Canadian, No Age Statement, 51.5% ABV, $44

I’ve never been a fan of Crown Royal (or Canadian whiskey for that matter), but a friend handed me this sample and told me it was surprisingly good, so here we are.  This is the original barrel delivered to Spec’s in Dallas.  I have no way of knowing how this compares with current offerings and I’ve since seen this practically everywhere in the DFW metroplex.

The smell is first of all sweet with vanilla, butterscotch, brown sugar, milk chocolate and a mild alcohol burn.  The taste is similar, but not as sweet, offering the expected vanilla, butterscotch and brown sugar with a finish that is thin with a bit of burn.  There are notes of milk chocolate midway through and some mild varnish on the finish.  Still, it’s fairly solid and somewhat enjoyable.  Eventually, there is some dried honey up front and some straw and young leather on the finish with the latter tasting  tannic, but not much excitement.

This isn’t bad, but tastes somewhat artificial and doctored.  The flavors are simple and mostly enjoyable, but not well integrated.  If you suspend the critical aspects of your palate and just enjoy the show, then you probably will.  For the price, I think I’ll pass.

Thanks to Mark E. for the sample.