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Seagram’s VO Canadian blend review

Seagram's VO logo

Seagram's VO Canadian blended whisky review

Seagram’s VO is quite classic Canadian blend, made of whisky at least 6 years of age. I noticed that Google suggest gives you search phrase “VO Scotch”. Apparently people search with that phrase and think the brand is Scottish. So for the record, it’s not. The whisky comes from Canada.

There’s lots of speculation what the letter VO stand for. Some say “Very Old”, some are sure it’s “Very Own”. The roots of this whisky are in Waterloo, Ontario, but nowadays the distillery can be found in Valleyfield, Quebec, owned by Diageo.

I tried to source some info about the blend recipe, but couldn’t find any. Except the fact, that it is at least 6 years old. The Coopered Tot made a great post comparing an old Seagram’s VO blended rye from 1971 to the current one.

THE TOXIC AVENGER of whisky

Seagram’s VO blended whisky is like a B class movie, which has a reputation of being a classic film: everybody knows it’s not that good but there are some elements, that make it above the average. VO has little bit of the usual blended character in a bad way, but there are some unusual notes as well. A fairly good nose combined with a creamy palate: that’s why VO stands out from the usual bulk stuff.

This Canadian blended whisky is like Toxic Avenger, entertaining and full of sparks in a good way. But still toxic, though…

Colour: Golden amber
Nose: Promising aromas, very juicy and fresh. Fruity sweet with small bits of honey. Funny how to me, there’s a feel of rye in there, even though it’s not stated to be rye whisky.
Taste: Buttery fruit marmalade and honey, quite nice. Almost managing to live up to the promising nose.
Finish: Way too quick, spicy with some honey. In finish the nature of the blend usually shows itself in a bad way, which also is the case with Seagram’s VO.
Balance: In my opinion, pretty average blend with above the average nose. So I guess in overall, not so average blend, decent job blending from Seven Crown Distilling Company.

Scoring

73
Nose:Taste:Finish:Balance:
20
18
17
18
Brand: Seagram’s Bottler: Seven Crown Distilling Company Region: Canada ABV: 40%

For getting new ideas regarding whisky check out these articles:

Here’s Ralfy with a nice comparison between Seagram’s VO and Wisers small batch. Ralfy scores Seagram’s very much higher than me:

Johannes Lindblom
Johannes Lindblom
Finnish whisky enthusiast and the author of WhiskyRant! A digital marketing professional by day – a whisky reviewer and informer by night.

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