Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Good value at a great price
0 283
Review by @Pierre_W
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall83
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- Brand: Four Roses
- Type: American
- ABV: 40%
Four Roses distillery is located in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where it was established in 1910. The brand, however, was trademarked already in 1888 by Paul Jones Jr. In 1943 it was purchased by Seagram as they acquired the Frankfort Distilling Company that had been the owner of the brand. Four Roses was the top selling bourbon brand in the US in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Despite the popularity of the brand, Seagram decided to discontinue selling it within the US and to focus on sales of blended whiskey instead while moving Four Roses to European and Asian markets (where it was hugely successful). This changed only after, in 2002, Seagram was purchased by Vivendi who divested most of their brands to Diageo which then sold the Four Roses brand to the Kirin Brewery Company. Kirin in turn took the decision to focus exclusively on Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The expression at hand, also known as ‘Yellow Label’, is made up of whiskies that are between 5 and 6 years old.
The nose starts with lots of vanilla and caramel, followed by fudge and a hint of cinnamon. Strangely, I detected a touch of plastic towards the end.
The palate is light- bodied, creamy, and just a little bit spicy. Later on the sweet flavours kick in, with vanilla, molasses and cinnamon playing a dominant role.
The finish is long and surprisingly warming; it ends on sweet notes of fudge and honey.
Given the rather low price and equally low ABV my expectations were not too high for this bourbon but it turned out to be very tasty. Bottle this at a higher ABV and you'll have a cracking dram.
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Thanks very much, @Pierre_W.
Four Roses has done little wrong since Kirin has been the owner. Yellow Label blends all 10 Four Roses bourbons (two mashbills and five different strains of yeast) together. It is fun to explore the 10 individual bourbons to observe the differences in yeast and mashbill effects. To do so usually means buying from private single barrels which identify which of the 10 formulae is used. The late Lincoln Henderson, who used to work at Four Roses, quotes an oft-stated truism circulated among American distillers: 50% of the whiskey's flavours derive from the wood, 25% from the grain, and 25% from the yeast. Four Roses gives a miniature laboratory which allows observation of how much the yeast chosen changes the flavours of the whiskey. Spearmint present? That's from the yeast chosen. The different yeasts give distinctively differently flavoured whiskeys, some of which you will like much more than others.
The Four Roses "OE" formula bourbons use 20% rye grain, whereas the "OB" bourbons use 35% rye grain. These rye contents are on average the highest for bourbon among the large US distilleries. Despite the very high levels of rye, the Four Roses style still manages to be rounded, and to take much of the edge off of the rye greeting. It took me awhile to get used to that, because I like very sharp rye from both standard rye-containing bourbon and rye whiskey. Examples of 'sharp rye' in bourbon? Old Grand-Dad 114 (Beam Suntory), Wild Turkey 101 or Rare Breed, Fighting Cock (Heaven Hill).
If you enjoy Yellow Label, then you are likely to like almost everything that Four Roses makes. Their Barrel Proof Limited Editions are usually phenomenal.