Crown Royal Monarch

[Gillman]

Bad grammar on my part. I meant to type: same old, same old, traditional

by which I meant: 40% abv with little other information on the label.

Well I can see your point on that. The lack of info is characteristic of all the new releases in recent years, the language, where there is any, is usually muddled and open to different interpretations. I often wonder if the marketers don't really understand the specifics of the distillation and aging so something gets lost between the production side and marketing side. Even the production side, I suspect, thinks of the components of the products differently than we do here, or quite often.

[Megawatt]

I've been reading a lot of glowing reviews of this bottling. Almost makes me want to buy it. To Portwood's point, it is easy to look at this as a re-packaged CR, but reviews seem to suggest otherwise. Here is some info I dug up from the Web: So three years ago when the blender was charged with creating Crown Royal Monarch 75th Anniversary Blend, a one-off in a very small release, he went directly to that source and tapped it extensively. "We were looking for something Crown-like, but heavier and richer."Explaining that the limited nature of the edition allowed him much more leeway, MacKay says, "It was a one-time shot, so we were able to play with it," without the responsibility to make whisky for a long time at a large volume. "We could never keep that level of Coffey rye going. With this we had no consideration for the future—a rare, if happy, event." (The company has not revealed the size of the release.)

MacKay also enjoyed the same latitude in picking the other whiskies in the blend, which he says come from only 20 batches, some of which were made on stills that have been shuttered for years. "They are old inventories. Oddball pieces. These are the places you can use them and have fun using them."

So it sounds very much like a "reserve whisky" in the true sense of the term. I generally like the Crown flavour profile so this sounds enticing to me.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Megawatt

[Gillman]

I've been reading a lot of glowing reviews of this bottling. Almost makes me want to buy it. To Portwood's point, it is easy to look at this as a re-packaged CR, but reviews seem to suggest otherwise. Here is some info I dug up from the Web: So three years ago when the blender was charged with creating Crown Royal Monarch 75th Anniversary Blend, a one-off in a very small release, he went directly to that source and tapped it extensively. "We were looking for something Crown-like, but heavier and richer."Explaining that the limited nature of the edition allowed him much more leeway, MacKay says, "It was a one-time shot, so we were able to play with it," without the responsibility to make whisky for a long time at a large volume. "We could never keep that level of Coffey rye going. With this we had no consideration for the future—a rare, if happy, event." (The company has not revealed the size of the release.)

MacKay also enjoyed the same latitude in picking the other whiskies in the blend, which he says come from only 20 batches, some of which were made on stills that have been shuttered for years. "They are old inventories. Oddball pieces. These are the places you can use them and have fun using them.".

So it sounds very much like a "reserve whisky" in the true sense of the term. I generally like the Crown flavour profile so this sounds enticing to me.

Good notes. I think you would like it. It is like a fine Swiss watch with each component working seamlessly. The taste isn't "big" in the straight sense but is very good, CR but amplified to more of its potential. You have to drink it as a first drink, neat, having it after anything else removes the nuances. I still feel it may have been intended to replicate the 1939 original.

Gary

[Megawatt]

On a somewhat related a note, a friend recently brought me back a sample of Crown Royal XO from the US. I'd never heard of it before. It seems similar or identical to Cask No. 16 (cognac finish), but at half the price. The bottle is the same as Limited Edition, just with a different label

[Frodo]

Got a bottle @ $60. Thinking of it as a summer dram...

[Gillman]

Actually I just bought a bottle of regular Crown and find it very good, soft and elegant. Not as assertive as Monarch but a very well-knit blend, you have to tease out the flavours. Much better (IMO) than 10 years ago, these whiskies do change over the years and sometimes for the better.

Gary

[typoerror]

On a somewhat related a note, a friend recently brought me back a sample of Crown Royal XO from the US. I'd never heard of it before. It seems similar or identical to Cask No. 16 (cognac finish), but at half the price. The bottle is the same as Limited Edition, just with a different label

cask 16 was made using from whisky from a now defunct distillery. i don't remember if they disclosed which, it was an explanation given on facebook. cask 16 production ended when they ran out of that juice. xo was brought out a couple years later using the same recipe and method just not limited any longer.

i have both cask 16 and xo. side by side blind taste test and you barely notice a difference. they taste very much the same. at half the price, xo may taste a little better. hah

btw monarch 75 is great stuff as well. wal mart has them on sale for $44.44 over the holidays and i requested and received many for xmas. hehe

[typoerror]

i find its well worth the price of admission. until i got a hold of hand selected barrel, m75 was my favorite. i almost picked up another bottle today, they are on sale for $47.49 but i have 5 in the bunk already.