Four Roses limited releases have always been extremely hard to locate at retail and used to sell out while Blanton’s just sat there quietly gaining dust. Now that Blanton’s is nearly impossible to locate, the odds of getting a Four Roses at the liquor store without absurd secondary prices is increasingly impossible without a good amount of luck, unicorn hunting skills or a combination of both. Thankfully I’ve made some friends here on Distiller that are very generous with unicorn bottles. This sample comes from the extremely generous @PBMichiganWolverine , who clearly knows how to navigate the liquor store better than me in unicorn hunting. The nose is incredibly rich that starts with a welcoming blast of balanced oak and rye spice followed by butterscotch hard candy then dark chocolate covered caramel pecan clusters followed by apple pie filling, maraschino cherries, and candied orange peel that transitions to spearmint, dill, pipe tobacco, leather and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The taste is a rich decadent mouthfeel starting with a moderate rye spice that fades but stays in the background of butterscotch gelato topped on dark chocolate bourbon caramel pecan pie followed by freshly warmed McDonald’s apple pie, sour cherries, and mandarin orange that transitions to spearmint, dill, pipe tobacco, leather and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with a moderate rye spice in the background of dark chocolate cherry cordial, slightly burnt pie crust, apple jolly rancher, candied pecans, freshly lit pipe tobacco, leather and antique polished mahogany furniture. This is incredibly rich and decadent bourbon that brings those traditional bourbon notes in a bold and powerful experience, but the high rye spices seem to detract from the experience causing a bit of dryness and spice that overpower those bold citrus, chocolate, nuts, butterscotch and polished oak for me. If you like a rich and spicy version of bourbon, this will be incredible for you, but for me the spice throws off the balance.