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N<\/span>early a decade ago, a reserve batch of Canada\u2019s<\/a> Crown Royal whisky struck awe in the hearts of critics. \u201cTo say this is a masterpiece is barely doing it justice,\u201d wrote the British reviewer Jim Murray, adding that the company\u2019s upmarket offering took rye to \u201cnew heights of beauty and complexity\u201d.<\/p>\n But earlier this week, holding a hulking glass bottle in front of a gaggle of cameras, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, slowly poured the hazel liquid on to the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what I think of Crown Royal,\u201d he said, standing defiantly next to the puddle. He said the company\u2019s owners were \u201ca few fries short of a Happy Meal\u201d and \u201cdumb as a bag of hammers\u201d.<\/p>\n For months, staff at liquor stores across Canada have dutifully kept American wines and spirits off the shelves, retaliation for a trade war<\/a> provoked by Donald Trump. Sales of US brands have cratered and executives have fretted over the \u201csignificant headwinds\u201d from the boycotts which have seen millions of dollars in sales slip away.<\/p>\n This week, the multinational owners of Crown Royal provoked the wrath of Ford \u2013 head of Canada\u2019s most economically powerful province \u2013 when they announced plans to shutter its plant in Ontario and move operations to the US.<\/p>\n Ford, who has emerged as one of Canada\u2019s fiercest critics of US protectionism<\/a>, said the planned move was a betrayal and called on others to dump the product in protest.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re sitting around, just absolutely as smug as they come \u2026 they\u2019re hurting Ontario residents,\u201d Ford said of the company\u2019s executives. \u201cA message to the CEO in France: you hurt my people, I\u2019m gonna hurt you. You\u2019re gonna feel the pain in February when these people don\u2019t have a pay cheque.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadian whisky, first introduced 86 years ago to mark a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, has long stressed its roots in both domestic and international advertising. Sold in a distinct purple cloth bag with gold stitching, the drink is made with Canadian grains and water from Manitoba\u2019s Lake Winnipeg. While it was initially only available in Canada, a decision to sell it south of the border in the 1960s has made it the top-selling Canadian whisky in the US.<\/p>\n Once part of the Seagram empire, the brand was acquired in 2001 by Diageo<\/a>, the London-based multinational company, when the Canadian beverage and entertainment conglomerate collapsed.<\/p>\n