Thursday 8 September 2011

Tangoed... Four Roses Single Barrel

I have long been searching for orange things from the United States of America aside from Sunny Delight, the Hoff's face and the OC. It has taken me many years and now I have found it. The orange zest notes I get from rye whiskey are the way forward. As I have previously mentioned I struggle with American whiskey. Not because I think it is anyway bad but purely because the flavour disagrees with me in quantities larger than half a glass. So when I discovered rye whiskey I was very pleased indeed. Rye whiskey has a flavour I enjoy very much and I have our cross-Atlantic cousins to thank. In my quest to try more and more of these whiskies I have had to rely on samples kindly donated to me from fellow whisky fans. There was one whiskey that I was very curious to try and that was the Four Roses, then last Saturday the whiskey presented itself to me in a small sample bottle, and here are my thoughts:

Four Roses Single Barrel
50% - No Age Statement - Kentucky Bourbon
Nose: A tango of satsuma and tangerine, orange zest and those classic rye notes coming through.
Palate: Cumin, fresh squeezed orange juice, nice and creamy.
Finish: Orange cream liqueur, sweet and light.
Overall: A fantastic rye whiskey showing me the way forward, now to get my hands on some more Four Roses bottlings!

6 comments:

  1. I really need to get into American whisky, its something I've more or less ignored so far...like you, not because I think its bad, I've just been preoccupied with single malt and haven't given much time to bourbon and rye etc;
    any you'd recommend to get me into it?

    Cheers

    Stephen @ the Glass and Bottle

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  2. Hi Stephen, like I said I fairly new to it also, of what I've tried so far I'd highly recommend the Sazerac Rye and also the Four Roses I thought was really good. Hope this helps! :-)

    Angus

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  3. If you like Four Roses you have to try and find Maker's Mark 46 and/or Buffalo Trace. I'm not sure what the availability of those would be across the pond, but well worth the effort.

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  4. I'm going to have to source the Maker's Mark 46, I've tried Buffalo Trace, great go to Bourbon

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  5. Why didn't I get to try this? Also I have a feeling we will be trying a lot more Rye...maybe not from the US though...

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  6. Paul was kind enough as to provide some, ask him for some!

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