Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon

Sweet with a little heat. Love the taste. Just simple

4RSB (Revisited) *NOSE: Not as delicate as I remember. Oak, Vanilla, Fresh Cut Hay, Some Light Floral Notes, Pink Bubblegum, and Black Pepper. *NEAT: Simple. Sweet & Oaky. Vanilla, Bubblegum, and lots of Oak (but no bitter tannins). With time Caramel Apple & Tingly Pepper Spice emerge. A little on the Thin Side with a tick of Bitterness on the End. Not much heat on the finish with a coating of Vanilla & Oak clinging to the palate. *SPLASH: Adds Brown Sugar to the nose and the Palate picks up more Fruit (Peach/Green Apple), Rye Spice, Cola, and Citrus Peel. *VERDICT: Better than I recall. Even with the price now around $40 out the door, still a solid, always available option with great VFM.

Dried fruit notes on the nose. Honey-like sweetness, cinnamon and fruity tastes.

I'm really enjoying an exploration of less expensive bourbons and ryes. This is a golden age for liquor enthusiasts with more high quality, interesting distillates on the market and readily available than ever before. What separates the truly extraordinary from the merely very good isn't price or rarity, it's the quality of the liquid in the bottle. There are more than 34 gallons of internet ink spilled on this whiskey alone, so I'm not going to bore you with the typical tasting notes. This is a slightly spicy bourbon that is well-balanced and cleanly executed. It's a bargain bottle, ubiquitous and tasty. What really butters the toast for me is mouthfeel. There's room for thick & syrupy or thin and focused, but the mouthfeel has to be consonant with the rest of the package. A prime example is comparing Elijah Craig Rye with Rittenhouse Rye. The EC is rich and syrupy and the RH is thin and focused. Each has a place, but when the whiskey must stand on its own, sans ice or modifiers, a richer experience wins it for me. Four Roses has come close to an optimum mouthfeel in this expression. It's just a bit thin compared to what I might hope for, but it's better than what I should expect for the price. Like the EC rye mentioned above, this is silky and even a little sophisticated in its own fiery way. The finish is lovely, sweet and clean. I like the way this bourbon plays in a boozy cocktail. In a Manhattan this stands up to quality vermouth quite nicely. The flavor hammer known as Carpano Antica finds itself enveloped in a satin solution, never taking the drink out of balance and that's not an small achievement for an inexpensive bottle. In an Old Fashioned the Angostura bitters offered a tasty synergy. Overall this is a good value, but it does face competition. I think Dickel 8 year bourbon is a contender, as is Elijah Craig Small Batch, I wouldn't count out Knob Creek 9 year or Wild Turkey 101 either. This is solid. This IS the golden age of bourbon!