Unifor concerned Crown Royal blended in U.S. won’t be true Canadian whisky

Unifor alleged Friday that plans to move some Crown Royal bottling and blending from Amherstburg to the U.S. means it will no longer be purely Canadian whisky — unless they also send Canadian water with it.

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“The decision to shutter Amherstburg and kill more than 200 Canadian jobs was made in a boardroom in England by people who do not understand the history of the brand, with an American spin doctor tasked with addressing valid concerns about the legitimacy of maintaining Crown Royal as a true Canadian whisky,” said Unifor Local 200 President John D’Agnolo, who represents plant employees.

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Article content “It’s time for Diageo to come clean on how it plans to bottle Crown Royal past February of next year — beyond vague statements of multiple sites in the U.S. and unspecified plans to mash, blend, age, and distill in Canada.”

Article content Crown Royal parent company Diageo, based in the U.K., announced Aug. 28 it will close the Amherstburg bottling plant by February. It did not immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment on Friday.

Article content Diageo said last week that Crown Royal will continue to be mashed, aged, and distilled in Canada for all markets, including the U.S.

Article content But moving the blending and bottling processes to the U.S. means Crown Royal sold there will no longer be truly Canadian, according to the union.

Article content Unifor said local employees who have processed Crown Royal for decades don’t see how unbottled booze could be sent to the U.S. solely for bottling because, at a minimum, water must be added at the end stage.

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Article content The union also pointed out “the irrationality and impracticality of contorting the process to ship unbottled liquid product to the U.S. without impacting the quality of the whisky and incurring needless safety risks.”

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Article content “If the whisky is shipped in liquid form to be bottled in the U.S., experienced Crown Royal workers warn the quality could be compromised during transport,” said D’Agnolo. “The workers also believe that bottling in the U.S. would still require the addition of water, and possible other ingredients, which risks altering the strict standards of Crown Royal, especially if American water is used.”

Article content Workers, retirees and supporters held a rally Wednesday in front of the Amherstburg Diageo plant, calling on the company to reverse its decision and expressing how hurtful it is.

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Diageo’s plant-closing announcement also caught the ire of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. He capped off an unrelated media conference in Kitchener on Tuesday by dumping a bottle of Crown Royal on the ground and calling the company “about as dumb as a bag of hammers.”