Like most folks who are serious about bourbon, I'm a huge Four Roses fan. I've never had a limited product from them that wasn't good though not all of them are grand slams. Granted, they were a lot better bargain just a few years ago when they retailed for $70 but I've still had enough good experiences that I don't usually think twice about buying them when given the chance even though they cost around double that now.
This vintage is a blend of the following recipes:
- 10 year OBSV
- 13 year OBSF
- 14 year OESV
- 16 year OESK
Three out of four of those are recipes I usually gravitate towards and the fourth (OBSF) is one I've had at least some success with as well so I'm expecting good things there.
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey; No Age Statement; 54.2% ABV; $140
Nose: Very sweet. A hefty dose of brown sugar. The traditional Four Roses red fruit notes are muted which is surprising to me given this has two V yeast components which are known for that.
Taste: Very sweet like the nose with a considerable amount of oak influence without being bitter or dry. Up front it's straight up liquid brown sugar with a little fruit character. The sweet note lingers for quite a while then quite a bit of mint flavors come through which I would attribute to the F yeast component. Oddly, the mint flavors aren't really that spicy, as if the heavy handed brown sugar notes are keeping the spice in check.
Thoughts: This is a pretty good bourbon with a lot of great sweet and oak flavors but compared to other Four Roses special releases it's not really that memorable. It checks all the right boxes of what makes a great standard bourbon but it's missing the whiz bang of red fruit / sweet / spicy that is where Four Roses bourbon shines. It's a really high bar if you want to compare Four Roses limited editions this one would be in my bottom bracket out of releases over the past 6 years.
Rating: B / B+
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.
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