Canadian Hunter was long a staple whisky in the line-up from the House of Seagram. Seagram’s first distilled the whisky at its plant in Waterloo, Ontario. Following the death in 1971 of Sam Bronfman, who had brought the Seagram’s whisky brands to global domination, the company lost its way. Sam’s grandson, Edgar Bronfman, finally just cast the family heritage to the wind at the turn of this century. The Canadian whisky brands his grandfather had nurtured so carefully, and newer ones such as Canadian Hunter, which was introduced in 1984, were dispersed. But they were not lost altogether. Canadian Hunter eventually found a welcoming home with the Sazerac Company of New Orleans.

Sazerac takes its Canadian whisky portfolio very seriously. Its Canadian whisky team is led by Drew Mayfield, a Canadian whisky man who was the last chief distiller at Seagram’s before that company imploded. Canadian whisky, of course, can be made only in Canada, and this is why Sazerac now has hundreds of thousands of barrels of Canadian whisky ageing in Canadian whisky warehouses. From this ready supply Sazerac blends upwards of twenty different Canadian whisky brands, most of them with distribution limited to the U.S. market.

The label on the Canadian Hunter bottle has been updated recently. However, it still retains its image of the mushing huskies that continue to provide transportation in some of Canada’s more remote northern communities.