Earlier this month, popular Canadian whisky brand Crown Royal added the first single malt to its extensive lineup. For many drinkers, single malt whisky usually means Scotch, and indeed that is the driving force behind the category. But single malts can be found in many other countries, including the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, India, and our neighbor to the north. This particular whisky was made at the brand’s Valleyfield distillery near Montreal.
According to Jesse Damashek, senior vice president of North American whiskeys for Diageo, Crown Royal Single Malt was in the works for a number of years.
“As a brand, we’ve observed a recent boom in enthusiasm around innovation and exploration in the North American single malt category,” he says. “With the evolving palates of consumers throughout North America and the rising interest in single malts, the timing was right to introduce this variant—one that we’ve been patiently waiting to share and are excited to offer in this flourishing space."
Crown Royal Single Malt is made from a mashbill of 100-percent malted barley at one distillery (Valleyfield), and was aged for four years in new charred white oak barrels—the same type that are used to mature bourbon.
Overall, Crown Royal Single Malt is a very easy drinking whisky. It's meant to be enjoyed on its own or in a cocktail like a highball or old-fashioned. At a recent media tasting, I got to sip it from a shot glass made of ice—an experience that I don’t recommend unless you plan on drinking it really fast before the glass melts in your hand.
The palate doesn’t immediately scream single malt, but there is a bit of malted chocolate and some subtle spice notes to start things off. That’s followed by a healthy dose of vanilla, some citrus, espresso bean, and a dash of green apple. It's young and relatively tame compared to some other notable Canadian single malt releases, like recent WhistlePig expressions that were over 20 years old.
That being said, this whisky is another interesting development in the trajectory of Crown Royal—an immensely popular brand that could rest on the success of its core expression, but continues to experiment with new innovations.
Crown Royal's core whisky, Deluxe, is instantly recognizable due to the purple velvet bags that each bottle comes in. That release is a blend of about 50 different whiskies made from various mashbills at the brand’s distillery in Gimli, Manitoba.
Crown Royal's other successful experiments include the highly acclaimed Northern Harvest Rye and a few age statement expressions, including a weirdly delicious 23-year-old flavored whisky, Golden Apple.
Related: Best Canadian Whiskies of 2024 to Drink, Collect, and Gift
