# Crown Royal... rye whisky? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416 "2003-08-25T00:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![\_M\_Jonny\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c57346/32.png) [@\_M\_Jonny\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_M_Jonny_B)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/1 "2003-08-25T00:19:21Z")
I’m wondering if anyone has the solution to the ongoing debate about Canadian Whisky: Is it really rye whisky, or do we Canadians just insist (incorrectly) on calling it that? I was suprised to find that there is no official stance on the Crown Royal page. I guess they don’t give out their recipe. Every canadian liquor store specifically has a 'Rye" section where all the canadian whiskies are stocked, but I can’t recall if any of them even specify rye whisky on the bottle. (I’ve been living south of the border for a couple years now) I do seem to recall that the stuff you buy in the US has been blended due to local purity laws or something, but if I buy a bottle in Canada is it pure rye whisky or is it a blend of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/2 "2003-08-25T00:30:32Z")
Tkae a peek here: [http://www.beveragebusiness.com/art-arch/99bry\_rye12.html](http://www.beveragebusiness.com/art-arch/99bry_rye12.html) ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/3 "2003-08-25T00:31:37Z")
Or you might want to TAKE a peek there. ---
**Author:** ![\_M\_Jonny\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c57346/32.png) [@\_M\_Jonny\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_M_Jonny_B)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/4 "2003-08-25T00:42:36Z")
I did both, thanks. I’m going to stick around and see if anyone else wants to weigh in. The reason being, the article was written from an American POV. As I already mentioned I’m pretty sure the canadian whiskys exported to the US are different from those sold locally. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/5 "2003-08-25T02:46:59Z")
I think all Canadian whiskeys are blends. At least this [page](http://www.beerliquors.com/liquors/canadianwhiskey.htm) suggests Crown Royale is. If I recall correctly, there is as distillery in Nova Scotia that laid down a single malt not so long ago, so maybe in 6-10 years there will be a Canadian single malt available. Googling on ``canadian single malt’’ tells me that the name of the distillery is `Glenora’, but clicking the link tells me I don’t have permission to access / on their server. Odd. On page 2 of the google results, however, this [page](http://www.maltwhiskey.com/html/othermalts.htm#Kenloch) says they have already released some of their first single-malts. But I’m not sure if the normal Canadian blends are rye or malt. I tend to stick to the Irish and Scotch whisk(e)ys myself 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/6 "2003-08-25T13:22:34Z")
Canada definety make whiskies that are rye. However, they are certainly not _all_ rye whiskies. For example, my favorite Canadian Rye is **Alberta Premium Rye Whisky**. (BTW - it is generally spelled _whisky_ in Canada). Where to actually be called a _Rye_, it has to have 51% rye grain, this one is a full 100% and it shows. AFAIK, Crown Royal isn’t a Rye. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/7 "2003-08-25T13:25:58Z")
BTW - The ones that are _rye_ whisky actually do say so on the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/9 "2015-10-28T03:06:54Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crown-royal-rye-whisky/197416/10 "2015-10-28T03:12:42Z")
12 year old whisky thread? Good timing.