If Crown Royal has been your go-to pour for a while and you’re looking for the next step, we’ve got a list of five comparable whiskies. There’s another from Canada, alongside bottles from Scotland, Ireland, and Japan.
Crown Royal’s appeal goes beyond its fetching velvet bag. It’s a whisky with plenty of history and a flavor profile built around sweetness, vanilla, gentle oak and fruit. Everything we’ve listed below shares at least some of those characteristics, while taking you somewhere slightly different without costing a fortune.
Aberfeldy 12 Year Old, 40%, $40 / £42 / ₹5,482
When looking for whiskies that are similar to Crown Royal, Scotch whisky can provide a very welcome next step. Aberfeldy 12 Year Old is a sweet, honey-driven single malt with a very approachable, easy-drinking style from a historic distillery.
If you don’t want to jump straight into heavy peat or aggressive cask influence, Aberfeldy 12 is a gentle transition into a different whisky category. It’s an affordable, sweet pour that offers more malt character without moving too far away from the approachable style that makes Crown Royal so popular.
Jameson Black Barrel, 40%, $30 / £30 / ₹4,200
Ireland also feels like a natural next step for Crown Royal drinkers. Jameson Black Barrel combines grain whiskey and single pot still whiskey, with double-charred barrels helping to create a bolder, richer flavor profile.
It’s almost a crossover between the easy sweetness of Irish whiskey and some of the richer oak flavors associated with bourbon. Think caramel, toasted oak, vanilla and gentle spice, with a longer-lasting flavor than its famous green-bottled sibling.
Jameson has been a go-to bottle for generations, and Black Barrel gives you more richness and oak while keeping the smooth, accessible character that made the original so popular.
Pike Creek 10 Year Old Rum Cask, 42%, $41 / £33
Back to Canada for this one. Pike Creek 10 Year Old was previously released with a port cask finish, but this version uses rum barrels for its secondary maturation.
It naturally hits many of the sweeter notes found in Crown Royal, with the rum casks bringing additional brown sugar, vanilla and molasses character. The slightly higher ABV also gives those flavors a little more weight and staying power.
This is a really good-value bottle that shows another side of Canadian whisky without straying too far from familiar territory. It’s also one of the Canadian whiskies we can get reasonably consistently here in the UK, making it something of a niche but well-liked bottle on our side of the Atlantic.
Toki Blended Japanese Whisky, 43%, $28 / £28 / ₹4,000
Japanese and Canadian whisky have more in common than you might initially expect. Both have strong traditions of blending different styles of whisky to create something balanced, approachable and consistent.
Toki is Suntory’s accessible blended whisky, bringing together whisky from its Hakushu, Chita and Yamazaki distilleries. Hakushu contributes bright orchard fruit, herbal notes and gentle smoke, while Chita brings soft sweetness and a rounded texture. Yamazaki adds extra spice and complexity.
There is a little smoke here, but nothing that should frighten someone coming from Crown Royal. Instead, Toki is clean, light and easy drinking, with enough sweetness and fruit to make the transition feel familiar.
It’s a very different whisky geographically, but its balance and drinkability make it an easy recommendation for Crown Royal drinkers looking to explore Japanese whisky.
Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Whisky, 40%, $23 / £25 / ₹3,780
This one feels like a bit of a no-brainer. Monkey Shoulder is one of the biggest names in the blended malt category. A blended malt is made by combining single malt whiskies from different distilleries, without the grain whisky you would find in a traditional blended Scotch.
Sourced from Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie, all owned by William Grant & Sons, this is a very vanilla-forward blended malt that has carved out its own space among drinkers looking for something easygoing.
It isn’t the most complex whisky, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s an approachable style that works well neat and is equally at home in cocktails.
For Crown Royal drinkers, that combination of sweetness, smoothness, and versatility should feel immediately familiar, even though the whisky itself is made in a completely different way.
Why These Bottles Work for Crown Royal Drinkers
Crown Royal Fine De Luxe is built around a pretty approachable set of flavors: vanilla, fruit, sweet oak and a smooth, creamy texture. That gives us a useful starting point when looking for bottles to try next.
None of these five whiskies is supposed to be a direct replacement for Crown Royal. Instead, each takes one or more of those familiar characteristics and moves them in a slightly different direction.
Most importantly, none requires Crown Royal drinkers to completely reset their palate. They offer enough familiarity to be immediately enjoyable, while giving you somewhere new to go next.
Read the full article at 5 Whiskies To Try If You Love Crown Royal
