Western Living Magazine
5 Homes with Showstopping Murals
Inside a West Vancouver Farmhouse Built Like a Tuscan Village
Trade Secrets: Dark Drama, Smart Design
Say Cheese: Inside Whistler’s Tiny, ’80s-Inspired Cheese Shop
The Best Al Fresco Winery Restaurants in the Okanagan for Summer
Recipe: Dry-Aged Duck Breast with Beet Pavé, Rainbow Chard and Blackberry Jus
The Best Okanagan Wineries for Architecture Lovers
Inside the $100-Million Reinvention of Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
This Remote Texada Island Retreat Has Tiny Homes, Treehouses and a Forest Spa
In Living Colour: 8 Striped Home Finds for Summer
The Unsettling Wallpaper in A24’s ‘Backrooms’ Has a Very Vancouver Backstory
New in Stores: 11 Home Decor Finds We Love Right Now
Meet the 2026 Western Living Design Icons
Western Living Design Icon 2026: Robert Bailey
Western Living Design Icon 2026: Jennifer Heffel
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.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt USD387942484 ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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.
Are you over 18 years of age?
Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox 3 times a week.