Dusty Thursday: Eagle Rare 101 (circa 1979)

Back in February, I sampled a bottle of the now discontinued Eagle Rare 101 distilled, as is today's version, by Buffalo Trace. The bottle I'm sampling today, though, dates to before the label was sold to Buffalo Trace. It was originally a Seagram's brand made at the Old Prentice Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, which is now Four Roses.


Eagle Rare 101 Old Prentice, (circa 1979), 10 years old, 50.5% abv

The nose is a bit musty and very woody with some sweet maple syrup The palate is heavily spicy and minty in a mouth wash sort of way which continues into the finish. This is a very nice bourbon and one I'd happily buy if it was available, but I must say I preferred the later, Buffalo Trace version of the 101 that I sampled back in February.

See the LA Whiskey Society reviews of Eagle Rare 101.

Bottom Shelf Blends: Seagram's VO & 7 Crown

Today, I go further down the bottom shelf with a comparisons of two Seagram's whiskeys. Seagram's was once a mighty Canadian beverage company with distilleries in Canada and the US, including Four Roses and LDI. It owned numerous brands including Crown Royal and also marketed spirit-friendly soft drinks such as ginger ale and tonic water. In the late 1990s, however, the company was bought out and sold into many pieces. Today Pernod Ricard, Diageo and even the Coca-Cola company own pieces of this once proud company.

The only whiskeys that still include the Seagram's name are two diageo blends: Seagram's VO and Seagram's 7 Crown.


Seagram's VO, 40% abv ($16)

According to David de Kergommeaux at Canadianwhisky.org, Seagram's VO is "produced at Diageo’s distillery in Valleyfield, Quebec, with some spirit components coming from other plants."

The nose is extremely sweet. It smells like artificial maple syrup. It tastes about like that too. It's syrupy sweet with maybe a slight spice in the background giving way to a vaguely vodka-like alcohol quality. The finish has some ginger. This is sort of a caricature of what I think of as bad Canadian Whisky, sweet without much else going on.


Seagram's 7 Crown, 40% abv ($13)

Possibly because of the Canadian heritage of the company, most people seem to think Seagram's 7 is a Candian Whisky, but it's an American blended whiskey. American blended whiskey must contain 20% straight whiskey and the rest can be neutral spirits (i.e. vodka), coloring and flavoring. The distillery isn't disclosed but for years the whiskey was distilled at LDI, the former Seagram's distillery in Indiana.

The nose is very vaguely whiskey smelling. That's about it. The palate is just foul. It's sweet and only tastes very vaguely of whiskey. It's sort of a generic whiskey taste, though it's more spicy than sweet so tasting blind I might have guessed that it was a really bad rye, but it doesn't have any really distinctive qualities. The major flavor is just alcohol. The finish is like the taste in your mouth after a bad hangover. There's just no reason to drink this.


Well, based on these, I would say the once mighty Seagram's name has definitely fallen on hard times.