Crown Royal Blenders' Mash

The art of Whisky blending.

Nestled by Lake Winnipeg, there’s a small community of Gimli (which means ‘heaven’ in Icelandic). In 1938, the Crown Royal Distillery found its home there, and its still house still serves both as a landmark and a guide for fishermen. The first expression of Whisky was introduced in 1939 by Sam Bronfman (then CEO of Seagram) to celebrate the state visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (current Queen’s Ma and Pa). After 600 blends, they finally found the winner, which goes to show how much attention to detail these people have.

Crown Royal Blender’s Mash is an embodiment of the art of Whisky blending. Blending used to have a bad rep, but it’s actually very difficult to create a perfect blend – your Master Blender needs to be an artist. Canada is especially fond of the process, usually mixing wheat or corn-based Spirits with flavoring rye or barley Whiskies. This particular Canadian Whisky is 64% corn, 32% rye, and 4% malted barley. It’s supposed to be Canada’s answer to Bourbon, at it seems their first attack is quite strong.