Four Roses Single Barrel - Barrel Strength

@casualtorture Very nice review. Another whisky for which more is not better. Your experience of FR is quite different from mine. For me FR is one of the most floral bourbon you can get. It also seems to me that the wood of your SB is not as good as it is usually. Personally, I would say that wood spice is one of the best features of FR and it doesn't seem to be the case here. I would really like to know how it is swimming, that way you could be able to assert if it is the effect of the higher ABV that doesn't suit FR or if it is simply a lesser batch or , in this case, a lesser barrel.

Interesting. I'd love to taste from that bottle.

Much as I love spearmint, I don't like it in whiskey. One or two of those Four Roses yeast strains bring out the spearmint. Not for me.

@Victor It looks to me to be the regular SB but at CS as it is the OBSV mashbill.

Hmmm, perverse mint presence. I don't usually taste mint in standard 50% ABV Four Roses Single Barrel, merci a Bon Dieu.

@Robert99 my SB at 50% was very floral with vanilla and tobacco. This one is not at all. But hey every barrel is different.

@Victor I didn't get any mint in my SB 50% version. I was expecting the same floral, honeysuckle and vanilla notes with some tobacco. Just bigger flavors. But that was not the case here as this was very different than my OBSV SB at 50%.

@Robert99 and I will add some distilled water next time (tomorrow maybe) and see how it changes and give an update.

@casualtorture, I think that If I owned that bottle of yours that I might try some vatting experiments with it. Sounds like you might be able to improve upon it. You know what would be an interesting experiment? Vatting some of that bottle of yours with some Four Roses Yellow Label. Stoke up the intensity of the Yellow Label with the barrel strength and mellow out the Single Barrel a bit. 1:1, 2:1, or 1:2 might all be worth trying.

Interesting review, thanks - bad breath . . . mmm sounds appealing! Seriously, it's amazing the variety of smells and tastes we get and how we each interpret or perceive them differently. I feel like I could go off on an Aldous Huxley style diversion but will restrain myself and save you all the torture!

I doubt I'll be seeing this one any time soon but do have my eye on the SB at 50%.

fwiw I find a minty/eucalyptus note in a lot of bourbons and the Bulleit rye was chock full of it. I believe some may interpret this as dill?! I had a bottle of Kentucky Vintage a while back and found that as the bottle went down a very unpleasant woody/nuttyness came out, to the point that swallowing took a bit of effort. I wonder if this is a similar thing to the bad breath note?

@Robert99 So I added some water tonight. About 1CL to 3CL whiskey (a lot of water for me.)

Nose: Much fruitier and sweeter. Red apples and vanilla. Not as tabacco forward or earthy.

Palate: A bit spicier than before. Fair amount of spice actually. Some vanilla towards the end here.

Finish: This improves the finish drastically. Still a little "old wet wood" and overripe fruit but not as bad as before. The finish was the off putting part before and it is still the weakest part but with water it is less bad.

I would bump this up by a point or two with water. Solid 85 or 86 but still not as good as the 50% FRSB bottle I had.

This is the first time I have ever scored a whiskey higher with water than without. milestone.

@casualtorture Thanks for the follow up. You are a philosoph sir for the way you are taking this experience. You have a lesser bottle of FRSB but still manage to make it a positive experience. Good for you.

To be honest, I am one of the guy who taste the infamous Lambertus and had fun doing it even if it was awfull. I am also a guy for whom a bad bottle is simply offering a challenge to get the right vatting. I would also be very happy if my lesser bottles would reach 85. Anyway, it always a pleasure to see somebody appreciating the journey on which we are.

@RianC I did have some minty eucalyptus note in some bourbon in the past but never confused that with dill. I have dill on very oxydized bourbon, on bottles that have been opened for 2 years or more or with high rye content bourbon with a sour note and a vegetal note.

As for the Bulleit Rye, as @Victor as mentioned many time in the past, it changes tremendously with time amd for the better. I find that it becomes more and more sweet with time. Hope your bottle will follow the same path.

@Robert99 - Oh my bottles long gone but I had it open for over a year and it did get much sweeter. A very pleasing introduction to rye.