Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch, 2023

I’d like to thank Four Roses for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

I don’t get to write about Four Roses very often, even though I am a big fan of their products. The issue is that they’ve only got four products. And I’ve written about all of them multiple times. So when Fall Limited Bourbon Release Season approaches, I get very excited because it lets me let my inner fanboy out. Because I am an unashamed Four Roses Fanboy. Maybe less so now that these releases have reached the $200 price range and are basically only available via retailer lottery. But that’s primarily due to my short attention span and the fact that there is no use getting excited about something that 1) I won’t see and 2) I couldn’t really afford if I did. (That excitement level will shoot through the roof, should I ever win a lottery for this product…I might even splurge and purchase it.)

So, though I’ve been covering these for most of the last 12 years, let’s go over some of the basics.

What is the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch bourbon?

Every fall, Four Roses releases a bourbon that can showcase their ten bourbon “recipes.” They have two mash bills and five yeast strains, which gives them a huge advantage when it comes to blending bourbons (don’t let them hear you call it blending, though; they are still smarting over being forced to be a Blended Whiskey brand by corporate overlords for decades). They use all ten for their main bourbon, one recipe (OBSV) for the single barrel, four (OBSK, OBSO, OESK, and OESO) for the Small Batch, and six (OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK, OESF) for Small Batch Select. The yearly Limited Edition Small Batch allows them to experiment with recipes and combinations that they don’t use in the main product line. In the past, releases have even used the Q yeast, one of my favorites but one many people do not prefer. They also tend to use much older product than their main-line bourbons.

Ok, you listed a lot of codes in that last explanation. What do they mean?

The codes are a legacy of being a part of the Seagram’s family before it disintegrated back at the turn of the millennium. Each of the codes corresponds to one combination of mash bill and yeast. Every code starts with O, which is the old Seagram’s designation for the current Four Roses Distillery (they had a lot of distilleries). The second letter designates which mash bill is being used. It will be a B if it uses the 35% rye mash bill or an E if it uses the 20% rye mash bill, the only two that Four Roses still uses. The third letter will always be an S because it stands for “Straight Whiskey” and is another legacy of Seagram’s having a lot of products in their portfolio. The final letter tells you which yeast strain is being used. V yeast tends to provide a delicate fruit note, K a slight spice, O rich fruit notes, Q tends to provide a floral note (that I love), and F tends to yield herbal notes.

Great. So, which are used in the Limited Edition Small Batch this year?

Great question. Brent Elliott used four batches of three different recipes this year. 40% of the product is a 14-year-old OESK, 35% is a 12-year-old OESV, 20% is a 16-year-old OESV, and the final 5% is a 25-year OBSV. All barrels used in this batch were from the bottom three levels of Four Roses’ single-story warehouses.

So is it any good?

Let’s find out.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch, 2023

Purchase Info: This sample was provided for review purchases at no charge. The suggested retail price is $199.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $13.33

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, rose petals, spearmint, oak and cinnamon.

Mouth: Cinnamon spice, honey, floral spearmint, stone fruits, and oak.

Finish: Long and hot. Notes of cinnamon spice, nutmeg, rose petals, and oak.

Thoughts: I wanted not to like this. I wanted not to be tempted to enter lotteries for this. I wanted not to have to spend $200 on a single bottle of bourbon should I be one of the folks chosen to purchase a bottle. Guess what? I love this. Even graded on a $200 curve, I love this. I fully expected to say the opposite. That nothing is worth that price. But I'll be damned if I don't need to eat some crow, along with my preconceived notions. This is spicy and floral with just the right amount of oak. It's just absolutely delicious.

This is not just in the running for BourbonGuy Bourbon-of-the-Year; it’s leading the pack by a long margin. Hell, it’s the first one to get a heart in well over a year.

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Four Roses Releases Ten Recipe Tasting Kit

On March 13, 2014, I wrote the following:

What I’d really like to see, someday, is for them to put out a set of all ten in miniature bottles. Maybe just at the gift shop or something. Then we can all take part in the fun. Ah…dreams…maybe if we all ask really nicely…

I’d found and purchased 750 mL bottles of all ten Four Roses recipes as store picks. I bought them on a Thanksgiving trip through Kentucky and was very excited. Around March, I finally got around to writing about them. The main conclusion was: “Boy, that was fun. Too bad it is so expensive to try again.” And it has only gotten more expensive and harder to accomplish in the decade since.

I’ve written something similar to that sentiment numerous times over the years. I’ve brought it up to Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliot basically every time I talk with him. It has always seemed like a no-brainer when it comes to telling the Four Roses story. So forgive me for just posting a press release tonight, but I feel a victory lap is in order. For myself and all the other enthusiasts that have been asking for this, but also for you. Tasting all ten bourbons side-by-side is a very cool way to see what effects yeast and mash bill have on a finished whiskey. And now it seems that if you can get to Kentucky, you can try it yourself. For a limited time, and for $130. Way cheaper than buying 10 $80-$100 bottles.

Oh, and they’ve changed their labels too.

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FOUR ROSES DISTILLERY CELEBRATES 135 ANNIVERSARY WITH FIRST GLOBAL BRAND REFRESH IN NEARLY TWO DECADES

The Heritage Bourbon Brand Will Also Honor the Milestone with Rare Release of Its Proprietary Ten Recipes

LAWRENCEBURG, KY (June 20, 2023)- Today, Four Roses Distillery, the award-winning Kentucky-based bourbon brand, announces its global brand refresh, the first update for the brand since 2006. The new visual identity also comes as Four Roses, a heritage brand that predates Prohibition, celebrates its 135th year. Fans of the brand and consumers alike will see the refreshed branding across all of Four Roses’ bourbon bottles, and on its new website, starting today.

Since its founding in 1888, the bourbon brand has maintained its commitment to quality and consistency in its liquid and overall product. Four Roses has continued to stay true to its roots and time-tested process of creating bourbons with an unmatched flavor that are not only complex, but also delightfully mellow. Four Roses looks to pay homage to the brand’s heritage while exploring a more modernized approach through evolving the labels on all bottles, and revitalizing the website for a more user-friendly and cohesive experience.

“In our 135th year, we’re thrilled to reveal our refreshed, modernized branding, which aims to maintain the spirit of our rich history while appealing to today’s bourbon drinker.” said Kelly Edney, Senior Brand Manager. “Four Roses is about creating and being part of life’s mellow moments, and we hope that our dedicated fans and future customers continue to feel that connection.”

Helmed by agency Camp + King, the design updates from the brand refresh include:

• A renewed, 3D rose emblem - the brand’s classic logo - offering a more refreshed and refined representation of the brand’s founding story

•  A new engraved rose cluster on the cork of each bottle

•  Brightened labels with gilded borders on all bottles labels, to bring a more contemporary look to the design. Labels on each of the brand’s four bourbon expressions show a varying color palette that correspond with the richness of the product

• The publico typeface on the new label brings an elegance that is as timeless as the brand itself

• The addition of Master Distiller Brent Elliott’s signature on the face of each bottle as a nod to the care and attention he puts into every bottle; tasting notes have also been added to the back of each bottle label to highlight the unique flavor profiles of each product.

• An updated website design that still includes cocktail recipes, events, and purchase links, but with a brighter and more cohesive look to match the refreshed branding

To celebrate this momentous occasion, for the first time ever, Four Roses is releasing a rare, limited edition kit - The Ten Recipe Tasting Experience - which will feature each of the ten unique bourbon recipes that make up Four Roses’ bourbons. It’s these ten signature recipes that set the brand’s bourbons apart, and gives the liquid in each bottle its distinctive characteristic. The kit will include 50ml bottles of each recipe for bourbon enthusiasts to get a taste of where the brand’s offerings originate. A QR code on the box will lead to a guided tasting video with Master Distiller Brent Elliott for a more immersive experience. This limited edition kit (SRP: $129.99) will be available for purchase starting June 30 at the Four Roses Visitor Centers in Lawrenceburg and Coxs Creek, Kentucky, and will roll out in select retailers in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, and California starting in mid-July.

“While the look of our brand is being refreshed, our unwavering commitment to producing the highest-quality bourbons made of our ten signature recipes remains the same” said Brent Elliott, Master Distiller, “It’s been a true honor watching the brand grow over the past 18 years that I’ve been with Four Roses and I look forward to this next chapter.”

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ABOUT FOUR ROSES:

Established in 1888, Four Roses combines two mashbills with five proprietary yeast strains to distill and age 10 distinct bourbon recipes, each with its own unique flavor profile. With distilling and warehousing operations in Lawrenceburg and Cox’s Creek, Kentucky, respectively, Four Roses is available in all 50 states. This past year, Four Roses has received 46 awards, including 2 Double Platinum medals, 8 Double Gold medals and 16 Gold medals from esteemed competitions such as the American Whiskey Masters and Whiskies of the World. For more information, visit www.fourrosesbourbon.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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OSMO Salt x Four Roses Toasted Vanilla Bourbon Salt

This jar of OSMO salt and a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch were provided as part of a media kit to announce the launch of the product with no strings attached.

Sorry about missing Tuesday. I was out on a rare date with my wife. We went out for lunch, we went to antique stores, we went to record stores, and we stopped off at a local brewery. It was a lovely day spent with the love of my life. I wouldn’t necessarily call it romantic. I mean, we stared at our phones more often than we stared into each other’s eyes while we had our beers. But after 25 years of marriage, I think that the fact that we are still talking to one another and consider each other best friends is romantic enough to count. So…yeah. Let’s just say we were out on a romantic Day Date that was too much fun to allow for writing.

And it is with romance in my heart that I write about tonight’s…salt?

Bill? Is that right? Salt? Are we talking about salt tonight? You know this is a bourbon site, right? Ok, I sure hope you know what you are doing here.

Yes, dear reader, salt. Salt that is a co-branded collaboration between Four Roses Bourbon and OSMO Salt. Now, why did I bring up romance at the beginning? Well, as we all know, the foundation legend of the Four Roses brand involved a young man who was looking to marry a young lady. He asked her to wear a corsage of four roses to the ball if she was going to accept his proposal. And, as the legend has it, she did just that. It’s a nice story. There is evidence that it is nothing more than a legend, but what would be the fun in that? And besides, Valentine’s Day is coming up soon.

So, how does this salt taste? What makes it different than other salts that you might have on hand? Well, it is sweet. I’ll have tasting notes below, but here is what the PR firm had to say:

Four Roses was built on a 134 year old love story, making the bourbon the perfect spirit to toast with on Valentine’s Day. This year, Four Roses sought out to create an offering to elevate the date-night-in and make restaurant quality drinks and meals right at home. Tapping OSMO Salt -  the premium salt company created by celebrity Chef Nick Digiovanni intended to easily turn homemade dishes into Michelin-quality meals - for its first-ever culinary collab, the result is the new Toasted Vanilla Bourbon Salt, perfect for rimming bourbon drinks and for home chefs to add a robust yet sweet final touch to meals. 

OSMO Salt x Four Roses Toasted Vanilla Bourbon Salt

Purchase Info: This sample was provided free of charge by the producer for review purposes. It can be purchased from the OSMO website for $18.99 for a 3.5 oz jar. You can also buy the salt with a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch from ReserveBar for $60.99.

Nose: This is a caramel and vanilla bomb on the nose.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, and coconut, which transition into salt as the flavors wash off.

Thoughts: I'm probably not the target market for this, as my usual cocktail is whiskey in a glass. I like it as much as I like any salt, but I’m not really a “glass rimmer,” if you know what I mean. That said, though, if you make cocktails on the regular, this could be an interesting addition to your tool kit.

Along with the salt and bourbon came a cocktail recipe that I quite enjoyed. Created by Abby Martinie, Four Roses brand ambassador and mixologist, it contains raspberries, bourbon, Crème de Cacao, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Of course, the drink is garnished with tonight’s salt, as seen in the photo above. I really like this one. And if you are a person who likes pink, fruity drinks (or know someone who does), this is one that it wouldn’t hurt to keep in your recipe holder.

Twisted Sour

• 1.5 oz Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon

• 0.5 oz Crème de Cacao

• 0.75 oz lemon juice

• 0.5 oz brown sugar syrup

• 3-4 muddled raspberries

Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake. Rim rocks glass with Osmo Toasted Vanilla Bourbon Salt. Double strain over fresh ice into a rimmed rocks glass.

Cocktail Thoughts: If you like raspberry, this is pretty good. I'm not convinced the salt adds more than an aesthetic touch after the first sip, but if you are making a cocktail for your loved one (and the theme of the night is romance, after all), you might as well make it as pretty as possible, right? Though the smell of the salt on the rim does add a little bit of a sweet note as you sip.

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Four Roses 2022 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon

I’d like to thank the folks at Four Roses for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

It is that time of year again. That time when we feature all of the upcoming limited edition bourbons that companies are hoping you will love. We showcased Yellowstone’s 2022 limited on Tuesday and tonight we turn our attention to one that used to be the highlight of the bourbon year for me.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch is a yearly limited edition release showcasing the creative side of Four Roses. Throughout each Spring and Summer, Master Distiller Brent Elliott and his team start gathering the bourbons that may eventually make their way into the Fall’s concoction. After extensive experimentation and testing, they develop numerous blends and then eventually whittle it down to one. And they do a good job. Every year it is one to keep an eye out for.

This year the blend includes bourbons ranging from 14 to 20 years old. It features four of their bourbon recipes: a 14-year-old OESF, a 14-year-old OESV, a 15-year-old OESK, and a 20-year-old OBSV. The F yeast has me pretty excited. While Q yeast is my favorite, F is a close second. If I see a Q or an F yeast used in a Single Barrel Pick while out shopping, it always comes home with me.

The suggested retail price is $179.99 per bottle. It’ll roll out to retailers in September, but if you are feeling lucky and will be able to make it to Kentucky to pick it up between September 17 and October 16, they will be having a lottery drawing to purchase a bottle at the distillery gift shop. Visit the Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition website between August 22 and August 28 to enter.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2022

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $179.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $12.00

Details: 54.5% ABV. Features a 14-year-old OESF, a 14-year-old OESV, a 15-year-old OESK, and a 20-year-old OBSV.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, oak, cinnamon, strawberry Starburst candy.

Mouth: Cinnamon, leather, caramel, oak, and Juicy Fruit Gum.

Finish: Warm and long. Notes of leather, cinnamon, and oak.

Thoughts: This is pretty tasty. There is a split decision in this house as to whether we would actually spend the asking price, though. My wife is on the yes side. I'm in the no camp.

This is really good. I'm just not sure that it is $180 good. That said, very little is. And, harsh as it sounds, those I've tried that we decided might be worth $180 are better than this. I'd buy this in a heartbeat at the $130-ish price tag it used to have. But I had a hard time paying last year’s $150 price. And there is just no way I can bring myself to pay the $180 this year. And I say all of this as a devout Four Roses Fanboy.

It saddens me to be priced out of the market for one of my favorite bourbons, but this is the first year that I can unequivocally say that, to me, this is not worth the asking price. That said, if money is no object, this is very good bourbon, and you should pick it up, drink it and enjoy the heck out of it. If you have a budget, as I do, then you’ll need to decide if you want to use part of it on a bottle that prices at $12 per pour should you happen to win your local lottery.

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9th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets: 2022 Championship Rounds

Welcome back, folks! We come now to the end of the 2022 contest. Eight bourbons entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats and there have been some real stinkers. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 1: Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond) vs Giant Charmer (Four Roses)

Thoughts: Giant Charmer has a nicer nose. Nothing wrong with Arctic Mama, but Giant Charmer is fruity and creamy which I really like in a bourbon. Arctic Mama is spicy on the mouth with notes of caramel and vanilla. Giant Charmer is spicy on the mouth with notes of mint and fruit. Arctic Mama has a nicer finish, showing lots of baking spice. Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond) advances on the strength of that lovely finish.

Division 2: Fire Pirate (Banker's Club) vs. Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783)

Thoughts: The nose on Fire Pirate initially presented more grain notes and Quark Juggler initially presented more spice, but after a moment they both settled in and became very similar. Fire Pirate has a thinner mouthfeel and shows more grains notes. Quark Juggler is spicier and sweeter with a nicer mouthfeel and finish. Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783) advances to the Championship. Nothing wrong with Fire Pirate though. Nothing at all.

Championship Round: Quark Juggler (Evan Williams 1783) vs. Arctic Mama (Evan Williams Bottled in Bond)

The noses are very similar with Quark Juggler being slightly mintier while Arctic Mama is slightly fruitier. Arctic Mama is fruity and spicy on the mouth. Quark Juggler shows a lot of baking spice and some mint on the mouth. Arctic Mama wins a squeaker. It is a very well-rounded bourbon whereas Quark Juggler seems more focused on the spice. Both are very tasty and either would be an easy winner against other competition.

Congrats to Arctic Mama! Evan Williams Bottled in Bond is the 2022 Bottom-Shelf Champion!

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Lessons Learned:

This was an interesting contest for me. When I decided to set myself the restriction to only include bourbons that were sold by the handle and only for less than $35, I eliminated a lot of the usual candidates. There was nothing from Buffalo Trace, Sazerac did have one entry in Colonel Lee, but it certainly isn’t one of their best offerings. Beam only offered Old Crow in the price/format needed for this contest. All their Jim Beam branded offerings were too pricy in this market. Same with Wild Turkey. Usually I’d be able to at least get the 81 proof release, but it was not in stock at the stores that carry it at a low enough price.

All that left me scrambling to fill four slots. I was in the process of rethinking this crazy plan—which I really only implemented because I found a handle of the new 1783 on sale for $29.99 and I wanted all the bottles the same size so the photos would look better—when I wandered into Total Wine and decided that I could probably take a look at a few items that I really could only find there. So I ended up with four contestants that I’d never before included in the contest and three that I’d never even tasted before. That kind of thing is fun for me. At least before the first sips.

So what did I learn about each of these?

With Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and Evan Williams 1783 meeting in the Championship, they prove once again that if you are looking for inexpensive bourbon, grab a Heaven Hill product. You have the best odds of getting something really tasty for not a lot of money with them.

Four Roses finally got out of the first round on their fourth try. I really like their “Beige Label” standard bourbon, but when you put it head to head with other products in the price range they are hampered by their signature mellowness. On it’s own? Delicious. But put it against a Bonded bourbon and it just can’t compete. You better believe that I’m still going to finish the handle though.

McFarlane’s Reserve lost in the only upset. And that was a huge surprise for me. For the price, I expected more. I honestly don’t understand the description that it got from my buddy Fred Minnick. In a completely blind tasting, I thought it was the worst thing in the contest. It pains me to dump a $35 handle, but there is now way this is going back in my mouth. I even liked the TerrePURE entry better.

And speaking of the TerrePURE entry, let’s skip ahead to Winchester. This was one that I hesitated on including. It claims to be a straight bourbon, but much like the conversation around flavored bourbons and their status as even being a bourbon, does the TerrePURE process constitute “flavoring” (thus disqualifying it as even being a bourbon, much less a straight bourbon)? But then, I figured I was overthinking things. If they got it approved as straight bourbon, and they want to compete with straight bourbons, then who am I to let keep them out of a silly little contest on a small whiskey blog? To the surprise of no one in this house, when the winners of each contest were revealed, Winchester didn’t make it out of the first round. It was just too unpleasant, minty and…weird.

I learned nothing from Old Crow. The last time I included it in the contest, I stated that I would never buy it again…I should have stuck with that philosophy because I’m probably dumping this bottle too. When I said: “if you had never had bourbon, had it described for you by someone who didn't like it, and then tried to make a bourbon using only their description as a guide, you would make this bourbon” I think I was being generous.

As long as we are on the topic of bottles to be dumped, let’s look at Colonel Lee. I like bourbons from Barton. I like all of their flagships. Very Old Barton and 1792 are very tasty bourbons. But Colonel Lee is just bad. Not as bad as Mc Farlane’s Reserve or Old Crow, but not much better either. At least Colonel Lee tastes like bourbon, bad bourbon, but still bourbon. It might taste like the bourbon you take multiple rounds of shots of just before bar close, but that is still bourbon. Old Crow merely resembled bourbon and McFarlane’s Reserve tasted like buttered raisins…that’s not a bourbon flavor.

So now the final, and the most surprising, contestant: Banker’s Club Bourbon. Banker’s Club is a line of spirits sold by Laird’s (the AppleJack people). It has gin, vodka, bourbon, etc in the line. Think of it like a Seagram’s, Mr. Boston, or Fleischmann’s line. Some of everything, none of it high-end enough to be worthy of its own brand name. Banker’s Club was the least expensive entry in the contest. In fact, it is the least expensive entry in the nine years we have been doing this contest. You’d have to round up to make one cent per milliliter. That’s a very inexpensive bourbon. And it’s decent. Not like, drink- it-neat-in-a-Glencairn decent. But certainly throw-it-in-a-whiskey-sour or use-it-with-coke decent. Heck I won’t be dumping the bottle. I’ll probably mix it with higher proof and more flavorful bourbons to make them last longer. I’m super impressed with this one.

Overall this was a fun contest. It ended up right about where I would have guessed and I got a few surprises along the way. And heck I even like trying bad bourbon once in a while. It’s fun to know what not to buy too. Though, with three of dumpable bourbons in the mix this time around, I’m thinking that I’ll be happy to switch to tasting the top-shelf Barton and Heaven Hill samples that have been stacking up while the contest has been running.

Once again congrats to Heaven Hill and their Arctic Mama, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond!

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Bottom Shelf Brackets 2022: Round 1: Four Roses versus Old Crow

Tonight we feature a match-up of bourbons that have competed before. In fact, Four Roses Bourbon has been in three of the previous eight competitions. And fun fact, neither of these bourbons have ever made it out of the first round. So no matter what happens we will see someone get their first win.

First up is our number two seed for Division One. Coming in at 80° proof, the former blended whiskey but now fan-favorite bourbon, and competing under the name Giant Charmer, please welcome: Four Roses!

And its opponent is the former favorite of generals and presidents. Even though this one has fallen on hard times, please welcome: Old Crow!

Reminder, all of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and could have influenced the perceptions of one another.

Giant Charmer (Four Roses)

Purchase Info: $29.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.86

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Vanilla, mint, and caramel.

Mouth: A little thin on the mouth. Notes of vanilla, caramel, mint, and after a moment, cinnamon.

Finish: On the gentle side. Notes of cinnamon linger.

Thoughts:  This isn't bad. Wouldn't be my first choice but I wouldn't turn it down if offered.

Barrel Shakes (Old Crow)

Purchase Info: $21.99 for a 1.75-liter bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $0.63

Details: 40% ABV. Aged “for a full 3 years.”

Nose: Buttered popcorn and yeast bread.

Mouth: This is weird. Brown sugar, cinnamon, and an oddly chemical oak note.

Finish: Longer than I'd like. Oddly bitter.

Thoughts: If you had never had bourbon, had it described for you by someone who didn't like it, and then tried to make a bourbon using only their description as a guide, you would make this bourbon.

Winner: Giant Charmer and it isn't even close. Four Roses gets their first win on their fourth try. They will be advancing to round 2.

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9th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The Handles (Without Handles) Edition

Arctic Mama versus Sonic Berry? Quark Juggler versus Horse Jacket? Hamburger Arcade?

Eric, have you lost your damn fool mind? What kind of nonsense are you spewing?

Well, I thought that this year I’d give you a peek behind the curtain as to how we do these brackets every year. We used to do an entire convoluted routine so that we could both have a blind tasting. It involved people leaving the room. Pieces of paper. Cyphers. It was very confusing, and if you made a mistake (or just needed more whiskey to help you make a decision) there was no way to recreate what happened.

But nowadays, we have an ever so simple process. I seed the whiskey in the bracket. Then I pour 200 mL bottles of each of the contestant whiskeys and label them with a nonsense name. Finally, I make a separate bracket with the nonsense names and give that and the 200 mL bottles to my wife. After that, she takes care of everything. She has no idea what is in each bottle due to the nonsense name. She pours and keeps track of the winners while we do our tastings. And all I need to do is taste and write. It’s a pretty slick system.

And it means that everything is a true surprise. When we finished the final tasting and revealed who won each round, there were real surprises. It was more fun for us than when we knew who was in each tasting but didn’t know which glass was which whiskey.

So who are the participants and how did they get chosen? Well, every year I try to put in limitations that will force me to choose a new set of participants. Well, mostly new, anyway. This year I limited myself to only whiskeys that are available in handles (1.75 L bottles for those unaware of the term). Now trends in packaging have made it so that the term “handle” is not really appropriate anymore. I can’t think of a single “handle” that actually has a handle on it these days. A grip maybe, but not a handle. And many don’t even have that. But in any case, I like the shorthand of not needing to say 1.75-liter bottle.

Here are the rules that governed who was chosen. These are based on the same rules that I’ve used for most of the prior eight editions of this contest.

1. It has to be Straight Bourbon Whiskey. No blends or whatever. And if it is straight and doesn’t say it? Too bad. If the words Straight Bourbon Whiskey don’t appear on the label you are not qualified. A man needs standards after all.

2. My usual rules state that bottles need to be $15 or under for a 750 mL bottle or under $20 for a liter bottle. Following the math, that means handles need to be under $35.

3. Participants were seeded based on age and then proof. If you are over four years old, you don’t need to put the age on the label. Under that and you are required to say how old it is. If you stated the age and didn’t need you, you would get a nod. If you did it because you were required to, then someone else got the nod over you. After that, higher proof means a higher seed.

4. These were tasted completely blind. Until the final tasting was completed, neither my wife nor I had any clue what was in each bottle.

And now that we know how they got here, let’s meet the contestants under their real names. The number one overall seed is Arctic Mama otherwise known as Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. As the highest proof entrant in the four-year-old or older age range, it gets the first seed. It starts out going against Sonic Berry aka Colonel Lee. An old brand that is now listed as being bottled by Barton Brands. It was chosen by a coin flip as one of three bottles that were three years old and 80° proof. The number two seed is the Giant Charmer, Four Roses who will be facing off against Beam Suntory’s Old Crow, aka Barrel Shakes.

Across the way in Division Two, we have Quark Juggler or Evan Williams 1783 in the number one spot facing off against Total Wine’s TerrePURE brand Winchester otherwise known as Horse Jacket. Finally, we have the most expensive entry, a bottling from IJW Whiskey, coming in one penny under the rules at $34.99 in Hamburger Arcade or McFarlane’s Reserve going up against the least expensive entry in Laird’s Banker’s Club Bourbon (Fire Pirate) which I bought for under $20 for the handle.

A lot of new faces this time. Only three have been here before in the form they are now. Evan Williams 1783 has competed previously but has undergone a proof bump and reformulation since then. This one was a lot of fun. Who you got? Any upsets that you see on the horizon? Let us know down in the comments.

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The Challenging Craft of Blending with Brent Elliott, Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2021

Wow, sorry things have been so sporadic around here the last couple weeks. I had a COVID scare which turned out to be a bout of very severe allergies that just mimicked a severe illness. Rounds of steroids and medication later and I am finally on the mend. As such, today I will be stepping back in time to talk about a really enjoyable part of my visit to the 2021 Kentucky Bourbon Festival. I know that I gave the festival as a whole a very poor review, but this is one part that I really enjoyed. My wife and I will be talking about this event for a while.

It was a nice day for an outdoor class. The sun was out, it wasn’t too hot. It was early so the coffee hadn’t worn off yet. I was energetic and excited to get to learning. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the class that I had signed up for. I knew that it was about blending. That was about it.

Sure, I could have looked at the schedule to see who was leading the class, but the schedule had already been wrong enough that I didn’t feel the need to bother. Whatever was going to happen would happen and I figured that when there was something to learn, I’d learn it.

When we sat down, I was happy to see the Four Roses logo on the small leather-bound notebook in front of my seat. I was even more excited to see four 100 mL bottles of Four Roses set at each place setting in the table. From left to right, they were labeled OBSO (7 year old), OBSV (7 year old), OESK (14 year old), and OESF (13 year old). All about 60% ABV. We learned later that these were the finalists for the Elliott’s Select release from a few years ago.

As the class began, Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliott went over some of the background info on Four Roses itself including why they were teaching the blending class (even though they try not to use the word blending themselves). Then he explained each of the bourbons in front of us, gave us a few tips, answered a few questions and turned us loose to blend our own Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon.

Now, my wife and I each had different approaches to creating our blends. Having made plenty of fun blends at the house out of everything from Bourbon and Rye to Brandy and Tequilla, I attacked the problem the same way I always do. I tasted each of them, decided which flavor profile I wanted to feature and then started mixing. I always start with an even mix of each. Very small amounts at first, only a few milliliters of each. Then I taste that. Once I know how the even mix tastes, I’ll move on to the flavor I want to feature. I’ll add more of that one, then more of each until I get to something I like. I’ll admit, this is nothing like how the pros do it, but we only had an hour and I only had four bourbons to work with so I thought it would be efficient. Then of course you look at your notes, do your math and figure out the proportions to make the full 100 mL that we got to take home. My blend ended up sticking very close to the even mixture I started with at 21% OBSO, 21% OBSV, 21% OESK and 37% OESF. I tend to like the F and Q yeasts so it wasn’t much of a surprise to me that I included more of that one.

Of course, my wife has her own method. Like everyone else, she tasted each of them separately. And from there she decided on a couple that she really liked and wanted to work with. She started out working just with those two in order to dial in about where she wanted to go. Then once she had the framework of the flavor profile in place, she went back to the other two and little by little added more until she got the additional supporting notes where she wanted them. Her blend ended up being 37.5% OESK, 31.25% OESF, 25% OBSO and 6.25% OBSV.

This was such a fun event. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But, these have been mingling for a month now, let’s see how they taste just for giggles.

Eric's Blend:

Details: Approximately 60% ABV. 21% each: OBSO (7-year-old), OBSV (7-year-old), and OESK (14-year-old) and 37% OESK (13-year-old).

Nose: JuicyFruit Gum, vanilla, brown sugar, and a hint of baking spice.

Mouth: Hot and spicy. Baking spice, JuicyFruit Gum, and caramel.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of caramel, red fruits, and almond.

Robin’s Blend:

Details: Approximately 60% ABV. 37.5% OESK (14-year-old), 31.25% OESK (13-year-old), 25% OBSO (7-year-old),and 6.25% OBSV (7-year-old).

Nose: Peach, cinnamon, and wintergreen.

Mouth: Stone fruits, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, caramel, and mint.

Finish: Medium to long. Notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and stone fruit.

Comparison Thoughts: Both of these are delicious! My blend is spicy and brings out the "Juicy Fruit Gum" notes that I love from Four Roses. My wife's blend is very strong on peach and other stone fruits. It is sweet and fruity. It really is amazing just how different these are considering that they were made with the exact same ingredients. It just goes to show the need for a good blender in whiskey creation. It's nice to see more of them getting recognition in American Whiskey.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

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