I know. Whenever I go to Canada, I never quite get used to everyone ordering "coke and rye" or "rye and ginger", then watching the bartender pour CC or Crown into a glass. In my book, Old Grand Dad bourbon is more rye-ish than either of those. What's even stranger to me is the whole Canadian "It's illegal to serve a double in anything other than a double glass" thing that I've never quite understood. What frustrates me is the lack of a decent way to explain the difference to bartenders in under three minutes without just specifying brand ("I'll have an Overholt Manhattan".) If I say, "American Rye", I seem to get Seagrams 7. If I say "Rye", I get Canadian Club. If I say, "I'd like a by-God authentic, more than 51% rye-mashbill American Rye Whiskey", they ask me if I'm from Oklahoma, and I'm forced to admit, "Yes, I am." :) As to the original question, Seagrams VO seems to be a great Canadian for the buck. It really has some rye in it , and it's great as a mixer.. I actually like it better than the VO Gold. And if you're doing the whole rye and ginger / hiball thing, you owe it to yourself to try out some real American rye whiskey with ginger ale. Old Overholt is great as a mixer (avoid the Jim Beam Rye if you can find Overholt), and Wild Turkey Rye is incredible for the money. Overholt typically runs $8-12 a fifth in the US, with Wild Turkey Rye running $16-20ish.