When Don Livermore, J.P. Wiser’s master blender, set out to complete his PhD thesis in brewing and distilling, his only aim was to develop quicker methods for assessing the quality of barrels using infrared sensors. Along the way, he charred barrels to varying depths (this technique brings out a whisky’s toffee and vanilla notes) and aged both rye and corn-based whisky inside.
By the end of his PhD, Livermore was left with 114 barrels of whisky. “We were just kind of stuck with the barrels and thought ‘what do you do with them all?’” Livermore recalls. “So we blended together all the different whiskies and released it as J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation.”
Dissertation is a rye-forward whisky with a bold spiciness. There’s plenty of rye and vanilla on the nose with oak, pepper and green apple flavours.
To amp up the geek factor, Livermore crafted Dissertation with an alcoholic proof of 46.1 percent. “The molecular weight of ethanol is 46.1,” explains Livermore. “It actually works quite well in this whisky.”
Livermore jokingly refers to Dissertation as “opening up your refrigerator taking all your leftovers and putting it together”. But the end results exceeded his expectations, bringing home the Best Canadian Blended Limited Release prize at the World Whiskies Awards earlier this year.
Only 2,000 cases of Dissertation were released, making this rare product a nice Canadian whisky to give for Father’s Day.
$64.95 for 750mL, LCBO.
