Crown Royal Canadian Whisky Bourbon Mash

Appearance: The whisky pours the familiar color of golden brown snickerdoodles, bouncing lively in the glass and leaving behind lovely legging. It possesses a solid level of clarity despite being a bit muddy or drab in its brightness.

Nose: The aroma is robust, although it does not come off as appealing. A very dry, unappetizing melange of wood shavings and paint thinner hits first, followed by some nuance of estery banana and classic circus peanuts. There is a hint of something promising, apricot, maybe, or guava. Whatever subtleties were to be imparted by the use of bourbon barrels are unfortunately absent in the aroma.

Palate: The first impression as it coats the palate is surprise, pleasantly, that this beverage is not as dominatingly sweet as the more accessible Crown Royal products. That’s about where the pleasantness ends, however, as the next perception is one of a flabby, thin body. The woodiness dominates the taste, evoking near-saline levels of umami and the dry, lingering character of peanut shell dust. Some vanilla appears at this stage, but reads in to a bigger bit of acrid, burnt caramel. There is a drinkability present, in part due to the thinness, once the palate acclimates to the sharper points here, which may be the high point of this drinking experience.