Review by: TOModera

Hi again! Recently we were asked to clean out all of our kitchen, and during this fall cleaning, I found an old Rye that I had forgotten I had, Crown Royal Special Reserve.

A little background: I used to only drink Manhattan`s, specifically made with rye. I eventually moved on to Scotch, and as such put away my bottle of old Manhattan mix. Keep in mind that this bottle is from 7 years ago, so Crown Royal Special Reserve may have changed over the last few years.

Unfortunately I can’t find anything of a background on this one. I’m assuming that they’ve replaced it with Royal Reserve. According to the website, they take less than 1% of the barrels used and specially age them to make this blend.

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Distillery: Diageo

Bottler: Diageo / Crown Royal

Region: The Grand Duchy of Canuckastan (Canada)

ABV: 40%

Age: Unknown Age

Cask type: Unknown

Price: $52.95 (CAD)

Color: Caramel

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Nose: Vanilla, caramel, maple, earthiness, botanical gardens, orange rind, faint melon, rubbing alcohol. Interesting nose. Very flavourful, and really gets your taste buds started.

Palate: Bitters, sour fake lemon, burnt potato, dragonfruit, melon. What happened? I started out very excited for my old staple, and here I am having some chemical fruit potato salad bitter fest. Very disappointing. My tongue may go on strike after having two drams of this one. Turns out that University me was right to mix this with vermouth, cherries, and ice.

Finish: Long, dirt, Stevia, Tobasco, McDonald`s Pancakes. An uppercut to the taste buds, and not in a good way. This is cloying sweet, following by a “too much cumin” flavour, or perhaps that flavour you get when you land face first on the ground and embed a pixie stick in your mouth.

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Conclusion: This is a very pricey rye with no pay off. With all the other options out there, don’t go for this one. I’m more annoyed at the nose, as it got my hopes up, only to dash them against the rocks (pun not intended).

Final Score: 39.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.