LeeEvolved
Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Four Grain Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
September 1, 2017 (edited January 18, 2020)
I was able to land this rare bottle of E.H. Taylor SKBW Four Grain through the state of Virginia's limited edition bottle lottery system. I won the ability to purchase it for $70, which at the time seemed rather expensive, but looking online tonight I see that it's going for $300-400 at several online retailers. Perhaps I shouldn't have opened this one so quickly. Anyway....
It's Bottled In Bond, meaning it's a perfectly rounded 100 proof. It's copper colored and smells fantastic. There's a bit of rye spice up front with a nice, sweet candied corn aroma that pushes through when you inhale deeply. Oddly enough, there's no presence of heat on the nose, even for 100 proof. The malty and sweet aspect keep the rye in check, which is a plus to me. I'm not a big fan of rye whiskey.
On the tongue, the initial sweet corn and smooth wheat flavor meld perfectly through mid sip, where the rye spice makes an appearance as it mingles perfectly with the vanilla and oak tannins. There's just enough bite on the back of the tongue- pepper, charred oak and vanilla. It rounds out a near perfect whiskey pour.
The finish is exquisite- even to a Scotch snob like myself. It's long and warming. Oak, rye and sweet corn. A slow exhale really pushes everything forward and finishes the experience wonderfully. My bourbon loving friends brag about Pappy, Weller and EH Taylor being the epitome of American whiskey and I will confess that it's pretty damn good for the Scotch lovers out there, as well. I could sip this one all day. 4.75 stars. It would be hard for me to justify the current price of $300+, but for the $70 I paid I feel like I stole it from my local liquor store. Cheers, my friends.
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I just snagged one on Black Friday for $80
I'm really looking forward to this one in our round 3
Got my mouth watering. Can't wait to try it. Great review
(bows head) I'm praying for that, Reverend.
I'm praying one of my small town SW Wisconsin/NE Iowa liquor stores gets a bottle of this, keeps it at MSRP because they don't know what it is, and nobody else buys it because they're content with Devil's Cut as their "fancy" bourbon.