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Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrels

Gimli Manitoba's Best Hot Sauce

1 583

@casualtortureReview by @casualtorture

22nd Mar 2019

0

Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrels
  • Nose
    19
  • Taste
    22
  • Finish
    21
  • Balance
    21
  • Overall
    83

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This review is from one of several samples graciously provided by @cricklewood. Just another reason out of many why I am proud to be a Connosr is the graciousness and cordiality of our members.

I reviewed this blind and as of writing this I do not know what the sample is. It is labeled quite humorously as “Gemli Manitoba’s best hot sauce.”

Sample is neat in a glencairn.

Nose: A light, crisp nose of rhubarb, blackberry and raspberry along with a good dose of vanilla. Also, buttery grains. Corn I think, and rye would be my other guess as the secondary grain. There is also a bit of what I would describe as “dusty grass.” If you have ever had a rhubarb dessert dish, then that sums the nose up for the most part. Very approachable.

Palate: The palate takes a sharp turn from the nose in a good way for me. A bit more interesting and makes me think about what I’m tasting. It is very oaky. Bright, fresh oak planks as opposed to deeper, heavy oak notes. Very oaky. Charred caramel chocolate marshmallows? Is that a thing? That’s what I’m getting, and it is quite nice. Like a campfire smores! Chocolate covered caramel candy bars, definitely getting that. There is also more of a smokey/savory/buttery/roasted corn note there as well, albeit to a lesser extent, and they work well together. Light bodied and very easy to drink, I would guess this to be in the 40-49% abv range.

Finish: The rhubarb returns along with chocolate covered raspberries. Medium length and longer than I would expect from what I am assuming to be a lower proof whiskey.

Overall: I enjoyed drinking this more than smelling it. The nose is a bit one dimensional and approachable, but the palate makes up for it. Very quaffable while retaining a good amount of flavor. As drinkable as this is, if I had a bottle of this it would probably go quickly. Thankfully Mr Cricklewood only sent me a sample or I might have downed more than advisable for a Wednesday evening. Thanks again good sir!

After the identity was revealed, I was surprised that this was 51.5%. It does not feel that strong. Glad I got the opportunity to try this. I have 3 more samples to do a blind review of. This is fun!

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5 comments

@casualtorture
casualtorture commented

I forgot to add the mashbill: 64% corn 31% rye & 5% malt, aged on virgin oak.

5 years ago 0

@cricklewood
cricklewood commented

@casualtorture, the community has been good to me and it's a way of keeping the karmic flow going. I'm happy you enjoyed the hot sauce laughing

I'm still getting my head wrapped around this one myself. I find a lot of your notes hit home, the palate is rich and creamy, there's almost an intense cherry/fruit note that works in tandem with the dusty rye spices. I'm curious to see how it will develop with time.

Another bottle that shows the untapped potential of it's distillery.

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@dloewen
dloewen commented

It's a real shame we don't get this bottling here in Canada...I can't figure why CR would make something like this for export only! Usually our Canadian distilleries keep all the good stuff to ourselves! :)

5 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@dloewen Kindof Ironic that @casualtorture had to get this from a Canadian when it was sourced in the US...

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@cricklewood
cricklewood commented

@dloewen I know. The closest we've come is the LCBO exclusive from two years back but that was batched and at Lower proof.

I will politely disagree about Canadian distilleries keeping their best stuff. As far as the Norther Border collection is concerned that is true but only because of the low numbers and I think the Corby team is still proving to Pernod that there is a profitable market for this stuff.

Otherwise all manner of quality whisky is shipped out in tankers or totes to the US and overseas. Think whistlepig, Hochstaders, Mastersons many other brands. Even Sazerac which has tons of barrels of Canadian whiskys for its brands has been sourcing distillate in bulk for years.

The juice is there, there is just no push from companies like Diageo, Suntory Beam and Brown Forman to change their strategies. Ok I'm getting off my soapbox now. Didn't mean to go full rant.

I guess the solution is just to keep buying good Canadian releases and hope that eventually the market will catch up.

5 years ago 2Who liked this?