ScotchingHard
Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
May 30, 2018 (edited October 21, 2024)
33 open bottles in my collection ranked through multiple blind tastings. Counting them down!
#15: Four Roses Single Barrel. Kentucky Straight Bourbon. 50% ABV. NAS. Warehouse NS. Barrel 27-3E
Paid $52
This is amazing VFM and currently my go to bourbon that sets the standard. I opened a second bottle (Warehouse LE. Barrel 25-6P) before I finished this bottle I am reviewing.
Ready to move on from the basic Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark to something still affordable, readily available, and is an awesome example of a complex, well-balanced, and powerful bourbon to sip on neat? My recommendation is Four Roses Single Barrel. The boxes are checked. The staves are aligned. Woody, spicy, fruity, sugary, nutty. Some leather, cocoa, and herbaciousness in the deeper layers. Full bodied and warm, lengthy linger. There is a lot of Four Roses mythology about recipe and barrel variation. This bottle, I have noticed, was destroying other bourbons and many scotches in tastings, but is just gradually becoming less intense and less impressive. The new bottle I opened, was too nutty and stale on first try, but is improving with time. Is it my imagination? I don’t know, but I am going to keep coming back to this one.
MARK: 88/100
PREVIOUSLY, ON BATMAN:
#16: Woodford Reserve Cherry Wood Smoked Barley. $104. 45.2%. NAS. 88/100
#17: Highland Park. $90. 43%. 15 years. 88/100
#18: Glendronach. $59 (1L). 43%. 12 years. 87/100
#19: Ledaig. $60. 46.3%. 10 years. 87/100
#20: Longmorn. $94. 48%. 16 years. 87/100
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I’m a big fan of this one, too. Good review.
Echo all the other commenters, this is a tremendous countdown. Still waiting for an inaugural Springbank appearance as well as the first Japanese whisky. Thrilling stuff
@PBMichiganWolverine Thanks I'll have to try that. Bourbon isn't usually my thing, but I was fortunate to find a 50mL sample of this, and it turned me on to them a little. The next full-size bottle I get though will probably be the Four Roses Small Batch (and a bunch of cheap 50mL bourbons to compare of course)
@WhiskyWitch @ScotchingHard I loved this one as well. Affordable, readily available, and great quality. If you liked this, try Elijah Craig barrel strength. Comes out a few times a year, and also affordable. Slightly better than this, but also about $20 more
I'm really glad this bourbon turned out to be so widely respected. It was like the 4th I ever tried, and I just knew it was infinitely better than Maker's Mark. Hoping for more affordable ones like this in the top 10!