Western Living Magazine
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It turns out that the Crown in Crown Royal actually means something.
Crown Royal Monarch 75th Anniversary Blend $75Was I the only one who thought Crown Royal was just a name someone in marketing came up with to try and sound fancy? It turns out the “Crown” in Crown Royal refers to the fact that the gold standard of Canadian Whiskies was first blended for none other than King George IV (that’s Colin Firth in The King’s Speech) and his wife Queen Elizabeth (who became the Queen Mum later on) when they became the first sovereigns to visit Canada in 1939. Fast forward 75 years later and the blend still represents the best of Canada—smooth, agreeable, reasonably-priced. But at this time of year everyone is looking for that little something out of the ordinary and this bottle is it—a new blend to commemorate the royal visit and the birth of the brand. It’s quite amazing. Crown literally has warehouses and warehouses full of different whiskies to select from (and those fancy American Rye’s that are so cool right now? Yeah a lot of them are sourced using these barrels) and master blender Joanna Scandella has gathered together a rye heavy melange that’s a powerhouse, but in true Canadian style still mellow enough to sip neat.And if I can be a little shallow here—I love the bottle. It’s got a very cool crown at the top and most importantly a silver bag—I can only how imagine how impressed my childhood friends would be if I pulled my hotwheels out of that while they made do with their purple versions. Most importantly, unlike most special bottlings, this one really is limited. When it’s gone, it’s gone: so far King and country go snag a bottle.
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Neal McLennan is the wine and spirits editor for Vancouver and Western Living magazines, where he susses out the wonderful (and occasionally weird) options for imbibing across Western Canada.
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