For my 10th review I wanted to pick something special from my favorite distillery. I wasn’t able to find a bottle of this in the wild but thanks to a good friend I was able to trade an older release of a limited edition Four Roses for one of these. Having won American whiskey of the year from Whiskey Advocate I had high hopes for this bottle and traded for it before even trying it.
Nose: Very heavy, almost has a dense feel. Plum, honey, thick vanilla. Very little burn. I know I named mostly sweet flavors but it’s so dense it doesn’t leave the impression of an overly sweet nose.
Taste: Heavy, like the nose. Butter cream, caramel, rye, cinnamon. The sweet flavors from the nose transition to the spicier drier notes of the finish. The initial forward palette is probably the best aspect of this whiskey. I try not to throw out too many flavors but this one has so many going on it’s hard to keep the list short.
Finish: Spice is the most prevalent flavor in the finish. Lots more on the sweet cinnamon side of spice than tingly mint like with younger aged rye. There are some drier flavors like dried oak and tobacco. Slight medicinal twang but in a good way. In the end everything fades away except deep sweet notes like a dark brown sugar residue. I thought the finish was medium in length which even though this is labeled as a barrel strength I would attribute to its lower proof.
Notes: This whiskey is so smooth and so drinkable. The first time I tasted this I gave it a low A rating. With every sip I took I kept bumping up my rating by a point. That happened even again during this review. I bumped the score down earlier but now it’s right back up to where I ranked it the first time. I totally attribute that to the incredible complexity of this whiskey. It is easily the most complex bourbon I’ve ever had. It’s so layered and nuanced, every sip gives something new. The combination of the three fruity and spicy recipes from various ages have created something very remarkable with a wonderful balance. No one flavor stands out, everything just seems to be in perfect harmony. To date this is easily the best Four Roses I’ve ever had.
Rating: A+
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