Campari Canada’s Forty Creek Distillery has released Forager Botanical Whisky in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba.

Claimed to be the world’s first botanical Canadian whisky, Forager Botanical Whisky is the creation of Forty Creek Whisky master blender Bill Ashburn.

Campari Group Canada marketing vice-president Chris Staresinic said: “With the launch of The Forager, Forty Creek is excited to once again demonstrate its commitment to innovation in the Canadian whisky category.

“Innovation and sustainability are the key pillars of our company and we are excited to share this spirit with Canadians.”

The Forager Botanical Whisky has been created as a homage to the distillery’s history of producing eau de vie, a delicate spirit of distilled fruits, produced using light, fresh Canadian whisky by initially ageing for three years, mixed with a botanical-infused spirit and aged for an additional period.

Forty Creek Distillery explained that all the botanicals used for producing the expression have been hand-picked by professional foragers.

The botanicals including juniper berries, labrador tea, spruce tips, mugwort and sweet fern have been sourced from across eastern Canada.

With light amber colour, the botanical whisky expression offers flavours of herbal tea and a long, peppery finish, with an aroma of fresh-cut pine with a hint of candied citrus.

Ashburn said: “This definitely isn’t your typical Canadian whisky. In fact, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever created. As a whisky-maker, that’s always exciting, knowing you have the chance to explore new territory and push the boundaries of what a Canadian whisky can be.”

The Forager Botanical Whisky is can be purchased for C$34.95 in the afore-mentioned provinces and will be soon rolled out to other Canadian provinces later this year.

In March 2014, Gruppo Campari entered into a deal to purchase 100% stake in Forty Creek Distillery (FCD), a Canada-based independently-owned spirits company, for €120.5m.