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Four Roses - Small Batch

Nice spice

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@Pete1969Review by @Pete1969

7th Sep 2015

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  • Nose
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  • Overall
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Deep gold colour with long legs in glass.

Nose: vanilla, brown sugar/caramel, cherry, sultana and warm spice

Palate: sweet entry, warming spice peppery with cloves as held on tongue builds to the edge of hot without ever getting too hot to handle sweet cherry essence with dried fruit and cherry balancing the heat.

Finish long sweet and warm with vanilla

The best balanced bourbon I have tried to date, the rye spice was a bit of a surprise compared to the FR1B as with the four recipe batching I was expecting less not more, gorgeous level of heat without any alcohol kick.

This is probably my favourite out of the 3 daily sippers I have too hand the others being WT101 and Buffalo Trace 40%ABV wish they did the 45 in UK. On any given day the Small batch or 101 are interchangeable both the Jim's are true master distillers. Rutledge edges it for me in this price bracket but at the next level I would go for the Rare Breed from Russell, although I am sure there will be honey barrels in the FR1B that would beat the consistency of the WT batching.

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4 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

@Pete1969, thanks for your nice review.

Strangely I have never owned a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch, though I have been a big fan of it for several years now. I have never tasted a bad sample of it. It is flavourful, but also very mellow. I think that you are absolutely right in suggesting that Four Roses Small Batch makes one of the best choices for a bourbon "daily sipper".

To the best of my knowledge, Four Roses Small Batch blends four of the ten Four Roses bourbons together. The standard Yellow Label blends all ten of their bourbons together. In addition to the Single Barrels of individual bourbons, there are also various other Four Roses Limited Releases blending two ("Mariage") or more of their bourbons together.

8 years ago 0

@Pete1969
Pete1969 commented

@victor I am surprised you have yet to have a bottle of this Victor but looking at your cabinet there must be a tipping point were the choices become tougher with the space left. The batching of 2 OE and OB recipes produces a fantastic batch are you aware of any consistency issues between batches or is it generally a safe bet.

8 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Pete1969, I have neither encountered nor heard of a bad batch of Four Roses Small Batch. I will be happy to own a bottle of it one day, but I will probably be in no hurry to buy one unless I hear that the expression is about to be discontinued. I have a lot of bourbon on hand. On the other hand, the best time to buy any whiskey is always when you know that the quality is high.

8 years ago 0

@Benancio
Benancio commented

@Pete1969. Nice review, great choice for a daily sipper. I haven't bought a bottle in a few years, I usually reach for the Single Barrel. I know what you mean about tipping point. I'm at a point where I'm bargain shopping. If I find the Small Batch on sale I'll pick up a few bottles.

Side note, I read that Jimmy Rutledge has retired. Good news is Jimmy Russel has no intention of retiring.

8 years ago 0

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