The deep copper color of these bourbons all but screams, “I’m 7 to 9 years old and one heck of a bargain at $49.” It’s a good visual reminder of the high-quality product in the glass and the fact that Four Roses simply never disappoints.
Barrels don’t sell like that; they sell in lots. You’re allowed to try a couple from each lot, and you pick the lot you want. Anyone that tells you that, “I tried 1,000 barrels,” can go kick rocks. That’s not how it works.
MGPI’s struggles with soft sales and high inventory appears to reflect similar battles being fought at American whiskey makers large and small. Since about the middle of 2023, all American whiskey sales have declined steadily.
Experience Fred Noe’s storytelling magic during Jim Beam’s 90th-anniversary celebration, sharing bourbon history and family anecdotes.
This tastes like too many other 90-proof American whiskies on the market: ordinary and even cautious. This tastes as if it was made to risk offending no one. It’s inoffensive in every way possible, but that also renders it quite plain.
This year’s port note is more wine like that’s driven by the addition of tawny port barrels to the finishing regime. Where earlier port notes were sweeter and pleasantly candied, this is more intriguing: fermented, tarter, angular and dark cherry-candied.
Classic single malt notes of honey and dried raisin dominate the palate before warmed oatmeal and cream weave into the mix. Spice character is the only thing hinting at its respectable 114.8 proof, yet it’s so delicate at that proof–well below it, I’d swear, were this a blind tasting.
A first sip serves up fruit and spice: golden apples, ripe banana, cinnamon, cocoa and a bit of black pepper. Keep after it and you get a bourbon toddy that, given its high corn and wheat mashbill, needs no warming or honey; it’s sweet and subtle enough on its own.
By 2018, Holmes had logged 28 years at Beam and was looking for a new challenge in distilling. At age 59, she enjoyed her work, but she’d begun sniffing around opportunities in craft distilling. Ironically, it would be another Beam employee who’d steer her to Milam & Greene.
It’s truly dynamic on the palate, shifting from toasted oak to baked fruit then twisting sideways to toasted cinnamon bread and poached spiced apples. Every sip lays down another layer of dark flavors (tobacco, fig a little leather) to build up the rich finish.
