Whatever the case, this limited edition release left me wanting more from it in almost every sense of the experience. The body was a bit light for my tastes, possibly a result of such a small percentage of the barley being malted, possibly simply due to the barley that was used, or some combination of both. It lacks any sense of terroir as you would get from Scotch, and is too flaccid and angular to really embody the soulfulness of Irish. With this particular bottling, which prices out at $79.99 per 750ml bottle, I found myself grasping at the ‘why’ of this release. There are a myriad of reasons to release a particular style of whiskey, especially when making the decision to release a single grain. The ‘Barley Edition’ blend is comprised of full-barley whiskies from a mash of 85% unmalted and 15% malted barley, making it perhaps closer to an Irish whiskey than any other style. That is certainly the case here, although it lacks the robustness of a typical high malted barley whisky. In that sense, a limited release from a mash bill of 100% barley should naturally skew closer to the original in terms of body, sweetness, and vanilla character. Though officially a ‘Canadian whisky’ the blend of the flagship Crown Royal brand is of a mash bill more closely resembling bourbon than your typical (read: Very high rye mash) Canadian whisky. According to lore, a whisky entrepreneur, upon hearing news of the impending visit, set out to distill and produce a batch of whisky fit for royalty and, long story short– Crown Royal was born. In doing so, he became the first sitting monarch in history to visit not only Canada, but the entire North American continent. He ascended to the throne in 1936 in the heat-up to WWII when his older brother and heir apparent Prince Edward abdicated his claim so he could go marry a saucy American dame (the cheekiness here is all mine).Īs the story goes, George VI and his wife visited mainland Canada in May and June of 1939, less than six months before England (and all members of the Commonwealth) would declare war on Germany. The ‘Noble Edition’ was originally launched in part to pay tribute to England’s King George VI, a figure who looms large in the Crown Royal mythology. The seventh expression in the limited release ‘Noble Collection’, the ‘Barley Edition’ represents Crown Royal’s final entry in their series of annual special releases begun in 2016. In fact, when you consider that Crown Royal, long the standard-bearer (and best selling) of mid-tier Canadian whisky, has also gotten into the game by releasing the ‘Barley Edition’ of its award-winning ‘Noble Collection’ series, it’s safe to say the whiskey industry at large sees great potential for continued growth in the category. Not long after the classic ‘Old Fashioned’ cocktail took over the vodka & tonic as the most ordered call at your local bar, large swaths of the population seemingly decided concurrently that rye whiskey was the superior whiskey of choice.īarrel-proof whiskey soon got its spin in the limelight, then Japanese whisky got so big so astronomically fast it actually led to a worldwide shortage, causing prices to positively skyrocket.Īs we have intimated in this space before if the last few years of sales figures are any indicator, it would appear we are in the nascent stages of American barley whiskey taking its turn behind the wheel driving the next big sub-genre boom. One of the collateral phenomenons of the great whiskey resurgence of the 21st century has been the periodic (seemingly organic….?) eruption of micro-crazes surrounding sub-genres in the overall world of whisk(e)y. It should also be noted that by clicking the buy link in this review our site receives a small referral payment which helps to support, but not influence, our editorial and other costs. This in no way, per our editorial policies, influenced the final outcome of this review. Editor’s Note: This whisky was provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it.
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