Woodford Reserve Four Grain Tasting Notes and Ratings.

Woodford Reserve Four Grain

Added on Sunday, May 6, 2007 at 07:37 AM

Bottler:

Brown Forman

Age:	N/A	Type:	American
Vintage:	N/A	Subtype:	Bourbon
ABV:	46.20 %	Region:	Kentucky
Price:	$70	Availability:	Better Stores

The first edition in the Woodford Reserve Master's Collection, Four Grain received rave reviews in a blind-tasting meeting simply themed "Bourbons." It remains a favorite today (although our club bottle was polished off long ago). If you can still find it, snap it up. A must-have.

Member Ratings and Notes

Adam

Maple nose with some rye, clove-like spices. Palate is super-sweet and absolutely delicious, smooth. Finish is great, any heat is desirable, with waves of spice and and sweetness. As far as bourbons go, it's nearing A+, but in the greater world of whiskey it's "only" a very solid A.

Retaste: Not as superbly-stellar as I recalled, but instead "only" very, extremely good. There's big bakery aspects all over this thing, vanilla, and spice. A.

RE-retaste: Well, I don't know what was going on before, or if my palate's just changed, but anyway, it's not as great as I remember it being. Makes me feel sad. I still love you anyway, Four Grain. B+

Sweet maply nose. Rich sweet taste. Full robust finish. Really Good.

Chris

N: Smells like buckwheat pancakes, butter, rye.
P: Big on flavor. Very complex, with a significant rye component but also notes of the other grains as well. Perfectly sweet and satisfying.
F: Earthy. Spicy. Good.

Mild, maple nose. Among the most complex bourbons I've tasted. Lots of wheat and rye. The flavor changes and evolves amazingly - cloves and spices come later. Rich taste. I've tasted this multiple times, and have found the wheat/rye characteristics to be a bit overwhelming at times. But this is very good.

Sweet honey nose. Lots of rye in the palate. Spicy at the end, with a a rye finish. Good. Complex.

Nose is a nice, simple maple bourbon. But the taste is holy crap robust and filled with spikes of different flavors. Truly an awesome beverage.

Andy

[No notes]

Sku

The nose has that distinctively Woodford pot-still smell, with some plastic notes and some rye spice. Not a lot of bourbon sweetness on the nose, but the palate starts off very sweet, but a more general sweetness than the traditional corn syrupy bourbon sweetness. The sweet notes are followed by metal, strong rye, a bit of sourness and pine. It seems hot for the abv. The finish is nicely balanced without some of the harsher notes.

[Batch 1 - 3,404 bottles]

Tim

N: There's the distinctive thick nose which has the expected elements of marzipan and a hint of banana. It's a little sour and grainy, with an oily smell. There's a solventy, cleaner smelling thng happening too - a little Pine-Sol. It's kind of like a recently emptied grain elevator - definitely something metallic in the background.

P: Surprisingly a little thin on the palate. Again there's the oil and solvent, a little pine, funky rye note. Way in the back is a little vanilla, a little toffee, both trying to peek otu. Not particularly warm and late there's a note of marzipan. It wants to settle on a little sweet note but there's too much to distract.

F: Dries out, shows a little wood and lasts reasonably long. There's some hints of caramel. It's also a little bitter. Some turbinado sugar for good measure.

The palate is completely chaotic to me. The sour nose and unrefined sugar makes it seem relatively young. The noe is a really unfocused, sloppy Woodford nose. As with the vast majority of the Masters series, this is not an improvement.

(Same bottle as Sku).

Fuji

Mellow rye spice and lots of wood stain. Dry wood and wood chips. High rye content that hits the palate with waxy resinous notes. B/B+

Ries

n: rich oaky nose with butterbrickle and kettle corn. Butter and rye spice with coating of maple syrup.

t: many elements here that create a nice swirling profile whiskey. Definitely unique with a balance of wheat/honey sweetness and the spice from the rye. This has a nice density to this and and a strong, full-flavoured finish. Nice one to try. [almost A-]

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