Here today is Four Roses first new product in 12 years. It is a blend of V, K, and F yeasts across both their high rye and higher rye mashbills. As a Four Roses fanboy who loves the K and V recipes and has had some success with F, I was personally very excited for this product. Four Roses Single Barrel is one of my rotating daily drivers and though the price here would prevent it from working its way into daily rotation, I have high expectations this will be a quality product worthy of the occasional splurge purchase.
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey; Aged 6-7 years; 52% ABV; Non-chill Filtered; $60
Nose: Caramel, red fruits, and a good amount of sugary oak. I say this over and over again but to me the classic Four Roses calling card is caramel covered red fruits, like candy red apples. The nose here has that in droves. There is also a bit of sugary sweet cinnamon spice like big red gum which I would attribute to OBSK. Things are off to a good start.
Taste: All of the same from the nose. Sugary wood, sugary spice, sugary red fruits. The finish has some chocolatey red fruits and a touch of milder spice that linger for a while. Overall the wood depth seems spot on for 7ish years old and there are only faint hints of untamed ethanol in the mix.
Thoughts: I was expecting a lot and this delivered. It tastes like quintessential, classic Four Roses. The price is reasonable, I didn't have a hard time finding it, and I could have bought as much of it as I wanted. My only knock is I wish it had a touch more age and maybe a tad more proof, like say 8 years and 107 but in this day and age of bourbon hysteria I am pretty happy with it as is.
Rating: B
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.
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