Crown Royal Limited Edition

Review: Crown Royal Limited Canadian Whisky 86.5/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Posted February 08, 2015

Crown Royal Canadian Whisky is currently produced in Gimli, Manitoba, at the Crown Royal Distillery. The distillery and the brand are owned by the spirits conglomerate, Diageo, and I think it is fair to say that Crown Royal is Diageo’s flagship Canadian Whisky brand. Several years ago Crown Royal Limited was introduced as an addition to the Crown Royal family of whiskies. This Crown Royal is apparently blended from a selected group of batch distilled whiskies and bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume to provide a more premium alternative to the flagship brand Crown Royal Deluxe.

In the Bottle 4/5

I have always liked the distinctive crown shaped bottles which are used to house the Crown Royal Whiskies. They look good on my bar shelf and always seem to imply a more premium product inside the bottle than those whiskies which are housed in the more regular tall bar shelf bottles. Crown Royal Limited is presented in one of these distinctive bottles. Unfortunately all of the labeling upon this fine glass bottle is done with gold lettering placed directly upon the glass. As you can see, this can make reading the actual label difficult against the background of the golden coloured liquid inside depending upon how the light and shadows are falling upon the bottle. In fact, I found the small gold lettering on the back label of the bottle impossible to read in my private tasting room. There was probably a nice story for me there; but I do not know what it was.

In the Glass  8.5/10

When I poured the Crown Royal Limited Edition into my glencairn, I noted the whisky has a rich golden amber colour which is very attractive in the glass. The breezes above the glass were full of butterscotch and wood spice with a bit of rye spice and sour fruit doing battle in behind. When I tilted my glass and gave it a slow twirl, I saw a light sheen of thickened whisky left on the inside of the glass, the crest of which released small to medium leglets which moved at a moderately quick pace down the inside of the glass.

As the glass sat the rye spices seemed to build up filling the air with scents of ginger and coriander as well as some dusty dry scents of fresh grain and chaff. A bit of sweet punky corn began to assert itself making it known that this was indeed a Crown Royal brand, although I should add that these punky corn scents were quite muted as compared to the original CR Whisky. When I returned to my glass after my tasting session was over, I noticed some light baking spices rising from the empty glass tainted with bits of oak and wood spice.

All in all this is a nice whisky to nose.

In the Mouth 52.5/60

The initial taste of the whisky brings a touch of sweet and sour fruit forward alongside the typical punky corn flavour which I always notice in Crown Royal. I also notice a light but firm impression of pot still rye within the whisky which surprised and delighted me. The Crown Royal Limited Edition does indeed have more complexity and depth of flavour than the flagship whisky of the brand Crown royal Deluxe. I also taste a small measure of butterscotch toffee and oak spice, as well as perhaps a touch of fresh new oak.

The whisky is very sippable, although it is a bit more dry in the mouth than I was anticipating. There are a few grassy flavours which add to this dryness as do a few whispers of bitter cocoa.

In the Throat 13/15

This is a light bodied whisky with a crisp dry finish. I taste some lingering flavours of baking spice as well as the ebbing sweetness of maple and the musty grassy flavour of fresh corn husks.

The Afterburn 8.5/10

Crown Royal Limited Edition surprised me as I was expecting this Canadian Whisky to be only a small increment better than the previously reviewed Crown Royal Deluxe. I was wrong in my preconceptions and quite happily so. The Limited is perhaps a touch drier than your typical Crown Royal Whisky, and contains more overt rye in the flavour profile. Both of these differences strike me as improvements over the punky corn laden original, and my score of 86.5/100 reflects my appreciation of these differences.

You may read some of my other Whisky Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Suggested Cocktail

Resplendent Iced Cocktail
an Arctic Wolf Recipe

2 oz Crown Royal Limited Edition
1/4 ounce Orange Curacao
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fees Cocktail Bitters
1/4 oz of Plain Sugar Syrup
Ice
squeeze of Orange peel

Fill the shaker 1/3 full of ice
Add all ingredients and shake well
Strain into a glass with two large ice-cubes
Garnish with Orange Peel

Enjoy Responsibly!

Note: If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

As always you may interpret the scores I provide as follows.

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74 Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84 We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89 Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94 Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be more familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)