The latest edition of Found North’s High Altitude Series is the 2026 Edition of Peregrine. Like the previous editions in the range, this year’s expression is its own unique combination of well-aged component Canadian whiskies finished in a variety of cask types, with heavy influence this year from Cognac and Armagnac finishing casks.
Like most of their portfolio, Peregrine is the result of blending trial and error from Found North’s vast inventory of old whiskey and finishing casks on hand. If you’ve ever tried your hand at blending whiskey at home, you know that it’s not nearly as easy as it looks.
Building A Blend
The High Altitude series focuses heavily on recasking, allowing their blends to—as the Found North team describes—“reach new heights” in flavor, imparted from additional cask influence. Recasking isn’t that unusual in today’s whiskey world, but with the right mindset, it can be a lot more than simply moving whiskey from one cask to another. As is so often the case, the more you put into your recasking efforts, the more you can get out of it.
In the case of Found North, they differentiate themselves even further thanks to the origins of their whiskey. The well-aged Canadian whiskies that Found North uses for its products creates a fairly homogenous “blank canvas” of flavor that the team can take in a variety of directions depending on their desired result. Most of their releases are skewed heavily in favor of corn whiskey, but over the years, the team has used rye, malt, and wheat whiskey components to dial in the amount of grain-derived sweetness and spice they want in their final products.
From there, the blends are transferred to a variety of finishing casks that span the gamut of the wine and spirit world. American, French, and Hungarian oak alter the tannic structure, while ex-Sherry, Port, Madeira, Sauternes, Cognac, and Amagnac casks can take the sweetness profile from cooked fruits to rich berries to tropical fruits to dry nuttiness, and everywhere in between.
As Found North has proven time and time again, the only limit to their creations is the blending team’s imagination.
About Peregrine 2026
Peregrine 2026 was built from 8 separate component whiskies:
- Two 21yr corn components
- Two 22yr corn components
- One 27yr corn component
- One 20yr rye component
- Two 21yr rye components
These components were blended and finished for 5 months in a combination of Armagnac, Cognac and new American oak casks. In the end, 17 of the original 23 finishing casks were part of the final product, leaning heavily on the Cognac Casks. The final breakdown by volume is:
- 15.6% Armagnac Casks
- 58.4% Cognac Casks
- 15.6% 18-month air-dried new American oak, Medium Toast, Char #2
- 10.4% 18-month air-dried new American oak, Medium Toast, Char #1
Peregrine 2026 is a one-time creation, limited to 4,506 bottles and bottled at 59.9% ABV. The MSRP is $224.99.
Tasting Notes
This whiskey appears rich amber in the glass.
On the nose, I find notes of buttered cornbread, canned peaches, spearmint, zesty oak, clove, bananas foster, red grape skin, butterscotch, fresh blackberry and just a hint of chili flakes. With water, this gets even creamier, along with lots of cinnamon stick, toasted coconut, and dried cranberry.
On the palate, the cognac/Armagnac influence is on full display, starting with a big eau de vie note. Other notes include vanilla ice cream, movie theater popcorn, apple berry fruit leather, blackcurrant jam, and old oak. With water, this is even grape-ier, along with cherry pie filling and some nice peppery spice.
The finish opens with more butterscotch and nutmeg, followed by vanilla extract, prune, raisin, poached pear, overripe banana, a hint of cigar box, and wood char. A few drops of water brings this whiskey in an earthier direction while maintaining the intense fruitiness that defines its flavor profile.
Overall thoughts:
Found North is getting better at blending with each new release, and Peregrine 2026 is no exception. Found North has always approached each release like a construction project, but the last several releases have displayed a new level of architectural mastery in the blending room.
For Peregrine 2026, the corn whiskey builds the foundation on which the rest of the whiskey sits. The rye components and new oak make up the main floor of flavor, with rich vanilla, herbs, oak, and zesty spice. Finally, the Armagnac and Cognac Casks create a top floor of intense fruitiness and sweetness that works in concert with the corn, making the final blend significantly greater than the sum of its parts.
Found North has proven over the years that in the right hands, Canadian whiskey doesn’t just sit alongside bourbon in flavor, but can far surpass it.
