Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon (2020)

Cheers from Four Roses distillery bar in Lawrenceburg!

Nice solid pour, drinks lower proof, great flavor.

Rating: 19/23 I've been wanting to try one of these releases for a long time, but have had no hope of actually purchasing one. Rarely, I've seen them in bars, but usually at exorbitant prices. Finally, the day is here. N: After a few minutes in the glass, I get a surprisingly bold minerality. Pushing past it, there's rich, polished wood with cherry, but the notes are restrained on the nose. Perhaps a hint of milk chocolate, possibly a bit more toward bittersweet. The absolute faintest meatiness. It's so faint, that I won't say it's bad. The dry barrel is starting to come out more. It has that musty dustiness of Four Roses Single Barrel, but it's a bit richer. Some of that characteristic sour mash tartness with a bit of yeast. Sourdough, one might say. Overall, this is an improvement over the other Four Roses noses because of its richness, but it's also not that amazing of a nose overall. P: There's lots of proof here and the profile immediately makes me think of Wild Turkey Rare Breed somehow. There's a lot of bold wood maturity, with rich minerality alongside it (to the extent that minerality is ever rich). The depth of the wood is very nice. I get surprisingly little ethanol flavor, though there is some. Perhaps a hint of chocolate. A hint of polished wood leaning a tad into leather as well. There's some of that sour mash flavor, but it's not so yeasty. Perhaps it's a hint fruity, I think I get hints of cherry and vanilla, with maybe some of that sourness being lemon. Definitely plenty of spice, with cinnamon at the front, but also some surprising white pepper. It can be a bit toasty as well. Oh, there's a (very) little smoke here too. F: Peppery spice lingers with a low burn. Some mature woodiness as well, with an occasional hint of chocolate. A bit of polished wood as well. Maybe a hint of mint? - Conclusion - Finally, a Four Roses release other than Four Roses Single Barrel that's actually quite enjoyable. Side by side, Wild Turkey Rare Breed (18-19/23) has more aggressive funkiness and shows its alcohol more. That said, it's richer and fruitier with less minerality. There's plenty going on in the Wild Turkey as well. Russell's Reserve Single Barrel (18?/23) is fruitier and more approachable than this is. I'd hazard that this is older (I honestly can't remember what all went into this), but it really tastes like this needed that extra age to compete with the Russell's. Between the two, I'm inclined to give the win to this because there really is a lot of nuance here, but that minerality - despite having a nice richness - really is working against this. This is a lot like an even more mature version of Russell's Reserve 10 (15-16/23) (or Four Roses Single Barrel (15/23), obviously), but it doesn't quite stick the landing. I'm getting flashbacks to some of my attempts to rapid-age bourbon that ended up with too much cinnamon and minerality, despite having plenty of mature nuance. This is without doubt the best Four Roses I've tried, but for a unicorn bottle, it isn't blowing my mind. I could give this an 18, but I'm thinking a 19 or maybe 20. A 21 seems like a stretch. For a sanity check, I put this against Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof (21/23) and I think I have to give the win to the Jack Daniel's for its pure decadence. That isn't all it has, but this - like many Four Roses - is sophisticated in a way that is also a bit of a challenge. I like it a lot, but I think being challenging has to drag it down a bit. I think that this is about in the range of Wild Turkey Rare Breed. I'd give this the nod, but not enough to boost it to a 20. A 19 this is then. This is a great bottle. At MSRP, it could be worth a go. At secondary prices, I'll take 10 bottled of Wild Turkey Rare Breed instead. A huge thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine for allowing me to finally satisfy my curiosity about this dram!