Four Roses Single Barrel
Vanilla custard with roses
3 791
Review by @casualtorture
- Nose22
- Taste22
- Finish23
- Balance24
- Overall91
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Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Four Roses
- Type: American
- ABV: 50%
- Batch: MW 50-2F
Four Roses single barrel. Warehouse: MW Barrel: 50 2F
Fresh bottle, this dram has been sitting out for about 45min while I mounted a TV on the wall...
Nose: Very floral. Sweet flower petals. Vanilla custard. The sweetness is balanced nicely by a bit of leather and pipe tobacco.This dram literally blossomed into a flower with some air time. Although, the longer this sits here (been over an hour in the glass now) the more dominant the tobacco becomes. What started sweet and floral has turned into earth and tabacco. Both elements are still present, but the balance of power has shifted.
Palate: First impression is that you cannot tell this is a 100 proof bourbon. Oh, so smooth. Silky, creamy texture. Still very floral, it's like rose petals fell into some vanilla custard. It even reminds me of Yamazaki Japanese single malt whisky and its floral aspects. But spice comes to play and things evolve a bit into some earthy spices. Banana pepper, chili pepper. Really interesting progression. Not spicy like the OGD 114 I've been sipping on the past few nights, but enough to nicely balance against the sweetness of the flowers and vanilla. Good stuff.
Finish: Much sweeter than the nose and palate. Creamy vanilla ice cream dominates the finish. A bit of the floral characteristics still remain the but vanilla definately wins. And did I mention smooth? Easy drinker here.
Overall: Vanilla and flower petals are the constant here. The nose, palate, and finish all have vanilla and flowers. The nose also gets some earthy tobacco and the palate gets some spice to balance things out before culminating with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. As far a single barrel bourbon goes, this seems on the lighter, more delicate side. They have two more bottles of this particular barrel at this store and I may go get them. I had a bottle of standard four roses recently and didnt even review it because it was "meh." But this is some good stuff. Not sure if I lucked out with a good barrel or it's always this good but definately want some more of this stuff.
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I didn't review my FRSB quite this high (I think I scored it 86-87) but it was a different barrel/warehouse. I really liked it though. I've never had the "standard" Four Roses, but I agree: this one is impressive and not at all "hot" for a 50% ABV whisky.