d close this review by quoting some of Found North’s own words. Nick - by his own admission - has a penchant for wildly imaginative, over-the-top tasting notes, and they’re too much fun not to include here.

The nose is like fresh dew catching the morning sun after a midnight shower, each drop a prism refracting flavor across an open field of fragrant fruit notes, flashing a full spectrum of green apple, golden raisins, peach jam and sweet lemon pie. Secondary notes of toasted caramel dance on the wind, wafting whiffs of burnt brown sugar and maple candy. Hover Hawk spins out a cascade of fruit notes, stringing together vanilla wafer, blackberry currant and cinnamon pound cake. The nose begs you to drink the whisky.

Like the crack of canvas as a sail catches a westerlies wind, the palate corrals the unbridled flavors, setting a course. The flush of white fruit, citrus and blackberry on the nose land thick and viscous, presenting the melting fruity texture of a perfectly ripe golden kiwi and the mouth-watering residual sweetness of cantaloupe. This combination of viscosity and sweetness coats the palate, creating an underlying foundation starting in the mid-palate and lingering throughout the finish. The bloom of honey and vanilla manifests in harmony with a crackling coriander, crescendoing into a full-bodied spice cake covered in brown butter cream. The bedrock of sweetness sustains itself, while the spice ebbs, replaced by a dense chocolate and tannin that twist around the endless jammy finish, a lingering decadence.

Regular readers will know I love love love to pick apart brand tasting notes when they’re lazy, boring, our outright dumb. While Nick’s notes are loquacious even for me, boy do they paint a picture. And I couldn’t care less if it took a thousand words to paint. The product is exceptional, the notes are both florid and demonstrate great care, and at every point I see the team achieving what they sought: a premium Canadian whisky in a category all its own.

Thank you to Found North for providing this sample free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Whiskeyinmyweddingring.com is proudly sponsored by BAXUS, the global marketplace for the world’s most collectible spirits

*Photo credit: Found North Whisky, Jennifer Regan.*

Found North Whisky Hover Hawk First Flight: Specs

Classification: Blend of Canadian Whiskies

Producer: Found North Whisky

Mashbill: 90% Corn, 9% Rye, 1% Malted Barley

Proof: 123.2 (61.6% ABV)

Age: Components 15-27 Years Old (22, 23, 24 and 27 Year Old Corn and 15 and 18 Year Old Rye)

Location: Distilled and Aged in Canada, Blended and Finished in US

Found North Whisky Hover Hawk First Flight Price: $159.99

Official Website

Found North Whisky Hover Hawk First Flight: Tasting Notes

Eye: Maple syrup. Medium rims and legs, teardrops fall quickly.

Nose: Maple sugar and sherry? A light sherry or cognac fruit sweetness. Sweet with a burnt sugar edge. Sharp proof, pitted dates, and sticky toffee pudding. Not too much oak or barrel character here. Apples dipped in dark honey.

Palate: Candied and spiced fruits, slices of the jelled fruits coated in sugar for texture. Red and purple spice drops, a touch of cinnamon heat that grows. Sticky toffee, dark honey, Red Hots, a light peanut in the shell nuttiness. Surprisingly drinkable at this proof. Mouthfeel is silky and grows to be syrupy, coating with stronger proof heat and toasting sugar. Medium to full bodied.

Finish: Remains coating, some proof astringency building with mild oak up the top palate. Long, sweetness contained by proof and mouthfeel.

Overall: Delicious blend that leans just far enough into the sweet fruit, sugar, and honey to be diverse and intriguing while the proof and background barrel character lends body and edge. Cinnamon candies and candied fruits all throughout, carried by an oily, full body. Bravo.

Final Rating: 8.2

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary

8 | Excellent | Exceptional

7 | Great | Well above average

6 | Very Good | Better than average

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation