(This bottle finally opened up: Hello banana extract and caramelized sugar! My Crown rye also took forever to open up into notes of cotton candy, and this one did too. The ethanol note is gone.) 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.