New K&L Single Barrel Four Roses

Four Roses K&L Exclusive OBSO Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon $59.99 - Usually when we purchase a fantastic single barrel of Four Roses Bourbon, it comes in around ten and a half years of age or younger. When we tasted samples for this one, we noticed right away the darker complexion and the extra wooded flavor. Sure enough, this barrel was older - 11 years and 7 months to be exact. This being our second batch of OBSO (a 60% corn mashbill with a healthy dollup of rye and yeast strain "O"), we were hoping to recreate our previous whiskey, which we lovingly called "the iron fist in a velvet glove." What we got, however, was something far more powerful and out of control than we ever could have imagined.  I would refer to this whiskey as "the iron fist that just punched you in the mouth" because this Bourbon is a beast!  At 63.3%, our new barrel brings the heat, the spice, and the wood at an intensity most drinkers aren't ready to handle. With water, the fruit comes out, the wood briefly dials back, but each drop has the same futile effect as a bullet fired at the liquid metal Terminator in Part 2 - it punches a hole, but that hole just gets quickly filled with more unstoppable Bourbon flavor. This whiskey is perfect for rocks drinkers.  In fact, it will probably destroy most ice cubes in a matter of seconds. I'm a little afraid of it, to tell you the truth.  There were only 132 bottles available out of this cask because the whiskey just kept sucking up wood and evaporating like crazy.  It has only one goal - total Bourbon domination.

-David Driscoll