Crown Royal a Bourbon?

[cowdery]

Just Drinks is a UK-based drinks industry news service that, apparently, doesn't know the difference between bourbon whiskey and Canadian whiskey. This is from today's feed:

Diageo-owned Bourbon brand Crown Royal has unveiled a new whisky with a flavour of Cognac. The ultra-premium offering, Crown Royal Cask No. 16, has been aged in rare Cognac casks.

[Vange]

That's not good, but to be honest this whiskey intrigues me. I love cognac, I like Crown Royal, can it be good?

From Malt Advocate:

"This blend is a perfect balance of the grain characters of whisky and the fruity oakiness found in Cognac." Each bottle is adorned in a faceted 750ml decanter-style bottle, which is wrapped in a black velvet bag with gold stitching. The bottle is then encased in a black and gold gift tube. Beginning in October, it will be available in liquor outlets nationwide for $100.00 (suggested retail price).

Crown Royal Cask No. 16 begins with a unique blend of more than 50 different and individually aged whiskies. When prepared, the new creation is then placed in authentic French oak casks, born from the lush Limousin forest in France. Each exceedingly rare cask is marked with the number "16" to represent its place of origin. The Cognac finish combines with the Crown Royal blend to form a flavorful and lingering liquid that has a balanced yet complex taste of initial smokiness ending with subtle hints of rich dried fruit.

[Gillman]

"Crown Royal Cask No. 16 begins with a unique blend of more than 50 different and individually aged whiskies."

So no more Dr. Bourbonstein jokes directed my way, okay? (Truth to tell they are few and far between lately ).

Gary

[OscarV]

If I was with one of the bourbon distilleries I would contact them and enlighten them.

Can you imagine a European seeing this and buying Crown Royal thinking it is a bourbon.

[barturtle]

If I was with one of the bourbon distilleries I would contact them and enlighten them.

Can you imagine a European seeing this and buying Crown Royal thinking it is a bourbon.

Why not? Most of America thinks it is!!!:smiley_acbt:

[OscarV]

Yeah, you are right.

And when pressed about it they will name brandnames of Scotch and TN whiskey as Bourbon.

[craigthom]

"Crown Royal Cask No. 16 begins with a unique blend of more than 50 different and individually aged whiskies."

So no more Dr. Bourbonstein jokes directed my way, okay? (Truth to tell they are few and far between lately ).

Gary

They may be trying to emulate cognac with this, where blends of 40 to over a hundred aren't uncommon.

[Gillman]

Exactly, and there is in fact an old tradition of blending many whiskies to produce some Canadian and U.S. blends, it isn't new by any means.

Gary

[Sijan]

I tried some of this Cask 16 recently and did not particularly like it. It had some rather odd notes to it. Sorry I can't be more specific or detailed - it was at the end of a long scotch-tasting dinner and I wasn't taking notes. I think most folks who tried it also found it a bit odd. Many remarked that it was "definitely different" and there was some split on whether that was a good thing or not.

But, on the other hand, it just won the 2007 Malt Advocate Award for Canadian Whiskey of the Year.

[Gillman]

It's interesting because at a recent whisky festival, it was the first drink I had and I found it very good. Much later, after tasting not too many more whiskies (3 or 4, small amounts), I tried it again and found it not nearly as good. The malts had affected the taste. This happens so often of course, with any whiskey (except maybe Lag 16 or something, or Stagg ). If people don't like it, of course that's fine. I found it very nice with an interesting interplay of brandied and whisky notes. Truth to tell, it was not that different from a number of Cognac-finished malts I've had except with Canadian being the undertone instead of malt whisky. Also, some years ago, we had in our market a whisky called Captain's Table. This was a heavy-bodied Canadian whisky which seemed aged or finished in a rum cask. It was a tradition at one time to give some Canadian whisky a top-note of rum. Really that is what Cask No. 16 has done, except using brandy. It's not really a new concept IMO.

Gary