Ellington Reserve 8-Year Canadian Rye Review

 

The Wonderful World of Whiskey can be quite an adventure. At one end, you have whiskies that are near-impossible to find, or, if you can, they’re priced many times above what the distillery suggests. The other end comprises a bunch of brands that few people know about. While I do enjoy the former, it is the latter that, as a reviewer, I gravitate to.

 

Some larger retail spirits chains have house brands. They even have an umbrella of house brands. What’s that mean? I can summarize it with Total Wine & More’s Spirits Direct program. In a nutshell, the house brands are ones Total Wine exclusively carries (except in states where that’s not allowed) or can offer at a deeper discount on established brands (such as Angel’s Envy).

 

Ellington Reserve is part of the Spirits Direct program and is the subject of today’s whisky. It is a Canadian Rye made at an undisclosed distillery that Total Wine does an excellent job of keeping under wraps, as the only clue provided on the bottle is Product of Canada. With a bit of detective work, here is what you need to know about Ellington (the brand). It is owned by United States Distilled Products Co., located in Insanti, MN, a non-distilling producer (NDP) founded in 1981 that produces tequila, vodka, cordials, and, yes, whisky.

 

How does Canadian whisky come from Minnesota? Simply put, it doesn’t. The whisky is shipped from Canada in bulk, then processed and bottled in Minnesota. There’s nothing wrong with that; bulk whiskies come from all over the world, including the United States.

 

Ellington Reserve is an 8-year-old whisky made from an undisclosed mashbill and aged in charred oak barrels. We don’t know the size or whether the barrels are virgin or vintage; we do know those barrels have to be, at the very most, 700 liters.

 

While it is extremely common to refer to Canadian whisky as Canadian Rye, that’s a misnomer. There is no legal requirement that a single rye grain be in the mashbill to be called Canadian Rye. In fact, most bulk Canadian whisky is made from corn. Canadian regulations require at least 51% of one grain to be used in the mash.

 

Anyway, I have dumped a lot of technical information on you, and really, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is how a whisky tastes. I acquired a 50mL taster bottle from Total Wine & More for this #DrinkCurious mission. Let’s get to it.

 

• Whiskey Type: Canadian Rye
• Distiller: Undisclosed
• Age: 8 years
• Mashbill: Undisclosed
• Cooperage: Charred oak barrels
• Alcohol Content: 40% ABV (80°)
• Price per 750mL: $19.99

 

Appearance: I used a Glencairn glass to explore this whisky neat. The liquid presented as caramel brown, which, interestingly, is due to added E150A caramel coloring (this is legal for Canadian whisky). A husky rim released fat, extremely slow, widely spaced, crazed tears.

 

Nose: I let Ellington Reserve rest for about 10 minutes before approaching it. When I brought the glass to my nose and began sniffing, there was something akin to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, along with lemon peel and acetone. Drawing the aroma through my lips, I discovered vanilla cream.

 

Palate: With the first sip, I encountered a watery texture, and there was no palate shock. I tasted thick caramel on the front. There was no middle – it was literally just wet. The back was industrial and bitter with an attempt at an herbal quality.

 

Finish: Things started soft, but seconds after the swallow… Have you ever seen the 1970s television show Laverne & Shirley? There were two characters, Lenny and Squiggy, who were annoying, yet lovable geeks. They used to burst through the door to Laverne’s and Shirley’s apartment without warning, and both would always flatly yell, “Hello!” Imagine that Lenny was cinnamon spice, and Squiggy was freshly cracked black pepper. Those notes blended with the bitter, industrial flavors until everything (thankfully) fell off at 43 seconds. I pursed my lips. Hard.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: Some whiskies are so fantastic that you don’t really care what they cost. You just want them. Yeah, that’s not what we have here. Instead, Ellington Reserve is one of those whiskies where, if they were pouring it for free, I would consider it overcharging the customer.

 

The only thrilling aspect of this tasting experience is that I had only 50mL, of which about a third went down the drain. It took a few cheese curds to make the bitter, industrial component go away. It may be the very worst whisky I’ve had in 2025, and my Bust rating is far too much of a compliment. Cheers!

 

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit, but begs you to do so responsibly.