WR Four Grain

[pepcycle]

Had the opportunity to sample some of this last night. This was my second exposure. I gave this product the benefit of the doubt, since my first exposure was during the festival and highly rationed. (but appreciated)

I don't get it.

Am I the only one that thinks that this stuff wreaks of harsh white dog with a metallic aftertaste that'll keep frogs from getting Red Leg. I don't get any traditional sweet, caramel, vanilla notes on entry or finish.

At $80/bottle, I would not rate the experience as enjoyable. I honestly couldn't finish a 1 oz pour. This is the first bourbon I couldn't drink. Best correlation to something I tasted before: Varnish, the old fashioned kind that you thin with turpentine and brush in one direction.

Nice bottle though.

I will use to dissuade Beam and Coke drinkers from attacking other bottles in my collection by offering it as my favorite. Should slow them down.

[Gillman]

Ed: my take: relatively young, lots of rye in the small grains, all batch distillation. It needs more time in batrrel.

Gary

[jeff]

I concur with Ed's findings. To me it has a very "raw", metalic taste with no real body to speak of. Copper should really be on the list of ingredients.

Full disclosure: Prior to sampling the 4-grain at Ed's Saturday night, Bettye Jo shows up with an amazing bottle of Heaven Hill 21yo bourbon that I fell in love with. Typical HH grassy notes with a nice sweet backbone and lots of vanilla. Any bourbon sampled afterwards would have suffered.

That said, the 4-grain tasted the same as when I had a drop at the Festival.

[jburlowski]

When I first read your notes, I thought you were being a bit harsh in your comments. Then this weekend, I opened my bottle of WR Four Grain.

Your remarks are dead-on. The aftertaste from this whiskey is an awful combination of metal and sour grass.

I would take virtually any bourbon on the market over this one ---- certainly at a more reasonable price. I don't know if age will approve it, but this product should not have been allowed to come to market. I wish I could get my money back.

[Barrel_Proof]

It sucks.

[kbuzbee]

Not a lot of grey in that opinion!

Ken

[Gillman]

I'm a little surprised Brown-Forman authorised this release. I suspect a lot has to do with it being all-pot still. Ken Weber once noted here that he tasted at a tasting in London, England WR (the regular one) that was taken from all pot still production, it was a special bottling for Whisky Magazine. He said it was very different from the usual WR which melds pot still and Louisville column still whiskey and is mingled to achieve a certain profile. And, there must be a lot more rye than normal in the new 4-grain. To me it has a strong taste of youngish rye whiskey, it did not seem all that different from Old Potrero, say.

It's a good effort and points must be given for enterprise or inventiveness, but I'd have waited another 2 or 3 years (or more) to release it, I am sure it would have been much better. It simply needs more time in the barrel, more maturation.

Gary

[Barrel_Proof]

It's a good effort and points must be given for enterprise or inventiveness ... .

I, too, welcome experimentation and innovation, but find nothing redeeming about this "effort" at all. This whiskey's different alright, terribly so.

[RedVette]

I wonder how much sway this group has on a limited release, high dollar product such as this? I know we can all talk bad about Jack Daniels or Jim Beam white and it won't effect a thing, but on something like this? Do we have the power to hurt sales if everybody hates something?

[TNbourbon]

I suspect even this high-dollar release will sell out on its limited availability/rarity alone. Where folks like us may have an influence is on how, or whether, they release a similar bottling again -- like prompting, perhaps, longer aging or some limited blending for flavor.

[gr8erdane]

I agree with Tim, our voices are heard in the industry as we are the dedicated consumers. It may be nothing more than a murmer to the powers that be but they do listen to us when we can catch their ears. Many of us have been clamoring for a four grain whiskey to try and they complied. I prefer to think of this first effort as a valiant effort to give us what we want but rushing it a bit. If we give them feedback they can use like "leave it in the barrel a bit longer" rather than "this sucks" it may encourage them to keep trying rather than write it off as a bad experiment. I had a taste of the sample like others at the Gazebo and I agree completely that the overpowering white dog taste was not complimented at all by the copper notes leaving me with a poor impression on this particular offering. But I certainly am not writing off the entire idea of a four grain whiskey. I hope that if this whiskey gets poor reviews it will not kill the concept completely throughout the entire industry. I'd just like to see what kind of product some of the other distillers can produce using this as a learning experience. For that matter, like Gary says, what a few more years in the barrel would do for this one.

[Gillman]

But better that essays are made than not at all. If they stop innovating, whiskey will stand still. This whiskey I think may well taste like many did 150 years ago, whiskey made from a mash with a good rye component but also from a pot still. Those whiskeys needed years in the barrel to modify the flavor of the secondary constituents. Later, the column still enabled "cleaner" whiskey to be made which did not need as much time in the warehouse. Whatever the intention in releasing the 4-grain now, it does probably represent an historical type, and in this regard, can be viewed as similar to Old Potrero's whiskeys.

Gary

[bobbyc]

To say also that Brown-Forman built something with those pot stills that they don't quite know what to do with yet, has crossed my mind. They may tweak it out, maybe not. I don't think we have very much influence, We've been told we do, but I've seen different ones of us make suggestions to different ones of spirits companies and I've seen it roll off their backs like rain. Let me know when RR 101 comes back on the market and I may retract............don't hold your breath now, you might turn blue!

[gr8erdane]

While answering a PM, I finally figured out what this stuff tastes like. Imagine sipping white dog through a mouthful of pennies.....

But I still hope that we see other offerings on this idea before it goes the way of Lite Bourbon. Better try next time BF.

[NorCalBoozer]

I just had my first taste of RR 101 this weekend. WOW. i was impressed. Really reminded me of Spring 05 Stagg in a lot of ways.

Now I have to go out and find all the 101 before the 80 proof hits the shelf. I was at my local liquor store and the owner showed me a "new" bourbon he just got in.....Russell Reserve 80 proof. I said "hmmmm yeah....see these other bottles you have here?, it's the same product but less proof." He was kinda bummed. I think the distributor pushed it as a "new" product.

. Let me know when RR 101 comes back on the market and I may retract............don't hold your breath now, you might turn blue!

[barturtle]

I think the distributor pushed it as a "new" product

I believe he would have gotten it in anyway, just by reordering, as (I believe) they carry the same bar code.

[musher]

Just a clarification on the off-topic tangent, the new WTRR is 90 proof, not 80 proof.

[NorCalBoozer]

thanks. yes 90 proof. sorry to flow off topic there. Now back to this grand 4 grain!!! I haven't seen it here in CA yet. but reading the responses to it, I would be hard pressed to spend $$$ on it. hopefully they can improve the flavor profile in future releases.

Just a clarification on the off-topic tangent, the new WTRR is 90 proof, not 80 proof.

[pepcycle]

I've decided that my original post may have been too harsh and didn't recognize WR for their spirit in venturing where no distiller has gone before. So:

I just opened and poured a dram of this exciting new bourbon from WR. The color is a beautiful burnt orange and the aroma teases with hints of corn sweetness and backwoods grain character. If you're looking for something different, you won't be disappointed with the distinctive pot still character starting at the tip of the tongue and spreading electrically to the remainder of the palate. A warm feeling accompanies the finish which has plenty of green corn, hints of burnt sugar and new charred oak.

A coppery glow remains on the tongue and cheeks, a reminder once again of the triple distillation in traditional copper pot stills. Even the bottle is shaped like a pot still. You won't find another whiskey like this at 79.99!!! With limited production you might want to grab one for your collection now.

I encourage WR to continue to experiment with novel mashbills, fermentation, distillation and aging techniques. I'm sure there are some great whiskies waiting to be discovered.

[jeff]

You won't find another whiskey like this at 79.99!!!

You really should be in advertising Ed!

[barturtle]

See how much phrasing can change a review. That one's good enough to make me part with my $80.

I once did something similar at a brewpub I worked at. They asked me to put up new tasting notes of all of their drafts. Unfortunatly one of their drafts was Killian's. Well I was less than happy about that being a draft selection at an award winning brewpub. My beautifully worded, yet ultimately negative review stayed on the board for 2 weeks before a customer pointed it out to my boss, who had never realized that it was a negative review. As punishment I had to clean the whole board (10 x 15 feet) and rewrite all of his reviews.

I still think it was worth it.

[RedVette]

starting at the tip of the tongue and spreading electrically to the remainder of the palate.

An instant classic, you would do any copywriter proud.

"Of all the Whiskies I have ever tasted, this is certainly one of them".

[gr8erdane]

Hmmmm, so Cliff could have written "this whiskey is like a breath of fresh air that is inhaled deeply and maintained that way over a long period of time creating a virtual vacuum of bourbon flavor"?

[TNbourbon]

Apologies if a photo has been posted elsewhere, but I didn't find it while looking. Anyway, I traipsed to Bowling Green last night to snag this and a Bernheim at the request of a fellow SB.com'er (you listenin', Omar -- I don't want anyone thinking I would pay this much for this bourbon! ), so here's how it looks:

[gr8erdane]

I must say the packaging is top rate. Too bad the inside doesn't match the outside IMHO.