Crown Royal Deluxe

I was surprised when I read about Crown’s notes of fruity grape, but sure enough, there it is. An inoffensive and semi-novel sweet and smooth whiskey, I guess, but nothing interesting enough to take me away from my bourbon.

50 mL miniature for $2.60 Nose - Very light, caramel, baked apples, brown sugar, orange peel, no ethanol. Palate - Tastes like watered down bourbon, caramel, flaky bread, and raisins. The medium-short finish is the most surprising thing about this, since I expected no finish. The sugar lingers, with hints of dry tannins at the end. It's smooth and lacks any ethanol punch. I bought this mini bottle to compare with my Hand Selected Barrel review and it turns out, this is not as bad as I thought it would be. Crown Royal Black was one of the worst whiskeys I've ever tasted, so I was prepared to hate this. It's one-note, simple, light, and sweet, but harmless and easy to drink. I have no idea why anyone would pay $30 for this when you can get a low proof bourbon that drinks similarly for half the price, but I'm not part of the market that waters down 80 proof whiskey with ice to remove all flavor.

I enjoyed crown royal when I first started the whiskey journey. As I have tried more whiskeys, going back to crown royal - I feel a bit disappointed at the lack of character and don’t enjoy it as much.