Canadian Club Chronicles Issue no.2

About Canadian Club

In 1858 Hiram Walker opened a whisky distillery that would become a North American symbol. Walker first founded his distillery in 1858 in Detroit. He had learned how to distill cider vinegar in his grocery store in the 1830s he produced his first whisky barrels in 1854. in 1891 Canadian Club, more popularly known as “CC,” became the first North American spirit to receive a Royal decree, from Queen Victoria. This ordained and highly acclaimed.

Prohibition forced Walker to leave the “dry” state of Michigan, and strategically transplant his distillery across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario. Located just over the border Walker was actually able to continue legally producing whisky when the sale of beverage alcohol was prohibited in the United States. Whisky also became one of the most smuggled whiskies in the U.S. at the start of Prohibition. The Canadian Club became a haven of clandestine activities at the peak of America’s Prohibition.

Rumor has it that CC was highly favored by the likes of Al Capone and that he had a lucrative b usiness scheme smuggling the spirit across the Detroit River. Walker’s whisky was particularly popular in the late 19th century gentlemen’s clubs of the United States and Canada; this is where it got the name “Club Whisky”.