One of the reasons I wanted to tour Cape Breton Island was to visit Canada’s first single malt distillery, namely Glenora Distillery in Mabou.  After the construction of the distillery in 1990, initial production yielded 20 barrels of the first single malt whisky produced in North America. As a whisky lover and especially as someone who prefers single malts, I was excited when I learned of this place.

In case you don’t know, a single malt whisky is produced with only three ingredients: water, barley and yeast.  Water is a whisky’s most important ingredient, Glenora’s water is tied directly to Cape Breton.  It comes from MacLellan’s Brook; the purest and cleanest source of water in Cape Breton. MacLellan’s tumbles out of the Mabou Highlands, runs through Glenora Distillery’s grounds, and can be found in every whisky they produce.

Single malt whiskys are not cheap and the dram produced at Glenora is no exception.  I tried their Cape Breton rare 10 year old, which is a fine brew, but it lacked the smokey flavour of peat that I enjoy.   I went a bit further up the product hierarchy and tried their Ghleann Dubh (The Dark Glen), a 13 year old peated whisky and was sold.  It ranks with some of the best single malts I’ve tasted, so I purchased a bottle and opened it up as soon as I got home to celebrate the purchase of our new home in Prince Edward Island.