The Sazerac Company has announced a new whiskey that celebrates a founding father of the modern distilled spirits industry.

Sam Bronfman, or “Mister Sam,” immigrated to Canada from Imperial Russia in the late 1800s. Despite those humble beginnings, Bronfman later propelled Seagram’s into what was then the largest and most-successful distilled spirits company in the world.

Focused on making and blending whiskies, maintaining high-quality standards, creating cutting-edge packaging and driving product innovation, Mister Sam created some of the world’s most iconic spirit brands while at the helm of the Seagram’s empire, until his death in 1971.


Today, Sazerac owns 15 former Seagram’s brands, including the iconic Seagram’s V.O., Seagram’s Five Star and Seagram’s ’83, along with its own distillery in Montreal.

As a tribute to Mister Sam and the contribution he made to the industry, the Sazerac Company has developed a blended whiskey expression made with some of Sazerac’s American and Canadian whiskeys. The Mister Sam blend was created by Sazerac’s Master Blender Drew Mayville, whose career included a 22-year stint at Seagram’s, where he was the fourth and last master blender under the Seagram dynasty.

On the nose is cigar box, pipe tobacco, Madeira cake and toffee, the company says, followed by oaky vanilla, limestone, flint and sweetened breakfast cereal. The palate has flavors of raisins, prunes, mince pie, candied walnut, chocolate-covered cherry, heather honey, toasted marshmallow, praline, nougat and pecan pie.

Bottled at Sazerac’s Old Montreal Distillery in Montreal, Quebec, Mister Sam is 133.8 proof and will release once a year. The 2019 expression numbers just 1,200 750-ml. bottles, and will be sold only in the U.S. and Canada. Suggested retail price is $249.99 each.

Bottles of Mister Sam will come in a wooden box which will include a copy of the From Little Acorns book, which Bronfman penned in 1970 and which details the history of the Seagram’s company.