Crown Royal -- XR -- worth $169/bottle?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Crown Royal -- XR -- worth $169/bottle?
Title says it all...is it really that good? I have like CR for its sweet taste but was never a fan for drinking it straight up.
What do you all think?
What do you all think?
#3
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Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
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XR is expensive due to rarity rather than quality. Most tastings rate the CR Special Reserve as better than the XR (at 1/3 of the XR price); however XR is much rarer as it is the last batch of whisky from the Waterloo distillery (which burned down in 1993 -- so there will never be any more made). Whether there is a difference between Gimli and Waterloo is a different question. I am quite happy to pay through the nose for special cognacs such as Paradis, but XR seems to be a waste of money. The SR is just as good if not better.
#4
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XR is expensive due to rarity rather than quality. Most tastings rate the CR Special Reserve as better than the XR (at 1/3 of the XR price); however XR is much rarer as it is the last batch of whisky from the Waterloo distillery (which burned down in 1993 -- so there will never be any more made). Whether there is a difference between Gimli and Waterloo is a different question. I am quite happy to pay through the nose for special cognacs such as Paradis, but XR seems to be a waste of money. The SR is just as good if not better.
so should one buy the bottle as a collectors edition and just never touch it??
Hmmmm......
#5
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
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Posts: 9,859
Crown Royal, at any level, falls into the same category as a popular description of some hereabouts, "All hat and no cattle".
Copying the methodolgy with which Doyle Dane Bernbach long ago brought Chivas Regal to substantial popularity and increased sales, it's simply a whisk(e) carefully blended (and liberally colored and sweetened) to appeal to a particular flavor profile, realtively bland and with little "edge". I'm sure that the up-market "reserve" versions are even more carefully prepared from selected and aged distillates, but watching most of those who drink it choosing Coke, 7UP and similar mixers, I tend the think that DDB was right, the same people who want to mix name brand cognac with Coca Cola are suckers for a fancy labels, "exclusive" advertising and market position and a high price, whether for blended Scotch or an innocuous blend of spirits - mostly Canadian type - so mildly flavored and 'smooth'.
Just as there are 100s of single malts from Scotland, many of unique appeal, there are no end of straight Bourbons, limited in production and all sorts of prices, aged and selected for the palates of those who seriously appreciate well flavored whisk(e)y.
You may like the flavor of Crown (and like even better the fancy grades of the product), but even sipped straight and at room temperature to me it's almost characterless (and that may be a big part of its success).
Copying the methodolgy with which Doyle Dane Bernbach long ago brought Chivas Regal to substantial popularity and increased sales, it's simply a whisk(e) carefully blended (and liberally colored and sweetened) to appeal to a particular flavor profile, realtively bland and with little "edge". I'm sure that the up-market "reserve" versions are even more carefully prepared from selected and aged distillates, but watching most of those who drink it choosing Coke, 7UP and similar mixers, I tend the think that DDB was right, the same people who want to mix name brand cognac with Coca Cola are suckers for a fancy labels, "exclusive" advertising and market position and a high price, whether for blended Scotch or an innocuous blend of spirits - mostly Canadian type - so mildly flavored and 'smooth'.
Just as there are 100s of single malts from Scotland, many of unique appeal, there are no end of straight Bourbons, limited in production and all sorts of prices, aged and selected for the palates of those who seriously appreciate well flavored whisk(e)y.
You may like the flavor of Crown (and like even better the fancy grades of the product), but even sipped straight and at room temperature to me it's almost characterless (and that may be a big part of its success).
#6
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 250
Since I don't drink it often, and am not close to someone who does, I am otherwise at the mercy of the marketing machine
#7
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Crown Royal, at any level, falls into the same category as a popular description of some hereabouts, "All hat and no cattle".
Copying the methodolgy with which Doyle Dane Bernbach long ago brought Chivas Regal to substantial popularity and increased sales, it's simply a whisk(e) carefully blended (and liberally colored and sweetened) to appeal to a particular flavor profile, realtively bland and with little "edge". I'm sure that the up-market "reserve" versions are even more carefully prepared from selected and aged distillates, but watching most of those who drink it choosing Coke, 7UP and similar mixers, I tend the think that DDB was right, the same people who want to mix name brand cognac with Coca Cola are suckers for a fancy labels, "exclusive" advertising and market position and a high price, whether for blended Scotch or an innocuous blend of spirits - mostly Canadian type - so mildly flavored and 'smooth'.
Just as there are 100s of single malts from Scotland, many of unique appeal, there are no end of straight Bourbons, limited in production and all sorts of prices, aged and selected for the palates of those who seriously appreciate well flavored whisk(e)y.
You may like the flavor of Crown (and like even better the fancy grades of the product), but even sipped straight and at room temperature to me it's almost characterless (and that may be a big part of its success).
Copying the methodolgy with which Doyle Dane Bernbach long ago brought Chivas Regal to substantial popularity and increased sales, it's simply a whisk(e) carefully blended (and liberally colored and sweetened) to appeal to a particular flavor profile, realtively bland and with little "edge". I'm sure that the up-market "reserve" versions are even more carefully prepared from selected and aged distillates, but watching most of those who drink it choosing Coke, 7UP and similar mixers, I tend the think that DDB was right, the same people who want to mix name brand cognac with Coca Cola are suckers for a fancy labels, "exclusive" advertising and market position and a high price, whether for blended Scotch or an innocuous blend of spirits - mostly Canadian type - so mildly flavored and 'smooth'.
Just as there are 100s of single malts from Scotland, many of unique appeal, there are no end of straight Bourbons, limited in production and all sorts of prices, aged and selected for the palates of those who seriously appreciate well flavored whisk(e)y.
You may like the flavor of Crown (and like even better the fancy grades of the product), but even sipped straight and at room temperature to me it's almost characterless (and that may be a big part of its success).
My wife loves the regular stuff over coke and a twist of lime !!
#8
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
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Posts: 9,859
A good place to start....(Below the premium shelf). Dickel makes two mass- but not very mass - market products. The older and better comes with an ivory parchment label, and is a whisky of some character, not near so sweet as Jack Daniels Black, once a premium, now more "up-market redneck", or Maker's Mark - a lot of hat and a few cattle in my eyes, an extra $2 for the red wax.
Bourbons(and Tennessee whiskeys) lend themselves to side by side comparison, with a modestly priced label as a "benchmark" for comparison.
The traditional "baseline" for comparing Bourbons used to be "Old Crow", a harsh, edgy inexpensive bottle, but today's drinkers look for smoother results, and Jim Beam is likely a better place to work up from. There are literally dozens of Bourbons, from cheap to heftily overpriced "single barrel" bottlings. "Wild Turkey" has always seemed to me to be an "over-promoted" whiskey, quality ranking well below price.
#10
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Fwiw, many airlines have selected Woodford Reserve as their premium bourbon (and use Maker's Mark as the non-premium). Maybe selected based on quality but more likely on brand recognition, still it is an endorsement of sorts from independent tasters.
#12
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#13
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See http://www.esquire.com/features/drin...ap-liquor-0209
#14
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
Programs: Many, slipping beneath the horizon
Posts: 9,859
"Crown" is not Bourbon (or Tennessee Whisky) at all, nothing more than a heavily flavored and colored blend of principally "Canadian" style whiskeys.
It's only noticeable virtue is that it's "smooth", not much a of virtue in the eyes of folks who enjoy the spectrum of aromas, flavors and "edges" in real whisk(e)ys not so carefully formulated and marketed to appeal to folks whose pocketbooks are thicker than their palates are sophisticated.
Want to duplicate "Crown" at home? Prepare in an iron skillet a little homemade caramel, and mix a teaspoon of it into about 6 ounces of much cheaper "Seagram's 7 Crown " . Shazaam, cheap "Crown Royal"!
#15
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1
I think Crown has a great taste, I also like many other whiskies and will try any offered to me, but Crown, and I've had all the current versions of it, is my favorite. XR is very good and to answer the question that started this yes, buy even if only as an investment, because an unopened bottle of XR is gonna keep shootin up in value. See how I did that? I answered the question of the original post and also gave my opinion without sounding like a snoody prick who thinks they have remarkable taste, and you dont... some people