Canadian

Crown Royal 16 Year Old Rye: Noble Collection

$70

OVERALL
RATING

Crown Royal 16 Year Old Rye: Noble Collection Review

Name: Crown Royal 16 Year Rye Review: Bold & Sweet Canadian
Item: Crown Royal 16 Year Old Rye: Noble Collection
Rating: 8
Author: Phil Dwyer

Crown Royal's 16-year-old rye whisky delivers a bold, sweet profile with classic notes of mint, tobacco, and vanilla. A rare find that showcases both the earthy qualities of rye and Crown Royal's signature mellow character.

by Phil Dwyer
August 14, 2025

Phil Dwyer is a freelance whisky writer, YouTuber, and former manager of The Whisky Shop Manchester, UK.

Tasting Notes:

About:

Distilled from a mash bill of 90% rye and aged in one use casks for sixteen years. This is one of the oldest and most unusal profiles of Crown Royal available to the market.

Appearance:

Caramel

Nose:

A huge delivery of caraway, cinnamon and mint with a feint touch of tobacco. It comes across as very forward when in the glass, with a big punch of both barrel impact as well as ABV influence, too. It isn’t a huge alcohol percentage, but it certainly works with this.

There are classic notes of vanilla, caramel and a note of butterscotch that seems to pop up in a lot of older Crown Royal releases.

Palate:

Big, sweet and bold! Punchy flavours of mint, tobacco, coriander, basil, sweet red apples, vanilla pods, barrel spice, rye spice,

Finish:

It has quite a bright finish, there’s almost a treble driven crescendo to the whole thing. You have the bass driven qualities of rye, it’s earthy, spicy and a little dirty. Meanwhile you have these very high end notes of glacier cherries, watermelon candies, snapped crème brulee top and warm vanilla custard,.

Comments:

I like this. For the money it’s a really well aged product that has some classic qualities of rye whisky, along with some classic, mellow Crown Royal notes, too.

Trying to to source older rye whiskies is very difficult and rather expensive, so this is a little shining light in the dark. Not the most complex thing I’ve ever come across but genuinely just good.

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.

Phil Dwyer

Phil Dwyer is a freelance whisky writer and consultant. With a decade of experience in whisky retail and nearly as long running Whisky Wednesday on YouTube, Phil is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with fellow whisky lovers. His goal is to make whisky accessible and enjoyable, dispelling the jargon and complexity that can sometimes surround the spirit. In addition to his online presence, Phil managed The Whisky Shop Manchester, where he curated an impressive selection of some of the finest drams available.

All Posts

Latest On The Whiskey Wash