Crown Royal Noble Collection Barley Edition

Maple, nut, tea, raisin

Pretty light, not overly sweet nor very spicy. Peanut, maple, green tea, a bit of peat.

Nose is soft and delicate with graham cracker, raw barley malt, bubblegum, stewed pear, musty barn, leather, tobacco, and wet, green wood. Unique. Distracting amount of ethanol for the low proof though. Flavor continues the mild vibe with tea leaf, rice cake, butter, caramel, date, Granny Smith apple, and vanilla. Flavors are rounded but do lack punch. Finish is over in a flash but while it lasts features sweet tea, toasted oak, date, licorice, and nutmeg. I must mention the mouthfeel which is creamy and at the same time sparkly and effervescent to the point of almost coming across as being carbonated. Truly delightful and elevates what otherwise might be a very flat whiskey. Finishes very dry. As a lighter take on a malt whiskey, I found a lot to like but everything here is subdued to the point of being a bit muted. That said, it doesn’t suck but at $80 it’s just too darn pricey for what you get.

This bottle takes time to open up: Hello banana extract and caramelized sugar! The ethanol notes will eventually disappear... (My Crown rye also took forever to open up into notes of cotton candy.) If Crown did a Speyside-style scotch, it would taste something like this but with that Crown sweetness and unique wood flavor. It still costs way too much, but it's different enough to stand on its own legs. Again, I'm shocked how Crown gets better with air in the bottle.