In the precovid times one of the last non work trips I went on was to Charleston South Carolina where I picked up a Four Roses I hadn’t seen before: a pick that wasn’t barrel strength. I’ve been meaning to blind it against an off the shelf Four Roses Single Barrel for quite some time and today is the day! I tasted these blind and then sat down to write more detailed tasting notes.
Four Roses Single Barrel
Age: NAS on the bottle (7-9 years according to their website)
Proof: 100
Price: $43
Barrel: 69-1O
Neat
Nose: Dried fruit, rich oak and a strong vanilla note.
Taste: Simple but enjoyable with caramel, fruit and warm spice notes. Pleasant but unremarkable mouthfeel.
Finish: Medium length finish with fading dried fruit and lingering oak, spice and vanilla notes.
1 Star - Good whiskey: I would choose to drink this over readily available whiskies
Four Roses Single Barrel South Carolina
Age: 7 years 4 months
Proof: 100
Price: $40-50 range
Barrel: 19-6R
Neat
Nose: More spice and more oak than the non-pick with the same dried fruit but less vanilla.
Taste: Fruitcake with dried fruit and holiday spice alongside a nice oak note. Couldn’t really tell a difference in mouthfeel from the non pick.
Finish: Shorter, cleaner finish than the non pick with fading fruit and vanilla and bit of spice.
1 Star - Good whiskey: I would choose to drink this over readily available whiskies
Conclusion
I think Four Roses Single Barrel is an good whiskey and better than most shelf offerings at that price point but it’s not something I am regularly going to pick up a bottle of anymore, especially with the Small Batch Select being readily available here and my deep bench of their barrel strength picks. The South Carolina pick was a little better but not enough to bump it up, especially since the finish was a step back. I’d probably grab a different Single Barrel pick if I came across one but wouldn’t go out of my way to find one and don’t feel like I needed a back up here.
TL;DR: The pick was slightly better, both great shelf bottles but not worth hunting/hoarding