Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon

Four Roses' main line has three expressions, and, unsurprisingly, the quality marches side by side with the price. Four Roses Small Batch is a good value for its $30 price tag, although not my favorite in that range, and Four Roses Single Barrel is close to the best at $40-45. Four Roses Yellow Label, however, is those bourbons' sub-$20, meant for mixed drinks little brother. The youth of this bourbon shines through in more raw grain notes and more rye taste, without a corresponding balance with the deeper, richer, dense fruit or caramel and syrup flavors that come to dominate the more expensive, better-aged Four Roses. I drank this neat just to try it, but wouldn't have it again. Its rye-heavy and relatively less sweet profile may be well-suited to cocktails where it's blended with sweeter ingredients, such as an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan (which is meant to have rye anyways).

leicht und süss, zum mixen ok