Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon

In my first house, one day, I suddenly became aware of a gas leak. I called our gas company who sent a man to our house with some sort of portable gas detection tricorder. I showed him where I could smell the gas and he pointed his tricorder around until he found the leak.

"You can SMELL that?" he asked incredulously. The leak was so small, he said, it was nearly undetectable by his tricorder. So you'd THINK I have a good lil sniffer, eh? Not really. And what does smelling gas have to do with whisky? The 'nose' (sniffing the scents of the dram) is half the experience! But just because my shnoz is good for gas doesn't mean anything in the whisky world.

Today I'm taking a step backwards from my Auchentoshan review and talking about Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon. If you read that rookie whisky review, which you most certainly didn't based on the staggering number of comments, you'll already know that I don't know what I'm doing and you're about half way through a big ol' mess.

Preferring to spend as little as possible without leaving my country or robbing any old grannies, I had a friend snag me a 750ml bottle of Four Roses bourbon at his LCBO at significant savings. Sale price: $23.

Four Roses has recently returned to Canada from a decades-long vacation, so I was excited to try the medium copper coloured bourbon back to back with my others. Opening the bottle, I was intoxicated by the aroma, which was primarily of sweet cedar mixed with a slight sherry note. After a time I could detect flowers too - but what kind? I dunno. White ones.

The taste was very similar: strong wood, floral, honey. Sweet on the tip of my tongue, then got hotter as it moved back. It finished with more barrel wood, a little sweet & spicy.

If you love the smell of fresh cut wood (who doesn't?), this might be a super bourbon for you. It's like a bunch of beardy lumberjacks bottled sweet Alpine forest just for you. Thank you lumberjacks! I'm going to have another. And maybe grow a beard.

LCBO clearance: $23
750ml
40% (80 proof)

www.fourroses.us