Canadian Club Reserve 9 year old Triple Aged

The discontinued 10 year old CC Reserve was typical of the hard-rye genre with vanilla caramel ripe fruit and hot pepper stitched onto a flinty-firm base. This new 9 year old version though similar has obvious differences. Pleasing heat rides an initial surge of toffee dry grain and dried dark fruit. A soon-to-arrive pithiness on the shortish finish refreshes but without the familiar steeliness of its antecedent.