Four Roses 125th Anniversary & 2x Single Barrels Reviews

Hi everyone,

Something unusual from me today, American whiskey.

I haven’t reviewed any Bourbon for a while and since I’ve actually been in the US quite a bit recently, I’ve been able to try some stuff that doesn’t really make it over to the UK.

In particular, I’ve been very impressed with Four Roses and it might start becoming a new favourite of mine Bourbon-wise.

Four Roses 125th Anniversary 57.6%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Interesting, light and creamy, some cooling abv, clean vanilla, perfumed oak, Parma violets, chocolate covered nuts.

Taste: Dry arrival, then soft and oily, building back up again with the perfume, dry flowery oak, dried flower petals, super dry but super good.

Finish: Long length. Chewy, floral and perfumed. Great finish with a little spiciness coming through.

Marriage of 13yo and 18yo.

79/100

 

Four Roses OBSQ Single Barrel 59.8%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Ethereal and delicate, corn and rye quite clear and clean, some v light chilli spice, butterscotch.

Water: The fruit comes out with a cool vanilla-y raspberry thing going on. Cherry too.

Taste: Soft and very oily, amazing mouthfeel, dry oak building up with spice, vanilla and clove, some white pepper then going oily again into the finish. Some chocolate and cashew nut in there too.

Water: Really soft now, but good, dry oak and more intense spice with black pepper and big tannins, black liquorice into the finish. Cherry pith.

Finish: Medium length. Again, great oiliness, delicate spice and dry oak.

OBSQ, 35% Rye. 9 years, 7 months. Selected by Fine Wine & Good Spirits, 26th Ed. All about the mouthfeel, bone dry whisky.

77/100

 

Four Roses OBSO Single barrel 56%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Stunning. The richness is awesome with lovely fragrant wood, complex chocolate that stays with you after you leave the glass, chocolate truffles, chocolate powder, complex spices with stem ginger, liquorice, white pepper, creamy vanilla, dry nose overall but a lot of complexity for a Bourbon, very impressive.

Taste: Great arrival, dry and fruity with red apple, brown sugar, molasses, quite rich but not heavy, quite drying but not too much, plenty of sawn wood, then the chocolate truffles come in and they are delicious.

Finish: Long length. More herbal here with rosemary and thyme, slightly over-oxidised red apple, the wood takes a back seat.

11 years, 8 months. Selected by Liquor Barn. Best Bourbon I've tried so far, which puts it above the Pappy’s and Blantons Gold. Many many thank yous go to u/Devoz for providing this sample for me to take home.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

American reviews #61-#63

Whisky Network Reviews #938-#940

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Stronachie 10 Review

Hi everyone,

A mystery malt today I tried a good while back. Here in the UK I believe that Majestic (the wine shop) have this as an exclusive so its not super available but not too expensive.

Stronachie 10 43%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Sweet, apple, malt, vanilla, spice. Classic fresh Bourbon matured Speyside, if a little boring for it.

Taste: Again, classic 1st Fill Bourbon matured Speyside. Vanilla, spice, baked apple, some citrus, a little burnt pastry, spice, nutty. Good mouthfeel for 43%.

Finish: Medium length. Nutty oak, some bitter oak char.

Benrinnes reputably. Pretty decent actually, although I probably wouldn’t peg it as a Benrinnes blind.

68/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #788

Whisky Network Review #937

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glenfiddich The Original Review

Hi everyone,

The other day I reviewed some Ardmore’s, as we’ve selected one as a selection to be bottled for r/Scotch.

Today I’ve got another nod to the other whisky that we selected; a Glenfiddich. The selection that we will be doing as the r/Scotch bottling will actually be a Wardhead, a Glenfiddich blended with a teaspoon of Balvenie. This practise is used to make sure that their high name is not sullied by those that would release their whisky willy-nilly, however every whisky company seems to have stocks that they don’t want or need to sell off, so some of this Wardhead ends up on the market. It does tend to be quite different from the usual Glenfiddich though. For one, they are normally single cask, cask strength whiskies released by independent bottlers.

Anyway, the review I’ve got today is an official. Glenfiddich were the first single malt and they released this to celebrate that fact with a salute to the original packaging and an attempt to recreate the style.

Glenfiddich The Original 40%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Fresh and fruity, loads of green apple and pear, shortbread biscuit and vanilla, some malt, classic but lacking complexity

Taste: Lacking some mouthfeel, a little watery, pear juice, green apple, a little red apple then some dry oak and average spice.

Finish: Long length (surprisingly). Quite long but simple with more shortbread and malt, even a little harsh.

12yo Glenfiddich in a fancy tin? One for the collectors I feel.

62/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #787

Whisky Network Review #936

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Slane Irish Whiskey & 2003 Irish Single Malt Exclusive Malts Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two quick Irish whiskies today, one blended and the other a single cask, single malt.

Slane Blended Irish 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Wine gums, slightly green, tropical, sour green apple, vanilla.

Taste: Soft and oily, quite a bit of malt before some rubbery tropical fruit comes in. Quite fat for a blend.

Finish: Medium length. Creamy, green Apple, some sour oak.

Not bad at all! Decent, cheaper Irish.

66/100

Ireland 2003 Exclusive Malts 54.2%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Rubbery tropical fruit gums, slightly smoky oak, car sweets, some dust?, vanilla custard, charcoal. Dry nose.

Taste: Soft and dry, then creamy with oak and vanilla, red and black liquorice, car sweets, fruit gums, slightly rubbery into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Rubbery fruit and oak. Unbalanced and again quite dry.

13yo from refill Sherry cask. Was expecting more from this one, it just doesn’t quite come together the way it should.

73/100

Thanks for reading!

Irish Whiskey Reviews #26-#27

Whisky Network Reviews #934-#935

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Clynelish Reserve- Game of Thrones House Tyrell Review

Hi everyone,

You may have noticed that Diageo brought out some whiskies with mythical, strange creatures on the labels that seem to be something to do with a tv series.

I was not excited for these whiskies. I didn’t really care. I had a funny feeling that the whole thing was a marketing exercise and a way of pushing ‘collectable’ whisky that they had no intention of limiting, therefore making it redundant. I also had a funny feeling that, where they could, Diageo would just use whiskies that they were releasing already and, where they were not, it gives them a handy excuse to get rid of certain stocks they don’t want.

The one whisky that held some semblance of hope was the Clynelish, because its good whisky and it was at a decent strength.

Some history though; the reason that many of us love Clynelish is for its waxy and oily character, that some have said comes from the fact that Daigeo never cleaned out the spirit safe, like since Clynelish 2 started in the late sixties.

Diageo cleaned that spirit safe a few years back. I can’t remember exactly when, but I heard it from a few different sources. And I have another funny feeling that this whisky is the result and, if not, just substandard.

Clynelish Game of Thrones House Tyrell 51.2%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Light, floral, young, malty. Not a lot of complexity

Taste: Soft, floral, spirity and young, some chocolate and orange.

Finish: Short length. More malty and some spice and spirit

Quite a young Clyn with none of the waxy and oiliness I would expect.

64/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #786

Whisky Network Review #933

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Eddu Silver & Gold (French Buckwheat whisky) Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two more quick reviews today, this time for some random French whisky I tried a couple of years ago now.

Eddu is a whisky made at Distillerie des Menhirs in Brittany and started making whisky in 1998. But not from barley, from Buckwheat.

Weirdly, Buckwheat isn’t anything like Wheat because it isn’t a grass and, if anything, looks more like a flower. Anyway, the stuff has seeds (which are classed as ‘pseudocereals’) which can be malted, mashed and distilled. It is then distilled in a double distillation on a direct-fired Alembic-style still.

Eddu 'Silver' Buckwheat Whisky 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Calvados, really. Loads of red and green apple.

Taste: Yep, really Calvados-esque, a sweet style of Calvados, apple juice, red apple, green apple.

Finish: Short length.

No harshness but youthful. Really not sure I’d be able to pick out a specific flavour the Buckwheat is bringing to the table. Really can’t give this an amazing score as a whisky though, partially because it tastes more like Calvados.

52/100

Eddu 'Gold' Buckwheat Whisky 43%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Toffee, vanilla, apple, some oak. A little deeper than the Silver.

Taste: Toffee apples, soft spice, more mature than the silver but still not a huge amount of complexity.

Finish: Medium length. Some oak.

Very apple-y again, which perhaps is the style of the whisky or from the Buckwheat. Either way, if you like apples and/or Calvados you’ll likely enjoy these.

61/100

Thanks for reading!

French Whisky Reviews #3-#4

Whisky Network Reviews #931-#932

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ardmore 2004 66.73 & 1998 66.82 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Picking back up where we left off, I was in Toronto and met up with the awesome people of the Toronto Whisky Society. They proceeded to ply me with a bunch of whiskies, particularly Ledaig.

I think u/Devoz had these two beasts. So, thank you sir.

Ardmore is awesome stuff and we just selected one for one of the r/scotch bottlings. But these two casks I have been very interested in because they are quite unusual. A white wine hogshead and a sherry Gorda. White wine casks are very rarely used for whisky and these SMWS bottlings have been some of the few. The sherry Gordas, on the other hand, have become a little legendary for their huge sulphury and strange flavours.

Ardmore 2004 66.73 SMWS 61.1%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Really cool. Kinda medicinal, bandages, sulphury fruit, white peach, oily machine parts,some dirty vanilla, more smoke coming out now. Great nose.

Taste: Sweet start, white grape, dry oak, really oily, clean medicinal notes, bandages and funk, some fun sulphur playing around.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Goes quite soft here, losing power but still great mouthfeel. Quite a dry finish.

10yo from a White Wine Hogshead. Very interesting, very delicious. A shame about the short finish, really wanted it to be longer and more powerful.

81/100

 

Ardmore 1998 66.82 SMWS 57.5%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: A real fruit bomb and not exactly what I was expecting, loads of stewed plum, very sulphurous smoke in a good way, fruit salad, more meaty as it opens up, sour cherry, black cherry. Nice contrast of light and dark.

Taste: Very soft arrival, building this great sweetness, dry oak backed perfectly by fruit salad and fruit pastilles, oily, very little smoke actually, great development of flavour to this.

Finish: Medium length. More sulphurous here, struck match, brimstone and hellfire.

17yo from a Sherry Gorda. So damn good, these Gordas have a sulphurous reputation but this was a bit lighter and fresher than I was expecting.

85/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #784-#785

Whisky Network Review #929-#930

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?