The joy of single barrel bottlings is that, if you don't fall in love with the first one you try, there's always going to be another....and who knows? It might make you happier, just like dating the sister of the girl you used to go out with might. Or, you could just be like one of my friends from high school and go through a single family like a recessive gene and decide that, no, none of them are your type. But I digress. At the very least, this time around my experience with the current Four Roses Single Barrel offering is more like the little sister than the original girl, though my prior experience wasn't bad...just underwhelming. This one has a bold, spicy nose - very cinnamon and nutmeg forward, with clove and cardamom (even allspice) in the background. With the spice is a distinctly creamy sort of sweet vanilla, quite reminiscent of creme brulee...or, better, crema catalana and its citrus undertones. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say I get a strong citrus note here, but there's certainly a slight whiff of orange zest. Chocolate notes, too, show up. After a bit more time to open up, cherry cola turns up and the spices turn down the dial. The palate teeters between rip-roaring big spice and refined confectionary qualities - the initial attack is full of red hot cinnamon, but that pulls back to showcase vanilla, brown sugar, baking chocolate, orange zest, and leather books. The spices, plus a bit of alcoholic heat come back in at the end, eventually fading and leaving a lingering note of book leather. For between $30 and $35 USD, this is a pretty decent deal...maybe not the biggest bargain in the liquor store, but you're getting what you paid for. I don't know that this is fundamentally different than the previous release of this that I tried maybe three years ago now, but it's left a better impression. And, at the end of it all, isn't that life? Perception defining reality...no wonder empiricism and the whiskey drinking British Isles have always gone hand-in-hand. So, I'll raise a glass of this to Locke, Berkeley, and Hume and simply be glad to have a good bourbon handy.