Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition 130th Anniversary Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $140

- 108.4 Proof

- NAS

- Kentucky

This is one of my favorite bottles ever, having nothing to do with the whiskey inside. Rather, it has more to do with the circumstances around the first time I got to try it.  I'm not sure of the exact date, but it had to be late Spring or early Summer of 2019.  I know it was nice out that day. Warehouse Liquors in Chicago held a Four Roses tasting in its tasting room above the store. You had to get tickets in advance, and these tickets sold out very quickly. That's probably because this tasting was being led by one of the most well-known and well-liked ambassadors in the business, Al Young.

I don't remember the price of the ticket, but I know it wasn't cheap. I recall asking a buddy if he was in, and without hesitation he said, "Yes!" So, I grabbed two tickets the second they went on sale. We made it a point to get to the store early, and we were among the first few people in line. This allowed us to make our way straight to the very front of the tasting room, which ended up being right where Al Young spent the entirety of the evening. 

Because we were early, we got to chat up the local Four Roses ambassador, an incredibly friendly and fun guy whose name I now forget, though I have his card somewhere. And, we got to chat up Al Young for a solid 15 minutes before the tasting actually started! We got to ask him everything from what he drinks when he's not drinking Four Roses, to how he likes Chicago, to how his family was doing. Fifteen minutes of one-on-one just casual conversation with Al Young! Absolutely incredible!

The tasting itself consisted of four new private barrel picks selected by Warehouse Liquors, which were offered to event attendees first before they went on sale to the general public. We then tasted the Small Batch Select, which had just been released, and which Al was clearly touring at the time to promote.  And finally, we got to taste the 130th Anniversary Small Batch Limited Edition.

Now, if you haven't noticed by now, this post is not much of a review, but rather more of a reminiscing. But, I can assure you that this was the best bourbon that my buddy and I tasted that night. Absolutely delicious!!  In fact, after the tasting was over and while Al was taking pictures and chatting with everyone there, we asked the local ambassador if we could have another pour. He told us that we could have whatever we wanted, because it just meant less for him to bring home, but he did ask us to be discreet.  So, next thing we know my buddy and I are huddled in a corner, just enjoying pour after pour of the 130th Anniversary, and practically giggling at just how absurd the situation was!!!

After the event, my buddy and I enjoyed a nice, albeit a bit tipsy, walk to the train station to head home. I remember going through my goodie bag they sent me home with and enjoying all the swag I got.  It was one hell of a night, and I didn't realize just how lucky I was until just a couple months later when the news broke that Al Young had passed away.  I don't get very sentimental over celebrity deaths. Of course, I get sad when an athlete or musician that I considered myself a fan of passes. But this hit me differently. I had met the guy once, and I felt like I lost a friend, or, at the very least, someone that I truly admired, enjoyed their company, and wished I could have spent more time with. It was an unexpected blow.

So, after that, I made it my mission to track down a bottle of the 130th Anniversary Edition. It wasn't easy to find, and I certainly paid more than the $140 retail price.  It had already come and gone by that point, so that part wasn't unexpected. But, if only for sentimental reasons, I had to have one. 

It took me a long time to eventually get around to opening it, but I ended up popping the cork when my daughter''s hockey team went to the state championship game. It was a delicious pour that myself and all the other hockey dads and moms enjoyed at around 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday as the game got started. Since then, it's been the bottle I break out when I have friends visit that I haven't seen in years, or when we have something worth celebrating.

Of course, now it's gone, but I certainly don't regret drinking it. Every time I brought out this bottle I got to tell my story of meeting Al Young.  Plus, every time I brought out this bottle I got to enjoy a fantastic bourbon.  Given that each time that I poured a glass I was busy enjoying the company I was with, I wasn't taking notes on my phone, or spending minutes sniffing my Glencairn to discern what notes I could.  I was instead enjoying the moment and the company. As pretentious as that may sound, it's the truth. And so, I don't have tasting notes for this review, and I'll just say it's a damn good bottle!!  My grade below might be a bit biased, but I nonetheless stand behind it 100%!!!

Grade: A+

Drinking With a Legend - A Night With Al Young at Warehouse Liquors

The other night I got to be a "lucky duck" -- at least that's what we were called in our confirmation e-mails.  I was one of only about 30 or so people who managed to score a ticket for a private tasting with Al Young at Warehouse Liquors in Chicago.  As many in the bourbon world are aware, Gene, the owner of Warehouse Liquors, is well-known and has a sort of cult following for his store picks. In conjunction with his most recent Four Roses selections, he put on this tasting with the one and only Al Young!

As my buddy and I walked into the room, a sort of bowling alley of a tasting room with place settings lined up on both sides, we immediately went straight to the front and parked ourselves right next to where Al was standing in hopes that that's where he'd remain throughout the night.

As people trickled into the room over the next twenty minutes or so, aside from the people who came up to introduce themselves, take pictures and shake his hand, we had pretty much a good ten minutes of one-on-one time with Al to just shoot the shit, talking with him about the charity event he attended the day before, his time in Lexington the past few days, and even a little bit about the bourbon he drinks.

Throughout the evening, we got to taste four different store picks that Gene had recently selected for Warehouse Liquors, in the following order:

• OESV - 9 yrs., 7 mos. - 121.2 Proof
• OBSV - 9 yrs., 10 mos. - 114.2 Proof
• OESK - 10 yrs., 8 mos - 106.6 Proof
• OBSQ - 9 yrs., 10 mos. - 112.4 Proof

Interestingly, we started with the highest proof one first -- the OESV.  I'm not sure if the order was arbitrary or not, but ultimately, of the four, this is the one that we went back to to try again, and it ended up being  my favorite. It seemed to lean more towards traditional bourbon notes than the others did, with lots of caramel, a great, creamy, buttery texture, and a long, kettle corn finish. I absolutely loved this one and a bottle came home with me that night.

The OBSV was a short-barrel. I'm not sure how many bottles came from it, but it's my understanding it was very limited. While this was the one that sold out first, it ended up being my least favorite, as it had a significant astringent quality to it, making me reach for my bottle of water immediately. I really liked the OESK and the OBSQ as well, and both were tied for a close second for me.  The OESK was the most unique of the barrels, as I got a white wine, almost a pinot grigio note out of it. It sounds weird, and it's the first time that I've ever gotten such a note off a bourbon, but it worked really well with the vanilla and light anise flavors. The OBSQ leaned more towards softer wood and caramel notes, with a light orange zest to it. The fact of the matter is, if you get the opportunity to purchase any of these bottles, do so!

In addition to these store picks, we also got to taste the 130th Anniversary Small Batch, which was absolutely amazing (and my buddy and I may or may not have snuck a couple extra pours when people weren't looking) as well as the Small Batch Select, which isn't yet available in our market. While Al was there, at least in part, to talk up the new Four Roses product, he legitimately seemed very proud, touting the higher proof (104 proof) and that it is non-chill filtered. He seemed genuinely eager to get feedback from everyone in the room about their thoughts. While everyone really enjoyed it (myself included--it drinks much lower than its proof), the consensus was that he did it a disservice by having it follow the 130th.

Even despite getting to taste all this great bourbon, however, what made the night was Al himself.. I had never met Al before, and my immediate impression was that he is truly a man of the people. He was not there just on another stop to hawk his products. He genuinely enjoyed meeting people, answering their questions, discussing bourbon, telling stories (both personal and industry-related), signing copies of his book and giving his time to anyone that wanted it.

The highlight for me (other than his mention of a desire to eventually produce a Four Roses Rye--yay!) was hearing him tell stories about his home life, particularly about how proud his wife was when Four Roses released a bourbon named after him.  It was that or his double-take when asked, when doing tastings, whether he spits or swallows. Al is a great storyteller and has a wonderful (and even at times crass) sense of humor.

I had never met Al Young before, and within minutes of meeting him, I wished I had met him sooner. As I told him at the end of the night, I've met a handful of industry icons, leaders and what have you, and meeting Jimmy Russel always stuck with me, because he was genuine. He truly loved interacting with his customers and meeting people, and it came through. Al Young is right there as well. He is as friendly and inviting, and more importantly, as genuine as they come! This was easily one of the best tastings I've ever been a part of.