Crown Royal BlackBerry – Yay Or Nay?

Crown Royal is a household name in Canadian whiskey, one which has everybody buzzing about their newest flavor – blackberry. Everybody is talking about it and everyone wants to try it… but it can be difficult to track down. I’m here to help you crack the code on whether it’s really worth it or not.

Obviously, I can’t speak for the national market… I work in a local store and we received 10 cases for our initial delivery and even with a limit of one bottle per person per day, it was sold out in three days. After much debate about whether or not I wanted to try it, I broke down and bought one of the last few bottles that we had. Blackberry is one of those flavors that can either be really good or really bad, especially when it comes to liquor. But my love of blackberry won out and I was so excited to try this even though Crown Royal is not one of my favorite whiskeys.

WHAT. A. DISAPPOINTMENT.

I tried the Blackberry crown straight (both room temperature and cold) as well as in a variety of different cocktails:

– Blackberry Crown & Sprite

– Spiked Blackberry Lemonade

– Blackberry Spritzer

While I can say that it is a very smooth whiskey, I am extremely disappointed in the taste. The first thought that came to my mind was that it tastes like cough syrup (as unfortunately many blackberry-flavored things tend to do). No matter what I have tried mixing the Blackberry Crown with so far, I have not found any mixer to eradicate the cough syrup aftertaste. I honestly expected better from Crown Royal – much better.

So with that said, Crown Royal Blackberry gets a big thumbs down from me.

Have you tried the Crown Royal Blackberry? Drop your opinions and favorite cocktail recipes in the comments below!