Four Roses yellow label

[kcgumbohead]

That's a given but even at equal parts across it should be a fun and interesting pour, fuel for discussion among the cult members in attendance.

Glad you guys are blending. I had some of Keith's. Just finished it in fact. It was sublime. Keep in mind that yellow label is not equal parts of each recipe...

[Trey Manthey]

When I do my single elimination blind tasting, i pour about ~1/2 ounce from each sample bottle into the glass. After I make a decision, the remainder of the loser gets dumped into the vat, while the winner goes on to the next round and refilled if necessary. Therefore, the majority of the blend ends up being "losers".

Note, my criteria when selecting a winner of a round I usually avoid any off-putting notes. They may not be "bad", but they don't integrate well with the overall flavor profile I like. One of things I loved about my DIY barrel proof YL was it's exceptional complexity. Taking several off-putting notes into a single whiskey as the foundation of the blend, with a underlying layer of my usual winners is a blending concept I've never really attempted on purpose. Usually, I figure I would need a foundation of winners with just a bit of weird for complexity. Something to consider for anyone that wants to give this a shot.

[cowdery]

Yellow label tastes pretty young, which is appropriate for the price point but that's why I'm not sure I would like it as well at a higher proof.

In addition to containing all ten recipes, yellow label contains some of those recipes at two different ages, so it may be as many as 14 different whiskeys. Based on the taste, I don't think they are overly generous with those older barrels.

Not to be misunderstood, I think Four Roses is a great $20 whiskey, perhaps the best $20 whiskey, but it's still a $20 whiskey.

[Young Blacksmith]

I always have an open handle at the house. To me, it's the lowest priced best tasting bourbon available. Sure, I'd try a higher proof version, but I completely enjoy it just the way it is.

5-6 years sounds about right. I was at Cox Creek for a dump day, and they had several ages and recipes dumping in the trough for YL. There may have been one or two barrels around 4 years though, but that was in 2011. They also chill filter YL and SmB with the big, 50 filter machine, where as 1B is done with a smaller 25 filter machine.