Realtree and Crown Royal have officially struck a partnership to produce 100,000 cases of limited edition Canadian whiskey.
As part of the deal, the iconic purple Crown Royal bag will be replaced with Realtree's APX camo pattern. For hunters and whiskey drinkers, it is exactly the collaboration nobody knew they needed.
But the launch event at Realtree Farms in Georgia turned out to be something bigger than just a product announcement.
A group of entertainment journalists from Los Angeles and New York arrived in the Georgia pines alongside Rob Rausch, Realtree’s Bill Jordan, and the Crown Royal team. No one could’ve predicted what happened next.
City Meets Country: Inside Realtree x Crown Royal’s Launch Event
Near Columbus, Georgia, is one of the many rural pockets of the world where our fast-paced society loosens its grip just enough for you to notice what has been there all along.
Not in some exaggerated romantic sense, but in a way that perhaps quietly disarms you if you are not used to it. The pace changes. So do the sounds.
The constant hum and city buzz that follows most through modern life fades into something softer, less urgent, and far more authentic.
There at Realtree Farms, that shift begins almost immediately. The land opens, the air clears, and the small details, water lapping against the bank, the distant break of a largemouth bass, the slow rise of smoke from a crackling fire, begin to register in a way they rarely do elsewhere.
Though I was there to report on a straightforward partnership deal between Realtree Camouflage and Crown Royal, the true story was far more than that – whiskey and business aside, the true story was of a group of relative outsiders, city-folk, from all walks of life, race, and orientation. Great people. People I could chat with about anything, just not detailed hunting topics — and that was totally fine. I appreciated their perspectives and the change in conversation. Frankly, I talk about hunting, fishing, and firearms so much that small talk about Taylor Swift and reality television drama was welcomed, though I had little to contribute.
But this is where the magic happened. Arriving from Los Angeles and New York, the group felt the shift from nonstop hustle to the event’s kickback vibe, unfamiliar to many.
These were individuals accustomed to interpreting culture from within it, to moving quickly between conversations, deadlines, and narratives that rarely allow for stillness.
Here, there was nothing to keep pace with. No noise to compete against. Just the great outdoors, and the quiet insistences that slowed them down long enough to take it in.
How One Simple Question Set the Evening’s Tone
It did not take long for the first question to surface, and when it did, it carried a kind of unfiltered honesty that is increasingly rare.
One writer, while on the bus to the event, without pretense, asked whether hunters actually care about the animals they pursue.
“I thought hunters were just out there to kill animals,” she questioned.
It was not framed as a critique, nor offered as a provocation. It was a genuine attempt to understand something that had, until that moment, existed entirely at a distance.
The reality, as those within the outdoor community understand, is that hunting and conservation are not opposing ideas but deeply intertwined ones.
As Bill Jordan, owner of Realtree explained in conversation, the structure supporting that relationship is both practical and substantial.
“The amount of money that comes back into the states for wildlife management goes much deeper than just hunting,” he said, referring to the system of licenses and funding that sustain conservation efforts across the country.
That explanation only begins to capture the broader truth. What is more difficult to articulate is the lived understanding that develops over time, the recognition that stewardship is not a position but a responsibility, and one that is carried forward season after season. And in this case, spread word of mouth in sacred moments of genuine understanding.
If that simple question marked the beginning of something, the evening that followed gave it shape.
When Big City Journalists Tried Wild Game
As the sun set and the air cooled, the group gathered around a fire that became the center of the experience.
There was no presentation, no structured introduction to what was about to unfold.
Food was prepared in the same way it always has been in places like this, over open flame prepared by Realtree’s wild game experts and shared with minimal ceremony and plenty of craft cocktails.
The smell arrived first, unmistakable and hunger-rousing. Dove poppers wrapped in bacon, the fat rendering slowly as it met the flame. Backstrap, cut thick and cooked simply, holding both its texture and its flavor. Quail, unfamiliar to many in attendance, was passed around with no explanation, but rather to enjoy.
There was a moment, be it brief, where hesitation could still be sensed. A pause before someone reached forward, a glance that seemed to ask whether this was, in fact, something they wanted to try.
And then, as it so often does, that hesitation gave way to experience. A first bite, followed by another. A call for seconds, even thirds. Expressions shifted. Palettes became adventurous. And prior preconceived apprehensions drifted away.
What had been uncertain was now, at the very least, understood. It came from just being out there on that shoreline and the simple act of being present in something real.
READ MORE: Michael Hunter: Wild Game Cooking Secrets From Antler Kitchen & Bar Co-founder
Realtree x Crown Royal: Two Iconic Brands, One Shared Purpose
That distinction lies at the center of what Realtree and Crown Royal set out to do.
“We wanted to bring people into the experience in a real way—not just show it to them.”
“We wanted to bring people into the experience in a real way—not just show it to them,” Hadley Schafer, Vice President of Crown Royal explained.
This quote carries significant weight in the context of the evening. To be shown something is to remain separate from it. To be brought into it is to allow it to challenge what you thought you understood.
The partnership itself, which is a perfect fit in my opinion, was rooted in shared recognition. Crown Royal, long associated with social gatherings, had been looking toward the outdoor space as a natural extension of that identity.
Realtree, with its deep ties to both heritage and evolving lifestyle, represented not just authenticity but continuity.
From Realtree’s perspective, the alignment required little deliberation. “Two iconic brands… rooted in the same thing,” plainly stated Brian Doughman, VP of Realtree Licensing and Retail. “We’re both bringing people together constantly.”
That shared purpose is something that has long existed within the outdoor lifestyle, though it is often overlooked by those who have not experienced it firsthand.
As Bill Jordan of Realtree explained, “From day one, it’s always been family, friends, and the outdoors… there’s a big lifestyle piece where people just come together and enjoy it.”
Realtree just doesn’t talk about it — they live it. While its origins are firmly planted in camouflage, its reach has expanded beyond traditional definitions of hunting and fishing.
“We’ve been in the camo space for 40 years, but the lifestyle piece… You don’t have to be a hunter or fisherman to be drawn to the patterns.”
“We’ve been in the camo space for 40 years,” Jordan said, “but the lifestyle piece… you don’t have to be a hunter or fisherman to be drawn to the patterns.”
In that sense, camouflage becomes less about concealment and more about connection, a visual language that carries the values of its origin into broader cultural spaces.
Take for instance Realtree’s other collaborations with international brands such as Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS or Nike’s Jordan Brand, plus many others.
Crown Royal operates in a parallel way. “Grounded in generosity”, described by Stephen Wilson, Director of Whiskey Engagement, and “born as a gift,” it exists most naturally in the moments where people gather and share time.
There was no better setting than around the fire that evening. The sound of drinks being shaken, the passing of a glass, the understanding that the day had moved from activity into something more reflective.
READ MORE: Realtree, Drake White Release Documentary: ‘Ladder to the Sky’
Giving Back
The collaboration also carries a philanthropic element consistent with Crown Royal’s longstanding commitment to veterans and generosity. The brand is making a $20,000 donation to the Purple Heart Foundation, with an additional portion of proceeds from the Realtree x Crown Royal clothing collection benefiting the organization.
The Crown Royal Camo Capsule Collection is available now at https://www.crownroyal.com/crown-royal-realtree while supplies last.
Rob Rausch: Traitors Star Who Drew Crowd to Georgia
For many in attendance, the initial draw had been Rob Rausch, a familiar presence from the world of entertainment starring in reality shows such as Love Island and, most recently, Traitors.
Yet what became evident, almost immediately, was that his connection to the setting was not constructed for the occasion.
“I grew up on a 200-acre farm… spent 90 percent of my time outdoors,” Rausch said, describing a childhood shaped less by structure than by closeness to the land and family.
That upbringing, he explained, informed his understanding of what matters. “It gives you a different outlook on what value is… It’s not material things, it’s relationships.”
Even now, as his public profile has dramatically expanded, that grounding remains central.
When asked how he is handling his newfound stardom, he simply responded, “I’m doing my best not to adapt… I still live in Florence, Alabama. That keeps me grounded,” he said.
In that sense, on the night, he was the bait to get the writers there, but in reality, he was the bridge between our outdoor world and that of the general masses.
READ MORE: 5 Top Bourbons With An Outdoorsy Vibe
The Night Realtree x Crown Royal Brought Everyone Together
As the evening continued, the changes that had begun earlier became more visible – and it wasn’t the fine Canadian whiskey at play, though I am sure it contributed…
Writers who had arrived with specific questions now found themselves asking different ones.
There was a growing awareness, greater curiosity, and soon I witnessed Bill Jordan holding court, seated firmly between a New Yorker and an Angeleno simply shooting the shit about everything from perceptions of LA to commenting on the fish caught earlier.
In a time where so much of interaction is filtered and often shaped by tech, it is easy to forget how much of this nation’s divide is sustained by the absence of shared experience.
Because in a setting like this, those divisions don’t have as much to hold on to. There are no comment sections around a fire, no algorithms shaping the conversation, no expectation to perform or persuade. There is only the moment itself, and the people within it.
And in that space, something shifted.
People relaxed. They listened differently. And their heads nodded in the most delightful ways.
They considered perspectives that might have once felt distant. They recognized, perhaps for the first time, that the gap between the big city and the stereotypes it seems to create and those from rural towns is not as fixed as it seems.
Again, at its core, I was expecting to report on a genuine collab — Realtree Camouflage and Crown Royal, yet it became so much more. It was an opportunity to leave with a deeper understanding of our commonalities vs our differences.
Because in the end, the outdoors has never been about convincing anyone of anything.
It has always been about what happens when you step into it, when you allow it to slow you down, to bring you into proximity with both the land and the people around you.
And on that night, somewhere between the first hesitant question and the last quiet conversation by the fire, something happened that cannot easily be measured or repeated.
A shift that stays with you long after you’ve gone back to where you came from.
