Yellowstone Limited Edition 2019

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Limestone Branch for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.

I can’t quite wrap my head around what year it is right now. All the things I’m working on in my freelance jobs are starting to have a 2020 date on it. All of the limited editions that I have on the editorial calendar are dated 2019. And when I see those items on the calendar, I start to think that I have fallen behind. Weirdly though, this is the earliest I’ve ever reviewed the Yellowstone Limited Edition.

2019 looks oddly strange to me these days. It’s like the numbers don’t really belong together. And that makes me think that maybe time is catching up to me. I have to do the math to decide what age I am these days. I'm always adding a year or two for some reason. All in all, I guess what I’m saying is: time, huh? that’s a thing that exists for me more than it used to.

And speaking of time, it’s about time I got to talking about tonight’s bourbon. (Feel free to groan, I understand.) This year’s edition of Yellowstone Limited Edition is a blend of Straight Bourbons aged nine and twelve years old. The press release has this to say:

“I tasted many quality, mature Kentucky Straight Bourbons in order to find the right two ages for this year’s release – I had a certain taste profile in mind and I sought those barrels that matched it,” says Steve Beam, head distiller at Limestone Branch Distillery. “The barrels I chose were in different parts of the rick house and each barrel’s unique location contributed to the taste profile and complexity of this bourbon. When combined, these extra-aged bourbons create a mature and complex bourbon with robust spice and oaky undertones.”

Yellowstone Limited Edition 2019

Purchase Info: This sample was generously proved to me for review purposes by Common Ground PR and Limestone Branch Distillery. Suggested retail price is $99.99

Price Per Drink (50mL): $6.67

Details: 9 year age statement, 50.5% ABV

Nose: Cherry Starburst, citrus, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oak.

Mouth: Cherry, vanilla, oak, and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and long. Lingering cinnamon and vanilla with hints of both fruit and pickle juice.

Thoughts: I really like this one. It is a bit fruity so if you don't like a fruit-forward flavor profile, be warned. Luckily I do like that. The Yellowstone Limited Editions are kind of a hard sell in this area, with local stores having editions going back to 2016 still on the shelves. So if I see this year's on the shelf I am going to pick it up. Otherwise, since they have all been good, I will be "forced" to buy a previous year's edition in order to "make room.” Look at me making a difference in my community.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

The Walking Dead Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

I would like to thanks the folks at Taylor and Diageo for providing tonight’s sample with no strings attached.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the spooky theme of all the decorations. I love jack-o-lanterns. I love seeing the little kids in their costumes. And, I love the candy. 

Way back in college, I used to love the parties and the costumes too. But these days, I'm more grown-up. I sit at home, hand out candy to the few kids brave enough to head around the neighborhood, and watch a spooky movie. 

You wouldn't think I would be as happy for Halloween to get here as I am. Ignoring the calendar, before Halloween, it's Autumn. And even though I hate winter, I love Autumn. I love the crisp mornings with the hint of a warm afternoon. I love the fact that, on occasion, I can still get away with shorts and a t-shirt while doing lawn work. The idea that even if you get snow, it probably won't last. But after Halloween, it's winter. November in Minnesota means you are more likely to need a snow shovel than you are shorts. 

But in spite of all of that. In spite of the fact that it'll feel more like winter tomorrow than it does today, I still love Halloween. It feels good to indulge my inner child for one night and eat pizza, candy and drink some bourbon (though my inner child is probably too young for bourbon).

And that leads me to the most Halloween appropriate bourbon I think I’ve ever had. In line with San Diego ComicCon and the sudden end of The Walking Dead Comic, Diageo has released a tie-in bourbon. Now because of a lifelong irrational fear of zombies (George Romero’s films did a real number on me when I was about 10 years too young to be watching his movies), I’ve only read the first issue of the comic and have never seen the show. But I assume that there is some logical reason to do a tie in with a bourbon to the show, but in any case, I’m not here to judge the marketing. I’m here to taste the bourbon.

The Walking Dead Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: This sample bottle was graciously provided by Diageo for review purposes. Suggested Retail price is $34.99 for a 750mL bottle.

Price Per Drink (50ml): $2.33

Details: 47% ABV.

Nose: Cherry cough drops, mint, cinnamon sugar

Mouth: Cinnamon, mint, cherry

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering mint, cinnamon, and cherry.

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Thoughts: This is a fun novelty Bourbon. It's Halloween and I know I'll be having this in my glass for the rest of the night tonight just on the fun factor alone. But even beyond the novelty factor, this is a decent Bourbon. Not a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination, but if I tasted it in the store, I'd be bringing it home because it is decent and fun. And isn't tonight supposed to be fun anyway?

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And don’t forget we are still taking submissions for our Oscar Getz Giveaway. Enter now.

Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 7 year old

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing a review sample with no strings attached.

I tend to grade on a curve when it comes to whiskey. Not here on BourbonGuy. Here I just tell you if I like it or not. But in my buying habits, I certainly grade on a curve. And that curve is based entirely on price.

See, I am a freelancer and a dog-sitter by profession. Neither of these are the most lucrative of career choices. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of my jobs, it just means that I need to be frugal in my non-BourbonGuy whiskey spending (and in my BourbonGuy spending to be fair, but here I have an incentive to try new things and maybe stretch the budget now and then).

To that end, my wife and I have come up with a few “Tiers” to help us decide what we spend our money on. They aren’t official, but they really do describe how we judge bourbons and decide which bourbons to purchase again. For example, if a Tier I bourbon were to jump up to a Tier II or III price range, I’d certainly judge that bourbon more harshly than I had previously. It’s just human nature.

Tier I: “Cocktail Bourbon” Sub $25 I do not buy bourbons that I would not want to drink neat, not even for cocktails. Well not on purpose, at least. These are the bourbons that I feel comfortable using to make bitters or to cook with. Those that if I need to use 8 to 16 fluid ounces, I don’t feel too bad about it. Of course, I am also happy to use these in cocktails or just have a glass of.

Tier II: “Everyday Drinker” $25-$40 These are the bourbons I buy most often. Mostly because this is the price point that many bourbons fall in. These are the bourbons that I can grab on a whim. Any day that I want a pour of these, I am happy to do so. I might even have a second pour without thinking too hard about it if the mood arises.

Tier III: “Special Shelf” $40-$85 These are the bourbons that I keep on a secondary shelf where I won’t think to grab them all the time. These are the ones that I need to think a little harder about if I want to buy them. And if I decide to buy them, these are the ones I want to last a little longer.

Tier IV: “Second Opinion” $85-$135 These are the bourbons that I call my wife to get a second opinion as to whether we should buy it. She is also the accountant of the family so she can also tell me if that large a purchase is in the budget for a particular week.

Tier V: “Special Circumstance” Above $135 Anything over my Personal Price Ceiling™ is a “Special Circumstance” purchase. We might be on vacation. It might be a limited release from a producer that we trust isn’t going to put out a turd. It goes without saying that these are ones we save up for and need a unanimous decision on. These are the most harshly judged bourbons we buy. If I don’t really, really like it, I feel a little burned by the purchase. And a little less likely to spend that much money from a particular producer again.

So that brings me to tonight’s Bourbon. It is the recently released Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 7-year-old. We are all aware that I used to sing the praises of the now discontinued Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 6-year-old Bourbon. It was one of my favorite value bourbons. It was almost the very definition of a Tier I bourbon. It competed very well with bourbons such as Wild Turkey 101 and Buffalo Trace on both price and taste. I loved cooking with it and was always happy to toss it in a cocktail. Hell, I’d bring it home by the case whenever I went to Kentucky for just those reasons. But to the dismay of many, in 2018 the 6-year-old Bonded Heaven Hill was discontinued.

In June of 2019, Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 7-year-old was announced. It will be initially available in California, Texas, New York, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, and Colorado. It looks like if you live in one of those markets that you should start to see it in October. The suggested price for the new release is $39.99.

Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 7-year-old Bourbon

Purchase Info: This sample bottle was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. Suggested Retail price is $39.99 for a 750mL bottle.

Price Per Drink (50ml): $2.67

Details: 50% ABV. 7 year age statement. Distilled at D.S.P.-KY-1. Bottled at D.S.P.-KY-31.

Nose: mint, vanilla, cardamom, cotton candy.

Mouth: mint, vanilla, caramel, cinnamon.

Finish: on the short end of medium length. Notes of cinnamon, cardamom and oak

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Thoughts: There isn't much to say on this one. It’s fine. I like it. It is minty, with a bit of spice. I think I like Elijah Craig better, but this is fine too. I like it, but I don't think it holds up to other $40 Bourbons. In this market, $35-45 will get you Four Roses Single Barrel, the 1792 specialty bourbons, New Riff Bourbon, George Remus, Knob Creek Single Barrel, or Wild Turkey Rare Breed. All of which I like better than this.

But I'm assuming that you are looking to see how it compares to the discontinued Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond 6-year-old, aren't you? Anticipating that, I pulled a bottle of my 6-year-old from the closet. And well, these are pretty similar. The six-year is a bit sweeter than the new seven-year. The seven-year is much mintier. Both have a nice hit of oak on the finish. If you loved the six-year, you should love this too as they are pretty similar with only minor differences... at least until you get to the checkout.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And don’t forget we are still taking submissions for our Oscar Getz Giveaway. Enter now.

Lux Row Double Barrel Bourbon

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Luxco for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.

It was a the week before I was scheduled to drive to Kentucky for my annual shopping trip disguised as a Festival when I received a press release about a new bourbon out of Lux Row Distillery in Bardstown, Ky. It was to be a twelve-year-old, cask-strength bourbon and it was being released to celebrate the one year anniversary of the official opening of the Lux Row Distillery.

Sometimes you just get a feeling that a bourbon is going to be good. And a double digit age statement and a cask strength proof is a good start when looking at a bourbon’s spec sheet. So, because I’ve had a very high opinion of high-end Luxco bourbons lately, I decided to reach out and see if there were going to be samples available. Of course I also added a bottle to my “Kentucky Shopping List” just on the off chance that I happened across one. And then I promptly forgot about all of it because my active memory really only has space for about three things in it at any one time.

This has nothing to do with getting old. Shut up.

So, I was killing time in Bardstown between KBF events when I decided to stop in to the Lux Row Distillery gift shop. Honestly, I was on the lookout for a bottle of Old Ezra Barrel Proof and was hoping that if anybody had one, it would be them. When we got there, I also remembered the new bourbon that they were putting out. Mostly because it was sitting there right on the shelf, looking oh so pretty.

So I bought both. Yes. I blasted through my personal price ceiling without a second thought. Sometimes you just get a feeling that a bourbon’s going to be good.

Lux Row Double Barrel Bourbon

Purchase Info: $150 for a 750 mL bottle at the Lux Row Distillery. I also received a 200mL review sample (because I forgot to tell them that I’d purchased one until I saw the FedEx notification that it was on it’s way).

Details: 59.2% ABV. 12-year-old bourbon. Batched from 2 barrels (numbers 5154523 and 5154524)

Nose: Brown Sugar, cinnamon, clove, anise, and oak

Mouth: Cinnamon red hots, leather from a well-worn baseball glove, cherry, and caramel

Finish: Warm and long. Lingering chocolate, cherry, baking spices and leather.

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Thoughts: Very warm and spicy. The cherry notes play nicely off of the leather and spices. This is a delicious Bourbon. Very rich. I'm very happy I picked up a bottle while I was in Kentucky. For $150 though, this will go on the special shelf where I am less likely to empty it quite so fast.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

A Visit to Castle and Key Distillery

If I may, I’d like to share with you my visit to the Castle and Key Distillery, located outside Frankfort Kentucky. Castle and Key is located about seven minutes past Woodford Reserve on McCracken Pike in the Historic Old Taylor Distillery. Much like their neighbor, Glenn’s Creek Distillery (located in the ruins of the Historic Old Crow Distillery about two minutes further down the road), Castle and Key is a craft distillery working to revitalize a historic property which had been abandoned by Jim Beam after they bought National Distillers in the 1980s.

In this case, the property was designed to be a showpiece of a distillery. Long before distillery tours were a form of tourism, Col. E.H. Taylor was bringing people to his castle-shaped distillery via train to show off what he had made. I’m guessing that he wanted to build his distillery into a work of art to impress upon people the value of the product that the distillery was making. It is a lesson that has been learned by many of the new distilleries that have popped up in recent years.

So not only was Col. Taylor the father of Bottled in Bond, but also of Bourbon Tourism. Let’s take a look at what is left today after the original distillery was bought and expanded by National Distillers, bought and abandoned by Jim Beam, and left to scrappers and the elements for thirty years before being purchased by the current occupants.

Upon entering the gate to the property, you immediately walk past the iconic castle. Inside the doorway is the distillery proper. There is a helpful gate guard to let you know that the gift shop where you report for your tour is not through that doorway, but past the castle, down the path and around the corner.

It is interesting to think that this property was in such bad shape that the current occupants purchased it for less than one million dollars. Of course, it took many more millions of dollars to remove the asbestos and trees from the buildings, excavate the property from flood debris and restore the buildings to the point that people could be in them.

Around the corner of the castle is a plaza that fronts the old boiler room (now the gift shop) and the old passenger train station (now the restrooms and the place you can purchase your cocktails). These are the public portions of the distillery. You can sit by the springhouse, walk down the botanical trail and enjoy a cocktail from Taylorton Station.

Of course, the other thing that the plaza leads to is the spring house. I’m sure you’ve all seen images of the spring house, even from before the renovations. This is as pretty as the photos lead one to believe. It is shaped like a keyhole and is one of the original springs on the property. According to our wonderful tour guide, you could empty it of water and allow it to refill twice per day should you want to.

Now you might think that Castle and Key, being a craft distillery, would be a small operation. The original owners thought that might be the case as well until they realized that all the original fermentation tanks could be easily cleaned and upgraded and reused. Each of the tanks holds over 11,000 gallons of fermenting mash and I saw a sign that called one of the tanks “No. 14.” As you might have guessed, all of a sudden this place had a different business model.

One side effect of all those fermenters is needing a much larger still, seen here. It comes from Vendome Copper & Brass and is quite large.

One of the interesting bits of trivia that our tour guide left us with was that, although everyone knew that Col. Taylor had two formal gardens on the property, no one knew where they were. It wasn’t until they were excavating in this area that they ran into something hard and realized they were on top of one of them.

While we were learning about the gin basket in the distillery a worker, who happened to be doing quality control, offered us a taste of the bourbon new make that was coming off the still. It was quite good, for new make. It was fun then that we got to see the same new make entered into barrels as we wandered past. One of the tour got the chance to pound in one of the bungs for them. He seemed quite happy with the opportunity.

Past the barreling house is a building that has fallen down. They used the foundations of the building to create gardens which they use to grow the botanicals of the gin they produce (more on that later in the week). In the distance is the longest aging warehouse in Kentucky. It is currently full of aging product that they have made.

Of course, no bourbon distillery tour would be complete without a tasting at the end. Unfortunately, all the bourbon they have is still currently aging in the warehouse shown above. So they made us cocktails using their vodka and their gin. Let’s put it this way, I was impressed enough with the cocktail to buy a bottle of each of their gins. We will talk about those on Thursday.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Festivals and Fun: A September Week in Kentucky

While I was in Kentucky, I attended events where I had been comped tickets to write about the event. They include: From Field to Fermentation and The Science of Maturation at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival as well as Bourbon and Beyond.

As you may be aware, I’ve spent a large percentage of the last week and a half in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. While I was there, I attended a couple festivals, did a bit of shopping and snuck off to have some fun that had absolutely nothing to do with bourbon. If you’d indulge me, I’d like to tell you about it.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival: From Field to Fermentation

The first thing I did in Kentucky was attend From Field to Fermentation… Actually the first thing I did in Kentucky was visit my friends Paul and Merry Beth at MB Roland. They have been friends of mine since before BourbonGuy.com was even a thought in the back of my brain and since my visit was a social call, it is completely off the record.

So backing up, the first official thing I did was attend the From Field to Fermentation event at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. The first thing I noticed about this event was that it was a bit hard to get to. It was held in Bardstown’s Spalding Hall and as we walked up, the Great Lawn was in the process of being set up just outside the front door. But that didn’t deter me! I had some learnin’ to do.

And learn I did. This was a fascinating seminar. It was hosted by Moonshine University and, as the title says, it covered everything from the rules of whiskey to the selection and milling of grain all the way to yeast and fermentation. If you are the type of person who thinks that the distilleries gloss over everything when they tell you how whiskey is made, then this is the event for you. It had charts and graphs and talked about microbiology. I highly recommend this one. We even got to taste some things. In this case, new make. We had four distillates: 100% corn, 100% rye, 100% wheat and 100% malted barley. I actually finished my 100% rye new make. It was quite tasty.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival: All-Star Sampler

I’ve been to the All-Star Sampler before. In fact, I’ve been there almost every time I’ve gone to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. And I think that was my problem. I had a “been-there, done-that” sort of vibe this time around. I made the rounds, I tasted a few whiskies I hadn’t had before, and introduced myself to a couple craft distillers that I hadn’t met yet. All in all, I got bored a bit early in the night.

BUT. And this is a big but. This is all because I’ve been there so many times. This is a great event for people making their first trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. You get to meet the Master Distillers of most of the big distilleries. There is music, good food and and you can try most distilleries’ entire line of bourbons (or at least a large swath of it).

Kentucky Bourbon Festival: Let’s Talk Bourbon

Let’s Talk Bourbon is my favorite paid event at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. First off, it is held on the beautiful grounds of the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY. Secondly, they serve a great breakfast. Eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and this is where I realized that I really like garlic grits for breakfast. On top of that, you get a high-level view of how bourbon is made. If you think that the From Field to Fermentation event sounds a little too in-depth for you, then this will be right up your alley.

Castle and Key Tour

I’m not going to go into too much depth on this one since there will be an entire photo post about it next week, but I’m just going to say that this is probably the most fun that this history geek has had on a distillery tour in a long time. It ranked right up there with the visit I took to Old Crow a few years back and the good news is that everyone can take this tour.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival: The Science of Maturation

If you can believe it, this might have been even more in-depth than the From Field to Fermentation event I’d attended earlier in the week. It covered almost everything that you’d want to know about maturation including the anatomy of a barrel, what toasting and charring a barrel each does to a whiskey’s flavor, what happens in a barrel, how warehouse variations affect how a whiskey ages, the effect of entry proof on bourbon and more. Plus there was a how-to on sensory evaluation of whiskey as well as a tasting of a whiskey through the aging process from new make through two, four and six years. And to top it off we tasted three single barrels bourbons that were from the same lot and that aged right next to each other for the same amount of time. That was fascinating!

Kentucky Bourbon Festival: The Master Distiller’s Auction

Now this is my favorite event at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. I’ve written about it before so here are the Cliff Notes. All the items are donated. All the money goes to fund the Oscar Getz Museum. This is their main source of income for the year.

Now onto the highlights from this year:

  • First and foremost, the long-time auctioneer of the Master Distiller’s Auction passed away since last year. He was very entertaining and you could tell that he loved doing this auction. I didn’t know him, but I will miss him just the same.

  • The Auction raised over $25,000 for the museum.

  • $11,000 of that came from the five bottles in the Van Winkle line.

  • My wife spent $175 of our bourbon budget on a basket because she liked the diamond necklace in it. Much of the rest of the basket are things that I will be giving away in the next month or so (stay tuned!)

  • Someone paid $85 for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 6-year old! That makes the half case up in my closet…something I will still happily drink.

Bourbon & Beyond

This year, Bourbon and Beyond was on the same weekend as BourbonFest. And to my eye, it looked as if it really bit hard into the Kentucky Bourbon Festival’s attendance. And I can see why, three days of music, food and bourbon is hard to beat. This was a great event. I had multiple delicious cocktails. I heard great music. It was fun, even though there were so many people there that it triggered my anxiety (I don’t do well with crowds).

Even though once you were inside the event it was a great experience, I do have some constructive criticism from the perspective of a non-native of Louisville. The parking experience was terrible. There were two to four events going on that day and there was no signage on how to get to the festival grounds from the parking. Helpfully, they provided free shuttles to the event from the parking lots, but they didn’t provide them to get back to the parking from the event. I walked a half hour back to my car and needed to use google maps to point myself in the right direction because, once again no signage.

Bottom line, this is a great event. But they assume that you have been there before and know where you are going. Which, as a visitor is more than a bit stressful. Luckily there is bourbon inside.

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

I have driven past this place for years. This trip, I finally decided to stop in and visit. It was great! This nature preserve was started by none other than Issac Wolfe Bernheim, whiskey man. You might recognize him as the IW in IW Harper and the Bernheim in…Bernheim Whiskey. This was a lovely and peaceful place to wander around, feed the fish and turtles and see a set of really cool sculptures called the Forest Giants. My vacation to Kentucky can be a little hectic as I try to pack it as full as possible. I might need to plan a stop to the Bernheim Forest from now on to allow myself a structured chance to chill.

Newport Aquarium, Newport, KY

My last night in Kentucky, I traveled north to the Southern suburbs of Cincinnati. I usually make the trip up there to visit the Party Source, but I’ve never stayed there before. I decided to this time because I realized that it took the same amount of time to come home from Shepherdsville, KY as it did from Newport, KY. While I was there I decided to check out the Newport Aquarium. While this isn’t as big or as cool as the other Newport Aquarium that I’ve been to (Oregon), it is still a nice way to spend an afternoon. I love aquariums so I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. Plus it is about 5 minutes from the Party Source so you can do a little shopping afterward too.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Four Roses 2019 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon

I’d like to thank the folks at Four Roses for providing this review sample to me with no strings attached.

If you’ve been reading for a while now, you’ll know that every year I travel to Bardstown, Kentucky to attend the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. For years, one of the highlights of my trip to the Festival had been my first taste of that year’s Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch at one of the events hosted by Four Roses during the Festival. This year, Four Roses was nice enough the send my first taste to me ahead of the Festival again. So instead of reviewing it long after any hope of standing in line to get a bottle has passed, I get to let you know my thoughts ahead of its release while you still have a hope (however small) of trying to procure a bottle for yourself.

Here is what the company had to say about their new release:

The 2019 Limited Edition Small Batch marks the first Four Roses limited-quantity bottling to feature a 21-year-old Bourbon from the distillery’s OBSV recipe. This release will also feature a 15-year-old OESK, 15-year-old OESV and 11-year-old OESV. … Four Roses will distribute approximately 13,440 hand-numbered bottles of the 2019 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon that will be sold in the United States with a suggested retail price of $140.

This product is non-chill filtered and will be available for sale in limited quantities at the Four Roses Distillery and Cox’s Creek Visitor Center on Saturday, September 21 beginning at 9 am. And will roll out to retailers in the following weeks.

2019 Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch

Purchase Info: This sample was graciously provided by Four Roses for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $140.

Details: 56.3% ABV, OESV- 11 year old, OESV-15 year old, OESK-15 year old, OBSV-21 year old

Nose: Caramel, apricot, mint, cinnamon, cocoa, and a nuttiness like toasted grains.

Mouth: Oak, caramel, spicy cinnamon, apricot, vanilla

Finish: Long and warm with lingering cocoa, and cinnamon red hots.

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Thoughts: This is a very good Bourbon. I like how the cocoa and nutty notes play with the spicy cinnamon. The caramel and the fruity undercurrent add a nice depth to the product. Water dampens the fruitiness and accentuates the oak without compromising the spiciness. I like this one without water personally, but the proof is high enough that I’ll be drinking the rest of this sample in small pours because of that.

BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!