Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition 2012

Many lovers of Four Roses bourbon concentrate on their single barrel offerings, each of which highlights one of the distillery's famed ten recipes (made up of five yeasts and two different mashbills). While it's fun to sample the different recipes, Four Roses also blends them for their other bottlings. The Four Roses Small Batch is a blend of four different bourbons. Each year, Four Roses also releases a Limited Edition Small Batch, a marriage of four bourbons bottled at barrel strength.

This year's Limited Edition Small Batch is a blend of the following four bourbons:
17 year old OBSV, 11 year old OBSV, 12 year old OBSK and 12 year old OESK. This vatting combines three different ages, two different yeasts (V and K) and both of the mashbills: the B mashbill is 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley. and the E mashbill is 75% corn, 20% rye and 5% malted barley.


Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition 2012, 55.7% abv ($87)

The nose on this is really wonderful with all kinds of things going on. A first whiff reveals fresh cherries, followed by a nice dose of briny rye spice, tobacco and wood notes. The palate carries the same complexity. The briny rye spice is there but also a sort of light perfume note that intensifies the tobacco from the nose. The tobacco and rye spice really stand out on the finish which is quite lengthy and delicious. Water brings out some anise notes and some acid that add to the picture.

This is really fantastic stuff. It's packed with flavor and has a complexity that shows new dimensions with every sip. This may be the best new bourbon I've had all year. It's certainly competitive with the annual offerings from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and Pappy Van Winkle, but unlike those, there appears to be some Four Roses Small Batch Limited still on the shelves. If you see it, grab it.

Jefferson's Rye

McLain & Kyne's Jefferson's Rye is the third of the trifecta of Canadian ten year old ryes that came out last year, the others being WhistlePig and Masterson's. Like the other two, Jefferson's is ten years old and made from 100% rye mash, but it's about $25 cheaper than its competitors.


Jefferson's Rye, 10 years old, 47% abv ($40)

The nose is sweet and piney, like a sugar coated pine needle. The palate is very similar to the aforementioned Canadian ryes with strong, earthy, piney notes and a bit of brine but some sweetness as well. The finish is decidedly spicy and briny.

These Canadian ryes came around at just the right time, during a shortage of aged American straight rye. In comparing Jefferson's to the other two Canadian ryes, WhistlePig is stronger, and Masterson's is slightly more nuanced. When it comes right down to it, though, they are strikingly similar. Given that similarity, you might as well buy the cheaper one, and that is clearly Jefferson's.

Trolling the TTB

As I've written before the Federal Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approves all spirits labels and publishes the certificates of approval on-line. This is a huge service to spirits fans as we get to see labels for new products long before they are on the shelf. Whiskey geek that I am, I spend some of my free time trolling the TTB database to see what's new and noteworthy. If I find something good, I usually tweet a link to using the hashtag #ttbtrolling, so if you want to see what's new that I've found interesting, search that hashtag.

Now keep in mind that label approvals don't guarantee that the product will hit the market. Sometimes, a company submits a label to have a product ready but then decides not to go forward or changes it for one reason or another. They also approve labels that are for private distribution for a particular event or store but which may not be widely available, so if you see me tweet an interesting label, understand that it's likely but not guaranteed to end up on the shelf.

Here are some of my recent finds:

• Jim Beam brings back its Distiller's Masterpiece series of a decade ago with a sherry finished bourbon
• Glenmorangie adds Ealanta to its Private Edition, vintage 1993 and aged in new, charred oak like a bourbon
• Old Forester brings out a single barrel BIB
• Bunnahabhain 40
• Bulleit 10 year old
• And for all you whiskey purists: Chicken Cock Root Beer Flavored Whiskey

I bet you never thought government documents could be so much fun!

Am I Too Hard on Whiskey?

Lately, I've had a few comments suggesting that maybe I'm too negative about whiskey, that there's nothing out there I like. Heck, maybe I don't even like whiskey at all. While I make light of it, it's a legitimate question: am I being too hard on whiskey?

I certainly admit to being a hard judge. I started this blog as recommendations for a small group of readers who were mostly my friends. My feeling was that if I recommended something for them to spend their hard earned money on, it was going to be something I felt strongly about.

Even though the audience for the blog has grown by leaps and bounds since then, I still take that same attitude. I will always honestly say what I feel about a whiskey. That doesn't mean any given reader will agree with me, but it's all I can do. For that matter, there are a number of blogs out there that give mostly very positive reviews. That's not a criticism of those blogs, and I have no reason to believe they are not being every bit as honest as I am, but if you mostly want to hear about how good most whiskey is, there are a lot of people who have palates that will accommodate you.

That being said, I don't think it's all my fault. As I recently wrote, the Golden Age of Whiskey is over, and I honestly feel that the new releases we are seeing these days (and new releases are what most bloggers write about) are simply not as good as they used to be. It used to be that new releases meant a company had something different to offer, perhaps something older, higher proof or a unique mashbill. Over the last few years though, spirits companies have figured out that people like new releases and will buy them, so you get high priced line extensions that aren't really much different from current offerings, though there is usually some story to go along with them (survived a tornado, aged on a boat, named for a felony, etc.).

The truth is that I do like lots of whiskey. In another few months, I'll release my holiday gift suggestions, and I've had no problem compiling them from this year's new releases. While I won't swoon over every new bottling, there's plenty out there that I like and even love, though it's not usually the most hyped new release.

K&L Spirits Blog: Read It

I've always been a fan of the K&L Spirits Journal blog which gives a unique insight into the retail market as well as some general philosophizing on the booze industry.

Lately though, K&L Northern California spirits buyer David Driscoll has taken it to a new level. When presented with price hikes for some whiskey brands, he dramatically lowered prices on others brands from the same company to the consternation of the distributor and other retailers. Check out these great posts and then peruse the rest of the blog.

• David Driscoll says he will fight the price hikes by lowering prices on other prominent whiskeys;
• How the spirits companies react; and
• The Market Reacts.

For extra bonus fun, read about how I totally punked K&L when David was visiting the Los Angeles store.

Rye Two: Knob Creek Rye

A few years ago, Jim Beam made a play for the high-end rye market with something called (rī)¹ (pronounced "Rye One"). They claimed it would be followed by Rye Two and Three, but that never happened, presumably because sales were not what they imagined. Now, Beam is making another attempt at the premium rye market, this time using its popular and expanding Knob Creek label. Knob Creek Rye carries no age statement and is bottled at 100 proof. We can only assume it includes some of the rye that was previously intended for Rye One...or Two.

I should note that I'm generally not a fan of Beam ryes (or Beam anything really). They tend to be sweet and lacking in spice, which is the note I like most in my rye.


Knob Creek Rye, 50% abv ($37)

The nose on this is typical of Beam ryes, very light with some banana and some soapy notes. The palate is slightly sweet with little rye character. The initial sweetness fades to that slightly banana flavor, which is really more like an artificial banana candy. There's a sort of sweet candy finish.

Well, what can I say? It's a Beam rye. Those banana notes are similar to what I get in Old Overholt, another Beam rye. This does nothing for me. I've always seen Beam ryes as rye for people who don't really like rye, and this one is no different. If you like Overholt or you liked Rye One, give it a try. Otherwise, stay away.

Cookin' Bourbon at Cashmere Bites

Last weekend I hosted a bourbon tasting at a cute little cooking school called Cashmere Bites. Located in the West Adams neighborhood, Cashmere Bites is a one-woman project run by clasically trained chef Tracey Augustine. She holds classes for up to 13 people on a variety of subjects from "urban tapas" to New Orleans cuisine, and her kitchen is in a great little industrial space. The classes usually cost in the $65-$75 range.

For our bourbon tasting, I led folks through the bourbons while Tracey accompanied with a four courses, each of which used bourbon as an ingredient. In this novice tasting, we tasted Eagle Rare 10, Elijah Craig 12, WL Weller 12, George Dickel 12, Bulleit Rye, and as a bonus I brought some Rittenhouse 23 year old and George T. Stagg from my personal stash.

Tracey made bourbon glazed chicken wings, brisket sliders with caramelized onions, bourbon/bacon pecan tarts and banana-bourbon pudding. All of these were great but I especially loved the sliders and the tarts, which were mini-pecan pies with bourbon...and bacon. It's hard to describe how immediately addictive these little things were, so sweet, chewy, nutty, bourbony and, as if that wasn't enough, bacony. I had to restrain myself from eating the whole plate.

I've hosted a lot of bourbon tastings, but this one was particularly fun. I've never had a (mostly) novice class where people were so engaged in the subject, and I've never had a tasting where a majority of the participants were women. Kudos to Tracey for putting together such a great group.

If you're interested in a fun cooking class, check out Tracey's operation at Cashmere Bites.

Cashmere Bites
2609B Brighton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90018
info@cashmerebites.com

Disclaimer: While I didn't charge for my services, Tracey offered me a free cooking class in exchange for the tasting.