Four Roses 2011 Limited Edition 57.5%

The reviewed bottle belongs to my sister, has been open for 3 years, and is 80% full. I've consumed most of that 20% of the bottle over these 3 years. This is OBSQ recipe, 35% rye in the mash, bottle # 1,147 out of 3,900 total bottles. The whiskey is 12 years old

Nose: strong intensity, sharply-edged vanilla and natural caramel; high-pitched wood-sugar, sweet without much balance; very clean; spice from rye is there, but it is pretty soft; spice from wood, like black pepper tinged with oak, is also noticeable. A drop of water relaxed and even improved the nose, to 23 pts

Taste: spice from rye grain, viz. black pepper, cinnamon/cassia, nutmeg, and cloves, is much stronger on the palate than in the nose, and is quite delicious. This remains very sweet on the palate, but was much less sweet in the first year the bottle was open. Water brought out bass notes in wood and muddled the spices on the palate and finish

Finish: long, especially for the spice, leaving a sweet afterglow. The finish is better without water

Balance: lovely balance, as long as you can accept that this is a style in which sweet is only balanced by spicy, and not by sour, bitter, or saltly

This 90 score is for the bottle at present, i.e. opened for 3 years. I would easily have rated this whiskey 93 pts in the first year of the bottle open

It took me several years to like any Four Roses bourbons other than Bulleit. Why? Because their rounded style of rye presentation was not what most excited me about rye grain. For years I could not understand what Four Roses was doing to make the bold flavours of rye muffled and amorphous. In time, I have come to enjoy this style too, though I do greatly prefer the 5 Four Roses 35% rye bourbons, viz. the OB formulae, to their 5 20% rye bourbons, the OE formula bourbons

I have also found all of the Four Roses Limited Editions to be truly excellent, and well worth seeking out

My thanks to @dbk, for introducing me in early 2011 to the 2009 Four Roses Mariage, my first Four Roses Limited Edition, which changed how I felt about Four Roses. I still haven't opened my bottle of 2009 Mariage. That will occur on some very special day, yet to be decided

Find where to buy Four Roses whisky