Crown Royal

I'm about to head over to the Booze Emporium for some Crown Royal blended Canadian whisky (40% alcohol, 80 proof). I know the owner of this blog is loathe to have any corporate advertising pollute this space, but given the Crown and Royal in this particular product, perhaps he will permit me this one liberty.

The production of "Crown Royal" took off as a marketing sensation in 1939 coincident with the first Royal Tour of Canada by reigning monarchs King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. To mark this historic occasion, Samuel Bronfman, President of the Seagram Company, decided to create a quality whisky to be packaged in a crown-shaped bottle and dressed in a distinctive royal purple bag. Like the packaging, the name chosen for the product was intended to reflect the spirit of the age, a marketing concept that quickly caught consumer attention. Crown Royal became the number one selling Canadian whisky in North America.

Canada's Seagram was able to consolidate its position as the number one alcohol distribution company in North America thanks to American prohibition in the 1930s. But sadly, under Samuel Bronfman Jr. the family jewels went bust in Seagram's disasterous merger with Viacom in 2000, a move that soon enough saw Seagram get plundered for all its considerable worth. So much for the family business. For what it's worth, Seagram is dead, but its Crown Royal lives.