Since 1939, the Crown Royal bottle and label have undergone a series of changes that can help date your bottle. To start, due to the brand’s origins, the name “Waterloo” continued to appear on its label until the early 21
st century although the Seagram Distillery closed in 1992. You can also consider the following changes to the bottle and label:
- In the early 1950s, the colour of the bottle cap changed from black to purple. Additionally, they changed the ages of the whiskies from the original 35 and 10 years to 30 and 9 years
- In the 1950s-1960s, the ages of the oldest and youngest whiskies were included on the back label
- In the 1970s, the company stopped including the age information on the back label
- In 1977, metric measurements were added to the front label
- In the early 1980s, a government health warning statement was added to the back label
- In 1981, the name “Seagram’s” was removed from the front label and a neckband with a single crown was added. A handle was also added to the 1.75 liter bottle
- In 1993, the colour of the curtains and crown jewels were enhanced on the front label. Also, the lion and the unicorn were removed and multiple crowns were added to the neckband
- In 2000, Diageo purchased the brand and production moved to Gimli, Manitoba. The bottling and blending of Crown Royal moved to Amherstburg, Ontario.
- In 2012, Crown Royal XR (Red) was produced. This first edition of Crown Royal XR contained the final batch of whiskies from the legendary Waterloo Distillery. This blend is very rare and no longer in production today.
The earliest example of Crown Royal in our collection dates to the late 1940s. Of the 1,200 bottles of Crown Royal originally produced in 1939, only one privately owned example is known to exist.