whisky are up by more than 15 per cent. As former hard-core Scotch drinkers experience the pleasures of other barrel- aged spirits, this trend can only continue. Wiser’s, it seems, is banking on Red Letter to show them the way. The Wiser family home in Prescott
has long since been demolished, and J.P.’s ventures have vanished without a trace; though visitors to Upper Canada Village, about half an hour away, can still admire the stunning stained glass windows that he commissioned for his Prescott home. Much to the chagrin of local officials
though, no evidence of their once- leading citizen remains in Prescott itself. Wiser became a Canadian citizen and sat in Canada’s parliament, but when he died in 1911, his remains were buried in the Wiser family plot on the verdant banks of the Oswegatchie River in Ogdensburg in New York State. Wiser’s house may be long gone, but
his whisky recipes have been carefully preserved, and are faithfully followed by the distilling team at Hiram Walker and Sons’ distillery in Walkerville, Ontario. There, a full range of Wiser’s whiskies is produced, including his crowning achievement, Wiser’s Red Letter. And his beef operation? To save
transportation costs he had located it right next to his distillery in the heart of town. Its aroma was not appreciated by the neighbours. That’s one Wiser enterprise that town officials are in no hurry to remember. But his heirs at Corby have not
forgotten, and each day they ship tonnes of what is now called “distillers dried grains” to local feed mills. “It’s a valuable feed source for cattle
farmers today,” master blender Don Livermore tells me. “It’s no longer an inconvenient by-product. We think of it as a co-product.” J.P., your legacy lives on, and not
just in the bottle.
Davin de Kergommeaux is the author of the award-winning book Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert.
www.bounder.ca BOUNDER MAGAZINE 55
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