Crown Royal Canadian Whisky

An Iconic Canadian Whisky Brand

By
Lance Mayhew
Lance Mayhew
Award-winning mixologist, freelance cocktail columnist, and author of the book "Whisky Made Me Do It."
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Updated on 09/29/19
Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey

Julio Garza / Flickr / 

Crown Royal is one of the best-selling and most beloved brands of whisky in the world. Crown Royal devotees are an extremely brand-loyal group, and as such, make Crown an essential part of any complete bar, whether at home or in a restaurant or tavern.

Once you taste Crown Royal, it becomes clear why this easy drinking and satisfying Canadian whisky is one of the top-selling whisky brands in the world.

The Crown Royal Style

Crown Royal produces a number of blended whiskies and each is created using the finely tuned skill that has become a signature of Canadian whisky blenders. Creating the same taste in a single whiskey from the 50+ whiskies that can go into one of these is an art and the blenders at Crown Royal are some of its masters.

Crown Royal Deluxe is the bottle of Crown Royal that is the most common expression available. It is a blend of 50 different full-bodied Canadian whiskies that is then aged until deemed acceptable. Crown Royal has no age statement.

Crown Royal Black and Northern Harvest Rye are two of the other signature expressions produced by the brand. They also offer a Masters Series that shows the art of the Master Blender in an even finer style. And, in keeping with recent trends, Crown Royal produces an apple and a maple flavored whiskey as well.

It may have a great taste, but the one thing that makes Crown Royal stand out, even more, is that purple bag. Every bottle comes wrapped in a royal purple-colored cloth bag with gold trim that cinches around the bottle neck. You can always tell a Crown Royal fan by the occasional appearance of the purple bag that carries some precious stash of random items (they are very handy!).

Tasting Notes

On the nose, Crown Royal features light vanilla and caramel notes. There is no alcoholic burn as many whiskies have, instead, Crown Royal offers a gentle and elegant bouquet with undertones of pound cake and lemon zest. With a splash of cool water, chocolate and dark fruit notes begin to emerge.

Crown Royal whisky is a medium bodied whisky, with enough mouthfeel to be enjoyed on its own, but it is also light enough for mixing.

On the palate, a slight sherried sweetness is in evidence, with vanilla, caramel, brown sugar and a nice oakiness to round out the flavor profile before a hint of rye spiciness passes over the palate. If you enjoy a smooth, sipping whisky with just the right amount of bite, Crown Royal delivers. Crown is an elegant Canadian whisky and it's readily apparent why Crown drinkers are such a devoted group.

Finish

On the finish, Crown Royal offers a surprisingly long finish with subtle hints of spice, chocolate, and toasted oak.

About Crown Royal Canadian Whisky

Overall, Crown Royal is a classic Canadian whisky and comes highly recommended to anyone looking for a smooth, classic Canadian whisky. This is a whiskey that is perfect for cocktails and can be used in all of those whiskey recipes that do not specify a certain style of whiskey.

Crown Royal Cocktails