Good bourbon at a great value: Four Roses Yellow Label

My wife and I are finally reaching the end of all the Four Roses Single Barrels we bought last year. And we’ve had a good run with them. We did comparisons. We played with blending, even going so far as to try to approximate our own Yellow Label at cask strength. It was a resounding success. That was a great Christmas present we gave ourselves. 

It was also over five hundred and fifty dollars. For many people, myself included, this is not a price point you look at lightly. You don’t regularly just walk up, plunk down roughly six hundred dollars and walk away with bourbon. If you do, that’s cool. But, I don’t understand you. 

Maybe it’s the fact that I grew up dirt poor in a trailer park that causes me to be always on the lookout for a deal. I’m not cheap, I’ll splurge just like most people. But I want it to be “worth it.” I like value. And finishing that last bit of last year’s splurge got me to thinking about the fact one of the things that drew me to Four Roses in the first place was their entry priced bourbon. The one normally referred to as Yellow Label. And coincidentally one of the best values in bourbon.

Four Roses Yellow Label

Purchase info: $15.99 for a 750 mL at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Initially: fresh green pea pods. After sitting a bit: delicate floral notes. hints of bubble gum and caramel. 

Mouth: Soft in the mouth. Juicyfruit gum, mint, vanilla, ginger and underneath it all is a floral hint of that pea pod from the nose.

Finish: Warm but gentle with a lingering sweetness.

Thoughts: Four Roses likes to tout their bourbon as mellow and this certainly lives up to that billing. Gentle and sweet, this is a conversation bourbon. Meaning that it is a bourbon to have during a conversation, not one that starts one. It’s there for when you want to concentrate on the person you are conversing with, not the bourbon in your glass. I like it a lot and for less than $20 per bottle, it’s a great value.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

I used to be a “try-every-bourbon-you-can” sort of guy. I’d buy one of everything on the shelf over the course of a year. I’d long for those bottles that were featured on the blogs, but that I didn’t get to try. I traded samples. I waited in lines. I searched stores (sometimes going from one to another). I attended events. Over time, I tried a lot of bourbon that way. 

But as I settled into my bourbon journey for the long-haul, I stopped trying so hard to get the “next big thing.” I still attend events, but I do it more to talk with fellow bourbon lovers than I do to taste what’s in the glass (though that is a nice bonus). But I don’t try very hard to get most of the “Limited Edition” bourbons that come out each fall. Pappy is too expensive, plus I generally don’t prefer wheated bourbons. Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection is too much effort to find for a lazy guy like me. Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is one I like to get, but apparently doesn’t show up at the stores I frequent. So like I said I don’t try very hard to get these. 

Well, except for one: the Four Roses autumn release of the Limited Edition Small Batch.

I first ran across this at a tasting a local liquor store chain was having. Minnesota was in the midst of a government shut-down so the store lined up a few more types of bourbon than they might normally have served. We tasted through the Jefferson’s bourbon line, including the last of the 17 year and the first of the 18 year bourbons. We tasted a few different types of Prichard’s including the Tennesee whiskey and the double barreled bourbon. But for me, the highlight of the night was tasting through the Four Roses line. Even then, I knew that I loved four Roses. We had the Yellow Label, the Small Batch, the Single Barrel and a “special one” that turned out to be the 2009 Mariage bourbon (the previous name of the Limited Edition Small Batch). I was blown away by it. So much so that once my wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011, I scoured the Twin Cities looking for another bottle. I wanted that bottle very much and wasn’t going to settle, even passing up an offer of Pappy instead from one retailer after I told him why I was looking so hard. I eventually did get it and it was that bottle we celebrated her first diagnosis of there being no sign of cancer left in her body. I still have a few samples put away for the 5 year mark.

Ever since then, I’ve tried to pick up at least one bottle per year. In 2012, I happend to be at the gift shop the day it was put out, but had to order a second bottle when the first one ran out. Last year my local retailers were unable to get me one, but a friend came through and shipped me one from another state. Both of those were released to rave reviews and cries of “best-ever!” from reviewers who didn’t have to purchase a bottle in order to taste it. (That isn’t sour grapes, I just choose to only review things I actually purchase.)

This year, the reviews were not quite so glowing. I didn’t read a single “best-ever” from the pre-release crowd. I read a lot of things similar to “it would be hard to follow up those last two years.” But, I’m a Four Roses fan-boy and when my wife and I happened to be in Kentucky for the release again, I knew we needed to get our hands on at least one bottle. Luck was with us though and we each snagged one. 

So how was it? 

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

Purchase Info: $110 at the distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 55.9% ABV. Bottle 9,235 of 12,516

Nose: Candied orange peal, tobacco, allspice and maple. 

Mouth: Light in the mouth. There’s a nice tingle at the front and sides of the mouth. Pears, honey and clove dominate.

Finish: Gentle spice with a lingering sweetness and warmth.

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Thoughts: This is a very good whiskey and I like it a lot. It’s extremely drinkable, even at over 55% ABV. But at $110, when I compare it to a very good Four Roses Single Barrel retailer selection that you can find for less than $65, I don’t know that it is $45 better. If you find it and find yourself flush with cash, pick it up. If you are a fan-boy like me, pick it up. But if you can’t get it, don’t feel too bad about it, grab a good Four Roses Single Barrel private selection to enjoy instead.

A Review of Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2013 Release

It’s no secret that I love Four Roses. And this, my friends, is getting to be a problem. Everyone loves Four Roses now. They love it so much that you can barely buy one of their limited releases anymore. This year, my normal source for the Limited Small Batch release pulled it off the shelves and into a lottery. A lottery that had a suspicious number of couples winning for the number of people at the drawing. Not coincidentally, a lottery in a store that is no longer one of my top visits when looking for good bourbon.

Other than that, I never saw it in Minnesota. In fact, never saw it on a shelf. Period. Popularity is a bitch for those of us who’ve loved it all along. But I’m not one of those hipsters who loved something until it got cool and then moved along. Because Four Roses really is that good. And luckily I have friends. Friends who are willing to pick me up a bottle where they live and get it to me. Friends that I now owe a drink to the next time we are in the same state. 

Once I got my bottle of Four Roses Limited Small Batch 125th Anniversary Edition, I rationed it. I rationed it for the last few months. And now it’s finally down to one more pour. So. What did I think of it?

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2013 Release

Purchasing Info: $99, unnamed Las Vegas store.

Particulars: 51.6% ABV, Recipe: OBSV 18 year + OBSK 13 year + OESK 13 year

Nose: Black Tea with honey. Cedar. After a bit it gives up some baking spices and a hint of citrus.

Mouth: Thick, spicy and sweet with clove, maple and hints of pear.

Finish: Warm and sweet leaving a bright tingly sensation on the tongue and cheeks.

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Thoughts: First off, I really, really like this bourbon. I’ve heard people describe it as the best bourbon they’ve ever had, but that’s probably pushing it a bit. I’ll go ahead and say that, for me, it’s not even the best Four Roses I’ve had. I would rank both the 2012 Limited Small Batch and the the 2009 Mariage higher (which were basically equally good in my book). 2013 was a bit too thick and sweet and the flavors a bit more muddied when compared to the 2012. But that’s splitting hairs. I can see why this was chosen to be the American Whiskey of the Year last year, it’s an amazing whiskey. It’s just not the best ever.

I am already looking forward to 2014’s version. I hear that the barrels that went into making both it and the 2012 have been exhausted so I’m excited to see if they try something new and venture away from the OBSV/OBSK/OESK formula they’ve used the past couple years. I’m really kinda hoping for something with the OESF. Or maybe something with a Q yeast. Something that’ll throw people for a loop. But we’ll see.

And Now a Bit of Fun: The Four Roses Tournament of Single Barrels

In November, I took a vacation to North Carolina. I always try to drive when I go on vacation. It allows me to bring home more souvenirs that way. This trip was no exception. You see, I’d placed an order for every recipe of the Four Roses Single Barrels at the Party Source to be picked up on my way home. But there was a problem. There was one I couldn’t get. They were out of the OBSK. I looked online and called three different liquor stores that I knew I would be passing by. None of them had that one. So I decided to visit the Four Roses Cox’s Creek gift shop. 

I must have been an especially nice boy last year, because Santa smiled on me that day. They were just putting out all ten recipes the morning I got there. I took the tour, got my OBSK and headed over to the Four Roses distillery. Yep. I went backward. Aging and bottling first, then distillation.

I’ve made clear in the past that I am a fan of Four Roses. The last time I was in Lexington, I stopped off at a bar that had a private selection of OESF behind the bar. I liked it. A lot. When I saw there was a gift shop release of it sitting in the gift shop, well, let’s say I liked it enough that I wasn’t leaving without another. Then I bought one for my step-father as well. 

But was it my favorite? I was curious. Curious enough that my wife and I decided to hold a round-robin style tournament, over the course of a few days, to see which recipe of Four Roses we liked best. It’s simple. Put each of them head-to-head, add up the number of wins each recipe gets and see who has the most. 

Was it scientific? Nope. It was fun though. Here’s how it went.

If you add up the total wins for the both of us, the Tournament Champion is: OBSK. Hands down. It should, it was the gift shop selection and I’d have expected that going in. But total wins doesn’t tell the entire story, so here is how it broke down.

ME:

OBSK: 7 wins

OBSF, OESK: 6 wins

OESQ, OESO, OESV: 5 wins

OBSQ: 4 wins

OBSV: 3 wins

OESF, OBSO: 2 wins

Wife:

OBSV: 8 wins

OESK, OESF, OESV, OBSK: 6 wins

OBSQ, OESO: 4 wins

OBSO: 3 wins

OBSF: 2 wins

OESQ: 0 wins

So what does this mean? Well, it seems we both like the B (35% rye) mashbill slightly better than the E (20% rye). I seem to prefer the K yeast by a healthy margin since it was 2 of the top three. My wife was a fan of the V and K yeast being four of the top five between them. Beyond that, things seem to fall apart. My wife’s least favorite showed up in my top half and my least favorite showed up in her top half. What does that mean? Not much, we basically agreed on the K yeast. If we had to choose just one, it might need to be that. 

If you need to choose though, you need to ask yourself what flavor profile are you looking for. Do you want fairly typical bourbon flavors? Well, that’s what I found in my bottle of the OBSV. It should be the easiest to find as it’s their regular release. But if you want to step outside the easy to find, are you interested in spicy bourbons? Try one of the K yeasts. Both of my bottles were sweet and spicy. Or the O yeasts which I found to be peppery and warm. Would you like fruity or floral bourbons? Maybe V, F or Q. I found floral or fruity flavors in most of these. Of course, these are single barrels so the flavors and aromas I picked up in mine might not translate to the ones you find in yours. But, then that’s part of the fun.

What I’d really like to see, someday, is for them to put out a set of all ten in miniature bottles. Maybe just at the gift shop or something. Then we can all take part in the fun. Ah…dreams…maybe if we all ask really nicely…

Five More Four Roses Single Barrels: The OEs

Four Roses. Ten recipes. Three standard releases. Two yearly limited releases.

If you’re like me, that all adds up to a very large amount of happiness. 

I told you last time how, for Christmas, my wife and I bought each other a Private Selection Single Barrel bottle of each of the ten different recipes. and how we spent a nice Saturday tasting our way through my wife’s present: the OB line. 

Well, this past Saturday we finished our project. We tasted our way through the Christmas present my wife gave to me, spending another really nice afternoon tasting the five different OE bourbons. The results are below.

OESK

Age: 9 years, 1 month

Label details: 58.0% ABV, Warehouse KW, Barrel 89-2P

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Maple Syrup, citrus and a hint of ginger

Mouth: Thick and sweet. Honey and black pepper with a generous dose of oak, but not too much.

Finish: Bitter tannins, honey sweetness and a heat that just lasts.

Thoughts: Thick and sweet this is like drinking a spiced honey. Really tasty.

OESV

Age: 10 years, 1 month

Label details: 51.3% ABV, Warehouse ES, Barrel 78-1F

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Delicate. mint, citrus and honey. 

Mouth: Fresh and floral transitioning to bitter as it moves back in the mouth.

Finish: Warm and long. Fades to a pleasant bitterness.

Thoughts: If ever a bourbon asked for the descriptors of “crisp and refreshing,” this is it. I want a deck, a sunset and a glass of this with a little ice. Delicious.

OESF

Age: 11 years, 2 months

Label details: 57.9% ABV, Warehouse HW, Barrel 47-2H

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Sweet pears with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Mouth: Peppery. Sweet brown sugar with just a hint of fruitiness.

Finish: Very long. Warm and sweet.

Thoughts: The nose on this one is obvious in its complexity, throwing up all of it’s aromas at once. The mouth and finish are mostly sweetness and heat. The finish is so nice, I had a hard time finding flavors—I kept forgetting myself and swallowing to savor it.

OESO

Age: 10 years, 3 months

Label details: 57.5% ABV, Warehouse BN, Barrel 30-3E

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Caramel, warm earth, growing plants. Floral perfume.

Mouth: Dry with a hot peppery heat. Vanilla sugar.

Finish: There is a hint of the nose’s floral perfume that fades quickly to a slightly smokey cherry.

Thoughts: This is like a desert. Dry and hot. But somehow also sweet and comforting. It’s good, but I’d probably add a bit of water to tame it when drinking it. It also had an odd note that reminded me somewhat of a Canadian whisky I once had, though I don’t remember which one.

OESQ

Age: 9 years, 5 months

Label details: 58.5% ABV, Warehouse RN, Barrel 85-3N

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Wild and uncontrollable at first. After it settles down a bit: rose petals and warm honey with a delicate hint of ginger.

Mouth: Sweet and slightly sharp. Brown sugar and a floral waxiness.

Finish: JuicyFruit gum fading to a nice bitterness. A pleasant warmth that lasts nicely.

Thoughts: Though I notice the resemblance to the OB version of this yeast, I’m not sure its as distinctive. I might not bat an eye at it’s “interestingness” but I’d drink it all night long and be happy with the choice.

I like all of these. In fact, I might be in love with the first three. The finish of the F, the refreshingness of the V, the sweet spiced honey of the K. Delicious. I’m very happy with the decision to buy all ten. I’m not sure I could choose between them if forced to buy just one.

Five Four Roses Single Barrels: The OBs

It’s really no secret that I love Four Roses Bourbon. They initially grabbed my attention when their social media person sent a note of encouragement to my wife on her first session of chemo a few years back. It meant a lot to her and we’ve had a soft spot in our hearts for the brand ever since. The fact that they also make kick-ass whiskey doesn’t hurt either. 

Ever since we first learned about the ten Four Roses recipes, my wife and I have wanted to sit down and try them all to see how they were different from one another. Well, after thinking about it for a few years, this year we decided it would be a good idea to buy a single barrel of each recipe. For Christmas. I bought her the five OBs and she got me the five OEs.

As you can tell, deep down, we are romantics. 

Last Saturday we finally started our project. We tasted our way through my wife’s Christmas present, spending a really nice afternoon tasting the five different OB bourbons. The results are below.

OBSK

Age: 12 years, 6 months

Label details: 60.9% ABV, Warehouse VE, Barrel 5-5D

Purchased at: Four Roses Cox’s Creek Gift Shop

Nose: Alcohol, first and formost. But under it, is a sweet caramel cookie.

Mouth: Sweet spiciness. Think warm cinnamon candy and brown sugar.

Finish: Sweet and spicy, with a surprising bit of fruitiness

Thoughts: This is all about sweet spiciness. But there are enough hints of other things to keep you interested. Things like that surprise fruitiness in the finish.

OBSQ

Age: 11 years, 4 months

Label details: 56.0% ABV, Warehouse BN, Barrel 22-2H

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Caramel, cinnamon red hots, and a floral waxiness

Mouth: Floral with a hint of mint or menthol. This is spicy enough that a lovely tingle runs down your tongue as it moves back in the mouth.

Finish: Christmas cookie, menthol, hot though not burning.

Thoughts: Distinctive doesn’t begin to cover this. This is different than any bourbon I’ve had.

OBSV

Age: 10 years, 1 month

Label details: 55.1% ABV, Warehouse ME, Barrel 2-1F

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Brown sugar, honey, vanilla, baking spices

Mouth: Creamy, fruity, and sweet vanilla/caramel

Finish: Sharp with a hint of bitterness. Mouth drying

Thoughts: I get why this recipe might be used as the “regular” release of single barrel, it is the most generic bourbon flavor of the batch. A tasty, tasty, generic.

OBSF

Age: 8 years, 1 month

Label details: 52.3% ABV, Warehouse HW, Barrel 29-4E

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Bubble gum, oak, ginger

Mouth: Mint on the tip of the tongue, a sharp ginger spiciness, salty

Finish: Sharp, puckers the mouth with a warmth that settles in your chest.

Thoughts: Not sure if I cared for this one. It’s sharp and spicy. Maybe too sharp.

OBSO

Age: 10 years, 3 months

Label details: 54.9% ABV, Warehouse BN, Barrel 4-1M

Purchased at: The Party Source

Nose: Menthol, brown sugar, and baking spices

Mouth: warm, with nice body. Spiced cirtus punch.

Finish: cooling mint remains in the mouth while a nice warmth settles in your chest

Thoughts: This is exactly what I imagine when I imagine four Roses.

There were none of these I disliked. In fact, I was prepared to say that I was a big fan of all of them until I had the OBSF. That one I will need to spend a little more time with. Luckily, there is enough left in each bottle that we’ll be able to spend some time with all of them yet. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go celebrate Christmas again.

Four Roses Single Barrel Head-to-Head Review: Gift Shop Edition

I’ve been meaning to write this post for just about a year. I tried when I first got back from Kentucky last year. It was a blind head-to-head. Imagine that, two different four Roses Gift Shop releases. One 13 years old, the other 17. What could be a better set-up? Well that was a question that needed to remain unanswered. You see, I accidentally started with the 125 proof one. I burned out my taste buds before I could even try it with water. 

I was sad.

So I put it off. And off. And off. Until I realized that I had very little left in the bottles. They’d become candidates for “removal.”

Removal is what I call the process of drinking only one bottle until it is gone in order to free up shelf space for the next bottle. It usually occurs when there is about 1/4 left in the bottle. It’s a policy that helps me to get over my urge to hang on to the “special” ones for longer than I should. And it’s a policy I desperately need. I secretly think that I might have a little hoarder in me. 

Actually, there’s a pile of little hoarders in me. They’re over there, behind the spleen. What? I might need them someday!

Anyway, the two gift shop releases of Four Roses had reached the point where they have been tagged for “removal.” I’d had the samples poured in my library for a while now, all I needed was that blog post and I’d be free to concentrate on finishing off those two bottles. 

The reason for the post has changed over the last year. Initially, it was a bit of a brag. Look what I have: it’s a 17 year old Four Roses…blah. It’s a good thing I never wrote that post. I would have been a dick. Now it’s a reminder. A reminder, that if you end up in Kentucky, to stop into the distillery and pick up a bottle of something so good, they decided to keep it for themselves.

So let’s get to the tasting. First the older/lower proof one (see I learned from last time).

Four Roses Single Barrel Gift Shop Release 17 year

Specs: OBSV. 17 years 5 months. 54.8% ABV. Warehouse QS. Barrel no: 73-3W. Selected as one of four barrels to commemorate the opening of their new visitor center.

Nose: Maple syrup, licorice, old wood that’s gone punky

Taste: whoo, that’s sharp. JuicyFruit gum, and baking spices. adding water amplifies the sweetness and the spices.

Finish: There’s just a wisp of a burn here, but it dries the mouth nicely. Adding water devastates the finish making it dangerously quaffable. 

Four Roses Single Barrel Gift Shop Release 13 year

Specs: OBSK. Barreled November 1998 (bought September 2012). 62.6% ABV. Warehouse NS. Barrel No: 16-4A.

Nose: This reminds me of a warm cookie. Sweet vanilla and allspice. Hints of barrel char.

Taste: Caramel/Vanilla sweetness balanced by cinnamon red hot candies. Sweet. Spicy. Wonderful.

Finish: warm, but doesn’t burn. there’s some wood left over. 

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Thoughts: It’s no secret that I love Four Roses. And I think they hit both of these right out of the park. Both of these are fantastic whiskies and I would be happy to have either or both on my shelf. I’ll be sad to see both of these go. If pressed my wife and I each would choose a different favorite. I loved the 13 year. I’ve reached for this over and over during the last year. In previous drams, I’ve found lovely fruitiness that I just couldn’t find this time. I typically drink it with an ice cube though so that would affect it. My wife prefers the 17 year. Which is no surprise, she loves old woody bourbons. And this trends that direction.

In short: if you find yourself within an hour of Lawrenceburg, KY, stop in. Get a gift shop release. It won’t be either of these, but it will almost certainly be fantastic.

A Four Roses Head-to-Head-to-Head Tasting: Small Batch, Mariage Collection 2009 & Limited Edition Small Batch 2012

So I was reading my Google Reader subscriptions yesterday when I ran across a fairly alarming blog post on David Driscoll's K&L Spirits Blog. It seems that the Award-Winning Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2012 Release has been reported to be oxidizing quicker than expected. (And what that means kids is this: drink your whiskey. Having it sit open on the shelf too long doesn't necessarily prolong enjoyment. Sometimes it actually lessens it.)

Well, after reading that post, I sent my wife an email. "Honey," I said "we need to take a sip of that there whiskey tonight and see what's what." 

hmm...it seems that in my memories, I talk an old prospector...

She had an even better idea. She said that after we tasted a little bit of it, if it was still ok, maybe we should sit down and do that second head-to-head-to-head tasting that we were thinking of doing. I married a smart woman. The plan had been to compare our 2009 Mariage with the 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch. But as I was setting up the two glasses, I drew a third circle on the papers and poured the regular Small Batch as well. My thought was: this is the baseline standard. A control in the experiment as it were. Plus it's my favorite every day whiskey and I don't pass up a chance to have some.

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All three whiskies poured and awaiting tasting

The set up was the same as before. It was a double blind tasting which means that I poured them into glasses on a sheet of paper labeled A, B and C and then I left the room. My wife then came into the room and moved each glass onto the numbered sheet that you see above. This way I knew which bourbon was which letter and she knew which letter was which number, but neither of us knew which bourbon corresponded to which number. Fairly simple way of removing label bias.

So what were the results? Did I find that all the releases were over rated and I loved the regular release Small Batch the best after all? First: all bourbons were tasted neat. After we had our initial notes, my wife added a tiny bit of water to her glasses. Also, all of these bourbon have been open for a while. The LESB was opened in September. I didn't notice much oxidation, if any, but it was still 2/3 full. The Mariage was opened at the end of July at the celebration of a very big milestone. Same thing here. Stayed relatively full and I didn't notice much difference. The regular release Small Batch was a gift from my daughter's boyfriend at Christmas and helped me through that.

Bourbon 1:

Nose: Initially all I get is vanilla extract. But I take my time with it, figuring that it probably had a little something more to give. After a while I get an unidentified fruity odor. To me this always smells like JuicyFruit gum (my favorite gum when I was a child: five sticks, just a quarter). I get that a lot with Four Roses, so finding it here wasn't a giant surprise. With a little water it seemed to transform into an almost earthy honey smell. Reminded me of the buckwheat honey I had for a while.

Mouth: This dries the mouth, but doesn't burn. Strange. Big caramel. It has a sweet, floral taste, but not delicate. If I didn't know better, I'd think Four Roses had swapped a straight rye whiskey with a high percentage corn into my glass.

Finish: Almost no burn here. Finish brings that JuicyFruit flavor back again

Overall: Wow. This might very well be the best Four Roses, I've ever had. My wife normally puts a small piece of ice in every bourbon. She asked me to remind her that this one she wants neat from now on.  

Bourbon 2:

Nose: I'll admit, I was confused by this one. So confused that I went out to the spice cupboard and started smelling things to see what it was that it reminded me of. I settled on a mix of allspice and oregano with a little molasses thrown in. After a little water it get's mintier. (And after I move back up the line from three before tasting: wow! Big hit of alcohol. Guessing this is one of the higher proof releases).

Mouth: My first thought: "ooh, that's a Four Roses..." and I just closed my eyes and enjoyed that first sip. After I opened them again and took another sip, I got spice, and some of that JuicyFruit flavor. Sweet. Spicy. Fruity. Yum.

Finish: Short burn on this one. Sweet and spicy fading into a sharpness. It leaves a tingle on the tongue for a little while. My wife: "the finish makes me want more"

Overall: This one was confusing. It was very rich and full flavored, but I had a hard time picking out what those flavors were beyond their basic "Four-Roses-ness" Once my wife added a little ice, to replicate how she would normally drink a bourbon, this was her favorite of the three.

Bourbon 3:

Nose: After the other two, this is like a sweet floral perfume. It's very delicate. After a little water, not much different.

Mouth: This has a surprising sharpness along the sides of the tongue. More alcohol flavor than I expected. But after revisiting it a little later. It's much more sweet.

Finish: Short burn with a lingering sweetness.

Overall: While this was our least favorite of the three, it is still a very good bourbon. I could drink the heck out of this one at a bar with friends, watching tv or with a good book. It's a great everyday bourbon.

So which was which? Well, the rankings my wife gave them were as follows. Neat: 1, 2, 3. With a tiny piece of ice: 2, 1, 3. I'd rank them similarly even though I only had mine neat. It's a toss up between 1 and 2 for me. Both amazing, but different enough that I'd stand there for a moment trying to decide and then choose one at random. Number three was good, but not great. So that said, it isn't too surprising that Bourbon 3 was the regular release Small Batch. Number 1 is the 2012 Limited Edition Small Batch and Bourbon 2 is the Mariage Collection 2009 Release.

2012 LE SB

2012 LE SB

2012 LE SB

2009 Mariage

Small Batch

Small Batch

Last time I did this, I told you "If I could only buy one going forward..." Well, it seems that is probably going to be the case in this instance. I had a hard time picking up a second bottle of the 2012. It is in the bunker. I'm working my way through my second (and last) bottle of 2009. It looks like I'll be out of luck regarding that one too. But that's ok. There will be more wonderful bourbons to taste and I've had the good fortune to pick up two of each of the rare ones. That said, if I had the opportunity to buy the last bottle of any of these and could only pick one. It would be hard. My 15th Wedding Anniversary was celebrated at the 2012 LESB Release Party. The 2009 bottle was cracked open to celebrate my wife showing no further evidence of cancer after her chemo. Both have a bit of nostalgia there. But ultimately, and after a lot of soul searching, I'd choose the 2012. I stand by my initial reaction that it might be the best Four Roses I've ever had.

This might have been the most fun I've had at a tasting with just my wife. We knew going in that we were going to really like all of these. If asked independently we'd both say that Four Roses is our favorite bourbon producer and we knew that for us, the bar started at Very Good before we sat down to analyze them. Then it just became a matter of analyzing and exploring. It was a lot of fun.