Crown Royal Reserve

I'd call this really a 3.5, but I'm feeling generous enough to round up. This is a notable improvement on the standard Crown bottling - that extra age leads not only to extra smoothness, but more pronounced flavor. Not that you'd guess it from the nose, though, which is virtually nonexistent. Fortunately, the palate is full of brown sugar and spice, with that unique grain quality that I only seem to find in Canadian whiskies...must be the blending of 100% grain specific whiskies together. I don't know that I'd pay the $45-ish that I see this sell for, but it's pleasant enough.