Crown Royal Ditches Fruit Flavor With 31-Year Blended Whisky, Its Rarest and Oldest Bottling to Date

On Wednesday, famed Canadian whisky blender Crown Royal unveiled a 31-year-old expression, narrowly beating out last year’s 30 YO whisky as the brand’s oldest bottling to date. It’s the latest in a trend as Crown Royal explores high-end offerings far removed in flavor (and price point) from its flagship budget-friendly fare.

The release was gathered from barrels of Canadian rye whisky selected by master blender Mark Balkenende. Within, the brand says to expect a unique spiced character punctuated by notes of red apple, toasted oak and subtle vanilla.

Bottled at 46% ABV, the spirit is available now at a suggested retail price of $599 in select regions including Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

“Crown Royal Aged 31 Years is our rarest variant to date and serves as the perfect addition to any luxury spirits collection,” Hadley Schafer, VP of Crown Royal, remarked in a news release. “This whisky has been patiently aging for over three decades, and it’s a true representation of the journey we have taken to create something extraordinary. We are excited to share this unique expression with our loyal brand adorers.”

Most consumers know the brand best for its cornucopia of flavored offerings spanning Crown Royal Apple, Peach, Vanilla, Salted Caramel and Blackberry. These are, without a doubt, some of the most iconic and beloved flavored whiskies that money can buy. Though prices typically clock in around $20 to $50, the limited nature of some of these releases combined with their cult status has been known to drive up scarcity.

A 31-year-old whisky priced at nearly $600 obviously breaks the mold, though isn’t entirely unprecedented. In addition to last year’s 30 YO whisky (itself preceded by a 29 YO bottling), the brand recently unveiled an inaugural single malt that fell somewhere in between its lower-shelf and super-premium offerings.

Elsewhere, the brand has gleefully smashed those genres together. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Crown Royal Golden Apple, a flavored whisky aged a virtually unheard-of 23 years.

At a certain point, we just need to stop asking questions and start letting Crown Royal do what it wants to do.