Four Gate Split Stave (Batch 4)

This was a birthday buy. Has sat on the shelf for what feels like a year and price dropped to $160 from $175 so I went for it. The label is a bit lacking - KY straight bourbon but no age statement. Rumored to be a blend of KY 12y (18% rye) and KY 5 1/2y (12% rye) bourbons. Distillery not disclosed. Unclear when the blend is married but the whiskeys undergo Franken-barreling using toasted staves and either alternating #2 or #4 staves from Kelvin cooperage. Sounds like the whiskey is blended, aged an additional 5 months in one of the two Franken-barrels and then remarried somehow. Bottle #2598 of 2700 bottles and 57.8 proof (115.5). Non-chilled filtered. Nice medium amber color. Pop -> vanilla bomb. Oak char and spearmint follow. Cherry juice, pink pencil eraser shavings, pound cake all come around. Deep within the glass is a whiff of ethanol. Cool on entry and then a building heat and tingling spice wave toward before a thick, sweet finish sets in. The front is filled with campfire smoke, clove, cardamom and loads of vanilla. There is a thick mouthfeel with a mineral quality earthiness. I can’t quite nail it - something between black tea and blonde coffee. There’s a faint fruitcake note with stewed strawberries after several sips but the wood, earthiness and vanilla predominate. For the price? It hits some very good notes with the mouthfeel, char and mineral earthiness. There’s a satisfying balance between sweetness and char but I would like more. More what I can’t say exactly - perhaps raisin, tobacco and a few lighter fruit or fresh brown sugar flavors that are lost in the heaviness of it all. Admittedly I’m imaging a very good bourbon that may not exist. Expectations are often out of line with reality. If price wasn’t a factor I’d be very, very happy but not ecstatic about this one. Price factored in I’m still happy to pour this again and again but wouldn’t buy another. Perhaps next to an open campfire this would come alive, more data is needed before final verdict. ——————— After further data, I’m gonna nickname this one “Toasted Barton Barrel Strength” because frankly that’s what I believe it is. Second go I picked up that old brown banana ester more on the nose and palate that makes me think Barton, as well as their wealth of old stock and friendly approach toward NDPs. Better than the first pour, hopefully that trend continues.

Nose is bold but also a little bit restrained, which works for me here. It shows both characteristics of the different oak toasting. Gooey caramel, toasted marshmallow, and coconut from the lighter toast and tobacco, chocolate, and oaky spice from the darker char. Really beautiful stuff here. Palate is rich, creamy, and wonderfully mouth-coating. Lots of the same beautiful flavors from the nose show up here. Pronounced, deep caramel, s'mores, tobacco, and leathery oak. That tobacco and oak carry the finish that is a tad bit dry but very long lasting. What an awesome bourbon. Top marks for ingenuity, craftsmanship, and execution. I wouldn't change a thing about this bourbon. Perfection

So good… so good. Four Gate Whiskey Batch 4 – (Split Stave By Kelvin) carries a deep heavy complex profile that’s tasty and rich yet restrained and balanced. It’s not a wild whiskey but rather heavy and elegant. Water opens up some biscuity, cocoa powder and peanut notes on the Nose. On the Palate it opens up to more dark fruit and introduces some leather, citrus, nuts and hints of baked apples.

Neat. Neck pour. The nose is very nice. More subtle than I was expecting but patience opened it up. This experiment with the barrels is so interesting. It feels like I am simultaneously smelling the different staves and the different ages. Deep Oak comes through accompanied by a brightness I associate with younger whiskey. That deep oak comes through as both charred and a hint of the marshmallow note I associated with toasted barrels. Caramels, vanilla, coconut, peanut shells, and berries are coming through hard now. The more time I spend with this the more the volume of all the flavors on the nose are turning up. I could go at this one all day. Super creamy and thick on the tongue. Ah damn, this a top notch way to start a Friday night. On the tongue, I get this whip cream and vanilla pudding sweetness. On the taste it shoots darker immediately. Peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow. Oak and a hint of cinnamon. It’s like making a s’mores with a peanut butter cup rather than just Hershey chocolate. The flavors last quite a while. The legs don’t bring additional flavors or change. It’s more like a song that tails off slowly turning down the volume. The peanut butter comes through more and more as time goes on. I’d even call it a creamy buckeye now. Such a good pour. I don’t recall a whiskey that I wanted to describe in such conflicting ways simultaneously. I just thought to myself “subtle flavor bomb.” How can a flavor bomb be subtle? Very nice job on this Four Gate.