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Whisky Review: Crown Royal Noble Collection 13-Year-Old Blenders’ Mash

We review Crown Royal Noble Collection 13-Year-Old Blenders’ Mash, a higher end Canadian whisky that was confusingly labeled with the term bourbon earlier in the year.

OVERALL RATING

8
$60.00
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Tasting Notes

About:

Canadian whisky with a bourbon-like mash bill of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% barley malts. Aged for a minimum of 13 years in new, charred, American oak barrels, and bottled at 45% ABV. Bottles of 750 ml run for a suggested retail price of $60.
Appearance:
Both in the bottle and in the glass, this whisky is primarily a bronze color with a touch of coppery red, giving it a slightly reddish hue. It’s on the darker side of whiskey in general, but not by too much.
Nose:
The first aroma that manifests as a mellow, sweet vanilla with notes of orange, nutmeg, and a touch of salt adding a spicy, tropical character to the bouquet. While an oak undertone lays low at first, it gradually gets on equal footing with the vanilla, bringing with it notes of rye and clove that turn the overall aroma in an earthier direction, but still remaining relatively sweet.
Palate:
As with the nose, the whisky’s entry is like a mellow vanilla – creamy and rich but not overwhelmingly sweet ­– with a note of green apple adding a mild tartness as well as faint touches of flowers and hay. That gradually transitions to a spicier, oaky, rye-forward flavor – adding notes of clove, pepper, and nutmeg – that gently ramps up as it sits on the tongue and builds to a surprisingly strong burn the longer it sits. Swallowing sends a wave of those spices throughout the back of the mouth with a smoky, caramel sweetness as an undertone. Once that passes, the front of the front of the mouth gets a widespread flare of rye spice that gradually eases back into the smoky caramel that coats with tongue, punctuated with an occasional flare of spice.
Finish:
Comments:

While I can’t compare this whisky to other Crown Royal expressions – having always been turned off by the ostentatious packaging – the 13-year-old Blenders’ Mash is well worth overlooking the velvet bag. This 13-year-old that would be classified as bourbon if it were made in the United States is smooth, interesting, and takes the imbiber through an ebb and flow of sweet and spicy. While neither as subtly complex as an equivalently priced Scotch, nor has bold as a bourbon, it still has an admirable balance that makes it a worthy sipper.


Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Aaron Knapp

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