This is an annual Limited Edition release from Four Roses. It usually features a blend of several mashbills of significantly older provenance compared to both the original Small Batch and a variety of Private Selection bottlings. The 2017 vintage features a combination of 15yr OESK, 13yr OESK and 12yr OESV.
Under the beautiful spice come vanilla cake batter, almond butter, and salt water taffy that walk it to a finish that just doesn’t quit. It’s the vanilla-forward finish that makes this an upper-echelon whiskey.
Armed only with a 100ml press sample, I couldn’t spare a drop to test its cocktail performance—not that it needed to prove its mettle among the amendments—or even bother with good ice. No loss, though, as this was delicious au naturale.
The taste has a good balance of sweetness and spices, with cinnamon and black pepper balanced by caramel, honey, and a touch of brown sugar. The finish is long and fades away gently with a good balance of sweetness and spices. Excellent!
Water is a must, as it works wonders at bringing out some much more engaging secondary notes: gingerbread, butterscotch, and cinnamon are all in play, alongside more of those savory spice notes, which here are racier than they come across on the rather dulled nose. It’s enough to redeem a rocky opening gambit to make the overall experience quite worthwhile.
I think that this year was a fairly big Whiff for 4R as far as their special releases go. I've tried a significant amount of 4R bottlings this year and this one falls near the bottom into just "average" territory.
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House Review
Nose:
Honey, caramel, rich vanilla, sweet molasses and faint clove.
Taste:
Medium mouthfeel, a bit of heat. Oaky, caramel and cocoa. Pepper is big here too, with some vanilla. Really quite dry.
Finish:
Medium length, dry, spicy and oaky.
Overall:
More of the same narrative with Al Young here, but a little more disappointment. I think that this year was a fairly big Whiff for 4R as far as their special releases go. I've tried a significant amount of 4R bottlings this year and this one falls near the bottom into just "average" territory. This was more disappointing to me because OESK is one of my favorite recipes from Four Roses. Oh well - there's always more bourbon to enjoy. Maybe next year will be a better year.
Score:
80
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources
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