Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon Whiskey Review:

“No one is quite sure why [Paul] Jones named the whiskey after four roses. Even within the distillery, there are two competing stories. One says that a colonel by the name of Rose had four daughters. The problem is that Colonel Rose actually had five daughters. The other story says that the brand was named after Jones fiancé, supposedly named Rose. Why, then, four roses? Shame on anyone who thinks Mr. Jones might have been up to no good…” – Marc A. Hoffmann

Right next-door to the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, the Spanish Mission style distillery, Four Roses, sits. Founded in 1888 this distillery is possibly one of the loveliest looking in the United States; currently it is also one of the most loved, being named "2011 American Distiller of the Year" by Whisky Magazine. 

Founded by Ire “Old Joe” Peyton, it is supposed that he began the distillery shortly after arriving in Kentucky by way of canoe in 1818. Originally holding the name, “Old Joe,” Peyton’s products had huge success. After being sold to Gratz Hawkins, it was renamed Old Prentice. The distillery ended up exchanging hands frequently, once being owned by the Ripley Brothers, until 1888 when it was bought by Paul Jones who registered it under the current name. 

The rest of the story is fairly long, and so rather than explaining it here I am going to direct you to Jason Pyle’s blog, The Sour Mash Manifest, in which he held a three part interview with Jim Rutledge, the master distiller at Four Roses. Jim explains everything in great detail and I would definitely encourage you to check it out. Plus Jason Pyle is a great interviewer. 

Up until 2002 every product in the Four Roses line was export only. The details to why are well explained in the interview referenced above, but I will say that the Yellow Label, reviewed below, has been the hardest brand to find in the United States until recently. From now on we should start to see all three selection from Four Roses Distillery much more accessible.

Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon Whiskey Review:

Price: Around $17 – $20 range for a 750ml bottle.

Packaging/Labeling: Nothing special. For this bourbon I would have preferred something closer to a craft presentation, simply because I feel the product is worthy of it.

Alcoholic Content: 40% abv, 80 proof.

Nose: Clean and neat. Banana cream pie. Nutmeg, clove, spice with winter green undertones. There is an overarching yeastiness.

Palate: There is a real light marshmallow introduction with maple wood and vanilla, slowly expanding into thin air. This leaves one with cinnamon sticks, drying out into a nice spiciness, with hints of a very light blueberry creaminess (don’t really know where that came from).

Conclusion: This is a great value bourbon. Won't feel bad putting this in cocktail, but it holds up when consumed neat. Definitely recommended, and one of the better made bourbons under $20.

Jim Beam Rye and Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey Comparison Review:

“Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

Rye is on the rise. Everyone knows it. Each year more distilleries are jumping on the rye bandwagon, loading up their warehouses full of the stuff. Yet the revival as it stands is still very small. Much of the new products coming out are really old products. Or rather they have been in production and are simply bottled by different companies, many of these companies utilizing LDI’s large stock of 95 percent rye – Bulleit ‘95’ Rye coming to mind. Today, however, I thought I would focus on another interesting rye product. Or rather two rye products: Jim Beam Rye and Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey. At present everyone seems to know Old Overholt, partly due to its more recent cameo performances made in the popular Mad Men series. Jim Beam Rye on the other hand, being overshadowed by Beam's larger labels, has just recently began receiving its due attention. So why am I talking about two products as if they are really one product? Simply because they are one product. When you're buying a bottle of Overholt you are inevitably buying a bottle of Jim Beam Rye. They both come from the exact same distillate. The difference, as far as I can tell, is in the barrel selection for each brand. 

So how did this happen? When Jim Beam merged with National Distillers in 1987 it
consequently inherited Old Overholt. Being that Rye had been on decline since the repeal of prohibition, Jim Beam immediately ceased Overholt's distilling at the Forks of Elkhorn Distillery and simply waited for the supply to run out. Once the stock had been consumed Beam merely began using their own production of rye for Overholt, the same rye used for their own Beam Rye. And this has been relatively unchanged up the present day.

So the question we really want to know as whiskey drinkers is: Does it taste the same? I would answer yes and no. Whatever Beam is doing (different barrel choices, etc) both are admirable and each unique enough in their own right for someone to actually question buying one over the other. So how do they review?

Jim Beam Rye Whiskey Review:

Price: Around $15.99 for a 750ml bottle.

Packaging/Labeling: Classic square Jim Beam bottle with a yellow label. Nothing to complain about.

Alcoholic Content: 40% abv, 80 proof.

Nose: Fresh and clean. Sweet green apple. The rye grain is not overbearing – it holds a unique malty note. It opens up and displays some of your typical vanilla, corn, and caramel notes.

Palate: Clean and quick. Light fruit, lavender, honey, mint, and clove. All melded together with a creamy strain. Very similar to the nose – what you smell in the glass is what you taste in the glass.

Old Overholt Rye Whiskey Review:

Price: Around $16.95 for a 750ml bottle.

Packaging/Labeling: Cheap brown bottle. As much as the get-up looks mass market I find that I wouldn't want it any other way.

Alcoholic Content: 40% abv, 80 proof.

Nose: This comes on much bolder than the Beam rye. The rye grain is more robust, less menthol, mint and fruitiness on the front – more earthy and vegetal. Throughout there are stout wood and flint notes.

Palate:  The woodiness comes through much more on the Overhalt. The tannic notes are definitely there, as they were in the nose, however there is an overarching creaminess which balances out the flavors nicely.

Comparison Conclusion: These are both very similar. Each of their noses are where they differ most heavily, and the tannic nature of Overholt compared to the fruitiness of Beam also distinguishes them on the palate. Yet they both come together in the mid-palete with the pleasant creaminess of lavender. They are both surprisingly great products for being so inexpensive. And the price is only $1 or $2 difference which means you won't have to simply choose the cheaper one. What do I most likely prefer from the two? Probably the Old Overholt. Loads of tannins/woodiness can be overbearing in some whiskies, yet this ain't bad at all when not being compared to Jim Beam Rye, and it also gives a fairly average whiskey something more to offer.

Maker's Mark 46 Bourbon Whiskey Review:

“Nothing is so musical as the sound of pouring bourbon for the first drink on a Sunday morning. Not Bach or Schubert or any of those masters.” 

- (Lula) Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands.

Last week I was down in Tucson, AZ for a few days visiting grandfather who is near the end of his life. Knowing that I would be seeing my father, who was already down there, I was sure we would be picking up something special from the local liquor store in the area. Since I rarely get a chance to see my father, much less enjoy a bottle with him, and since this was a rather unique “vacation” where a large toast seemed appropriate, I thought I would be able to get something more unique than the usual tipple to share with him (though as I think about it, we never seem to settle for the "usual tipple" anyway). Yet apparently in Tuscan the only place to find a brown spirit is in grocery stores and Walgreens, meaning a very mediocre selection. After a few failed attempts we finally came across Maker’s Mark 46. Sitting next to Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam White, Maker’s 46 was the most unique selection in the place. Not to say that I have anything wrong with it. I have in fact really wanted to review this bourbon, and while I am not a huge fan of the standard Maker’s Mark (solid bourbon, just a bit too easy-drinking for me), I have heard good things about the 46.

This version is not simply a longer aged bourbon of the original Maker's, rather it receives additional aging in barrels with internal French oak staves that have been seared, not charred. To note, using inner staves has been banned by the Scottish Parliament and will most likely make its way into the EU (according to John Lamond). This somewhat solidifies the bourbon as a bit experimental. And I can positively say that this is how I like to enjoy Maker’s. If anything, I can say this presentation balances out what I felt was too dominant of flavors – the vanilla and caramels. This is a big bourbon while still keeping up with the Maker’s signature profile.

Maker’s Mark 46 Bourbon Review:

                                    

Price: Around $34 for a 750ml bottle.

Packaging/Labeling: This expression really looks good. Maker’s did a superior job on the bottle design, clean, neat, with a pleasant modern touch for the first new expression in 50 years. The only issue I would take with the design is that I would have preferred a description of the product on the bottle, rather than having to check out the website.

Alcoholic Content: 47% abv, 94 proof.

Nose: Cinnamon and spice with thick cut oak. Nice vanilla and dried apricot. Light cherry and cola.

Tasting: Red Hots come right through developing into cinnamon and nutmeg. Sweet dried apricot. Some dark red fruits. Ends with maple and butterscotch.

Conclusion:  This is a solid bourbon and I must say I am a little surprised at how much I like this. I was expecting so much of the original Maker's to come through, and it did, but only in parts. And, I would suggest, only the best parts. With the higher alcohol strength and the addition of the internal wood staves I would definitely recommend this.

As a last note: even though this is a true line, and not a limited edition, from what I have heard, Maker's 46 might find itself in short supply in the near future simply based on the fact that this is a new product and Maker's will not be able to keep up with supply as it is going.

Knob Creek Small Batch Bourbon Review:

"I feel the ideal way to enjoy Bourbon is to drink it the way you like it. If a person wants to mix Bourbon, with anything, it is alright. Soft drinks, cocktails, water, or even neat are perfectly ok." - Fred Noe, Sr.

This last Christmas Santa put a wonderful little nugget in my stocking: a mini of Knob Creek Small Batch Bourbon. And no, this is not an abnormal gifting experience. The Christmas prior Santa put 750 ml bottle of Makers Mark in my stocking, with a box of sugar cubes, Angostura Bitters, and an orange. Anyway, I have been so busy with all my other whiskey tastings I only just remembered the mini hiding in the back of the home bar. A nice little surprise!

Produced by Beam Inc. at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, Knob Creek is a straight bourbon whiskey. One of four in a collection of Jim Beam small batch bourbons, including Basil Hayden’s, Booker’s, and Baker’s, Knob Creek is aged 9 years, the longest of any within the group. And it is also the most popular. In 2009, because demand for the bourbon ran well over the prior 2000 forecast, when the stock began the aging process, Beam consequently ran a well placed campaign publicizing, and fully embracing, their failure. It seems to have worked, because people really seem to love it.

Beam worked this whiskey to supposedly express a pre-prohibition bourbon. Yet, based on the sheer size of Jim Beam and the number of bottles they are producing, this sounds dubious. So let’s see how it pans out.

Knob Creek Small Batch Bourbon Review:

                                    

Price: Around $30 for a 750ml bottle. I have seen a lot of variation on the price.

Packaging/Labeling: Clean modern label with rhetoric that does it no justice, suggesting it to be an old-school small batch and artisan style bourbon.

Alcoholic Content: 100 Proof, 50% ABV. 

Nose: Maple syrup and agave on the front. Makes me think of pancakes. Flint locked notes of blueberry and cherry. There is an oak and creaminess which permeates the whole thing. 

Tasting: This is an oak-centric bourbon. On the front palette there is a straight forward thick cut chocolate dryness. You have syrup and floral notes - violets and cream. there are some great woody/brown spices which end with a (long) dry and bitter oak finish. 

Conclusion: I rather enjoyed this. This is a tasty and solid bourbon with no off notes or flavors, but it is very one dimensional. Likewise this is not something which will provide everything for those with a heavy corn palette. And to enjoy this completely you have to appreciate strong char and oak. This is great to sip neat, though I can't say it is an easy sipper. Cocktail drinkers would love this because of those dominant flavors which could easily be teased out in a mixed beverage, say a manhattan.

*Sorry - no time for an image this week. Here is the image link.

For Portland/Oregon/Washington Whiskey Lover

Each year on St. Patrick’s Day McMenamins’ Edgefield Distillery releases a single edition 10 year old malt whiskey. They usually sell out around noon the same day, so if you want to grab a bottle (200ml) get there early. And yes, their whiskey is much better than their beer. Previous McMenamins' Reviews: One, Two, and Three.