2025

Four Roses 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Four Roses 2025 Small Batch Limited Edition
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

54.5% ABV
$250
Website
Four Roses Small Batch LE 2025 Bourbon Whiskey
We would like to thank Four Roses and The Brand Guild for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says

August 19, 2025 Four Roses Distillery announced the release of its highly anticipated 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon, a standout expression from the award-winning Kentucky bourbon maker, releasing September 3rd, 2025. This marks the 18th edition in the annual series, featuring a unique blend of three bourbon recipes and four different batches, bottled at barrel strength.

Non-chill filtered and bottled at 109 proof, the 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon features four hand-selected batches aged 13 and 19 years. Chosen from Four Roses’ 10 distinct bourbon recipes, this year’s limited edition blend is composed of a 13-year-old bourbon from the OBSV recipe, a 13-year-old OBSK, a 13-year-old OESV,
and a 19-year-old OESV.

“Year after year, we look to create a unique expression that highlights the best of what our ten recipes can offer,” said Brent Elliott, Four Roses Master Distiller. “When blending this year’s release, I was drawn to the 13-year-old V batches that showcase pronounced delicate fruit and sweet barrel tones. Although these barrels can really shine on their own, the OBSK brought in a complexity that I think people will really enjoy. The addition of the 19-year-old OBSV also adds another layer of depth and aged character that rounds out the blend beautifully.”

The recipes selected for the 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch result in notes of sweet apricot, vanilla, caramel, black tea leaves, hints of rye, and mellow oak on the nose, followed by flavors of apricot, hints of citrus, crème brûlée, and antique spiced oak on the palate, with those same flavors lingering in a very soft and long finish.

This year, Four Roses will release approximately 16,854 bottles of its 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch at a suggested retail price of $249. They will be available at select retailers nationwide and through the distillery’s bottle drawing, which will accept entries from August 19 to 24, 2025. Winners of the bottle drawing will be selected at random and notified on August 29, 2025 for a chance to purchase and pick up their bottle at the Distillery Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg, KY, in September. Visitors to the Four Roses Distillery can also enjoy a pour at Bar 1888 in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, while supplies last.

For more information on Four Roses Distillery and the 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch release, please visit www.fourrosesbourbon.com, or follow on Instagram @fourrosesbourbon.

Recipes:
OBSV – 13 Years Old
OBSK – 13 Years Old
OESV – 13 Years Old
OESV – 19 Years Old

What Gary Says

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, apricot, raw honey, orange zest, oak, mint, thyme, hints of cinnamon, clove, leather and tobacco.
Palate: Creamy mouthfeel with caramel, blood orange, vanilla, apricot, oak, chocolate, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Finish: Long and drying with caramel, oak and citrus spice notes.
Comments: This is classic Four Roses – balanced, nuanced, complex and lovely. I’ve yet to try a Four Roses Small Batch LE that I didn’t REALLY like. Interesting enough I don’t care for older bourbons, as I’m not a big fan of heavy oak, but while there is oak for sure it is quite deft – no doubt a tribute to the single-story rickhouse maturation. This is quite lovely, and sips like a champ neat – but I found with a few drops of water and a few minutes in the glass – I was rewarded with baked apples on the nose, and the chocolate stepping forward more on the palate. All in all another really lovely bourbon!

Rating: Must Try

Four Roses 2025 Limited Edition Small Batch Read More »

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX Straight Bourbon Whiskey

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX
Straight Bourbon Whiskey

52% ABV
$100
Website
Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX Straight Bourbon Whiskey
We would like to thank Luxco and BYRNE PR for sending us samples to review.

What the Distillery Says

The oldest and highest proof ever.

Remus Bourbon, the award-winning whiskey inspired by the roaring spirit of the Prohibition era, announced the release of Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The highly anticipated annual release from the historic Ross & Squibb Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, is a rare bourbon comprising their best stocks.

Aged between 10 and 18 years, the 104 proof (52% ABV) non-chill filtered Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX is the highest proof ever for the series. A limited supply will be available in September at a minimum suggested retail price of $99.99 per 750mL bottle.

Crafted to honor the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Ross & Squibb Master Distiller Ian Stirsman selected the finest barrels of high rye bourbon, for which the distillery is renowned, to create this year’s edition. Remus Repeal Reserve IX includes 7% of an 18-year-aged bourbon containing 21% rye; 26% of an 11-year-aged bourbon comprising 36% rye; 23% of a 10-year-aged bourbon containing 36% rye; and 44% of a second 10-year-aged bourbon comprising 21% rye.

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX features an aroma of seasoned oak, leather, ripe sweet cherry and subtle tobacco on the nose with prominent flavors of cherry, roasted coffee and a touch of smoky spice on the palate; and lingering oak and spice that fades into notes of coffee, cherry and tobacco in the finish.

“Bourbon fans have always expected something new from each edition of Remus Repeal Reserve,” said Stirsman. “That’s why for Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX, we found some of our most unique barrels to date. After finalizing the blend, we blind-tasted it at different proofs to ensure we provide fans with the unique experience they expect. In the end, we believe the 104 proof, combined with 10-18-year-old bourbons, did just that.”

Since its inaugural release, the Remus Repeal Reserve collection has earned a multitude of notable recognitions and awards. Remus Repeal Reserve VIII earned a platinum medal at the 2025 ASCOT Awards, a double gold medal at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and a gold medal and Consumer’s Choice Award at the 2025 SIP Awards. Additional key accolades for the esteemed collection include No. 1 Best Bourbon Under $100 by UPROXX, Top 5 Limited Bourbons and Whiskeys by Men’s Journal, Whiskey of the Year by WhiskeyFellow and a 98-point rating and a double gold medal from The Tasting Panel.

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX is comprised of:

  • 7% 2006 Bourbon (21% Rye)
  • 26% 2014 Bourbon (36% Rye)
  • 23% 2015 Bourbon (36% Rye)
  • 44% 2015 Bourbon (21% Rye)

What Gary Says

Nose: Rich with chocolate fudge, caramel, brown sugar, crème brûlée, bit of cherry with hints of tobacco and a mineral note.
Palate: Creamy mouthfeel with chocolate, walnuts, caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, cherry and nougat.
Finish: Long and syrupy with caramel, bit of coffee and nutty oak.
Comments: When I first nosed this, my brain immediately thought about a candy bar; all of those notes came wafting out of the glass. This is a delicious pour, right from the bottle! A few drops of water brings a hint of citrus zest to the nose, and more creaminess to the palate, but I really enjoy this right at the bottled proof (and appreciate the higher ABV!) Also appreciate the transparency on where it’s distilled, the vintage/mashbill and the proportions included! I just so happened to have some left from my sample of Remus Repeal Reserve Series VII (back in 2023) which I really enjoyed, so I did a little side-by-side tasting. This year’s won hands down! A few shades darker in the glass, while there is a familial resemblance between them, this had more fudge on the nose by comparison, and the 2023 leaned more into maple/fruit. Interesting enough, both bottles share similar components, with the 2014 Bourbon (36% Rye). What was used in each batch might not have been distilled at the same time, so not sure it’s the exact same liquid – but it was 21% of the 2023 mix and 26% of this one. The mix of mashbill here is 49% the higher rye vs 47% in the 2023, so not terribly different there. In any event, this is one I would not pass up the chance if you see it as it isn’t likely to linger long!

Rating: Must Try/Must Buy

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IX Straight Bourbon Whiskey Read More »

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask 2025 Release

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask 2025 Release
Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Honey Barrels

56.93% ABV
$65
Website
Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask 2025 Release
We would like to thank B.R. Distilling Co and Ro-Bro Marketing & PR for sending us a sample to review.

What the Producer Says

Blue Note Bourbon™, the award-winning whiskey portfolio which is artfully crafted to honor the rich blues music that is synonymous with Memphis, has brought back its wildly popular Honey Bourbon Cask, which sold out in a matter of days last year.

The expression began its journey by embracing the art of fusion. American oak barrels used for finishing were repurposed to produce delicious, barrel-aged honey. The team then returned the whiskey, which was aged for a minimum of three years, to the honey-infused casks for another round of aging to create a distinct and harmonious profile. Crafted in Memphis, the new expression features a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley, which was bottled at 113.86 proof (56.93% ABV), unfiltered.

Honey Bourbon Cask Tasting Notes
Nose: Vanilla, cedar, and nut
Taste: Leather, pear, cedar, wildflower, and honey
Finish: Gentle and warm with lingering hints of wildflower and honey

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Whiskey is now available for purchase online at BlueNoteBourbon.com and in select U.S. markets. Only 1,800 bottles are available for the suggested retail price of $64.99.

Blue Note’s whiskey portfolio is distilled in partnership with Lofted Spirits (parent company of Green River Distilling Company) and then aged just north of downtown Memphis where the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers collide. The long summers filled with infamous Memphis heat and cooler evenings forces the whiskey deep into the oak, creating an unmistakably rich flavor that’s bold yet smooth.

Technical Details
AGED: A minimum of three years
PRODUCT TYPE: Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Honey Cask Crafted in Memphis, TN
MASH BILL: 70% Corn 21% Rye and 9% Malted Barley
PROOF & FILTRATION: 115.7 Proof, Unfiltered

What Gary Says

Nose: Charred oak, honey, vanilla, caramel apples and rye spice.
Palate: Honey with vanilla sponge cake, cinnamon, caramel, hint of pear and pepper spice.
Finish: Moderate in length with cinnamon and honey.
Comments: The honey influence on this one is significant; if you’re not a big fan of honey it could be overpowering. Thankfully I’m not in that camp! This is a really nice, sit on the back porch and sip over a cube while summer fades away kinda dram. At first it drank a tad hot for 115.7 but with a cube or even a few drops of water it eases back. Hands down this has been my favorite selection from Blue Note, and one I hope they continue to offer every year forward!

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask 2025 Release Read More »

Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years

50% ABV
$130
Website
Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years
We would like to thank Woodinville Whiskey for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says

On August 23, 2025 Woodinville Whiskey will celebrate its 15th Anniversary and release of Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years, the distillery’s oldest age statement yet.

Best friends, Orlin Sorensen and Brett Carlile created Woodinville Whiskey under the mentorship of the late David Pickerell, an industry icon and the former Master Distiller for Maker’s Mark. 15+ years ago Brett and Orlin took a leap, cashing out their 401ks and savings accounts, and started crafting whiskey under Dave’s tutelage in the unlikely state of Washington.

Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years has been aging in Woodinville’s barrelhouses in Quincy, WA since 2016, in heavily toasted, lightly charred barrels made from 24-month open-air seasoned staves by Independent Stave Company. It has a mashbill of 55% corn, 35% rye, and 10% malted barley, which differs from Woodinville Flagship Straight Bourbon’s mashbill.

Tasting Notes
Nose: Butter cookie & fresh citrus.
Palate: Dried mango, milk chocolate, spice drop candies & caramel nougat.
Finish: Toffee with a hint of nutmeg spice.

The first 500 numbered bottles of Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years will be available Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 10:00am at Woodinville’s annual Harvest Release and 15th Anniversary event. It will be sold online at www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/collections/allproducts and nationally on August 25, 2025. When this whiskey sells out, it’s gone. Only 500 cases were made.

“We’re following our 2024 8-year limited release with this 9-year – and a 10-year will follow in 2026,” says Woodinville co-founder and Head Distiller, Brett Carlile. “It’s incredible to see the impact of the unique barrel toast/char finish on this bourbon, along with additional time in those ISC barrels. We’re excited to share it so you can taste what we’ve been tasting as we’ve been checking in on it in our barrelhouses. It’s a tough job!”

What Gary Says

Nose: Toasted oak, orange zest, toffee, salted caramel and almond cookie.
Palate: Chocolate, black cherries, cinnamon, coconut, cloves and nutmeg.
Finish: Moderately long, slightly drying with oak, honey, cocoa and baking spices.
Comments: This is a delicious, spicy and robust bourbon. While it’s quite nice neat, a bit of water brings the fruit forward on the nose and thickens the mouthfeel (while bringing out a bit of pears and apples too!) I think what I enjoyed just as much (or almost as much) as sipping this bourbon was reading about the experimental approach that Brett and Orlin took. Mad respect for conducting tests like they did over a period of years. Is this THE best barrel for aging bourbon? I can’t say, but this is a lovely result – which goes to show you that many of the best things just take time.

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

Woodinville Straight Bourbon Aged 9 Years Read More »

Woodinville: 24 Month Open-Air Seasons, Heavy Toast Light Char

/ / Gary's Blog

24 Month Open-Air Seasoned, Heavy Toast Light Char
Could it be the best bourbon barrel ever?

 

Over a decade ago Woodinville founders Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorensen set out to establish, once and for all, what kind of barrel would make the best bourbon in the world.

This would not be a quick or typical process. Methods? Everything on the table. Industry norms? Goodbye. Budget? None. Woodinville was still a young distillery then but Brett and Orlin saw this quest as an investment. Since it’s generally accepted that over 70% of the flavor and character of a bourbon comes from its barrel, it seemed to them they’d need the best barrel in the world if they wanted to make the best bourbon in the world.

Woodinville’s partners at Independent Stave Company, the foremost barrel cooper in America, were game. Let’s run a test, they suggested, and see what happens. ISC presented eight different barrel types:

  • #1 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
  • #2 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
  • #3 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
  • #4 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
  • #3 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
  • #5 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
  • Heavy Toast/Light Char 24-Month Open-Air Seasoned
  • Thin-Stave Barrel

Whiskey industry standard is a kiln-dried barrel at #3 or #4 char. Chars #1 and #2 are rarely used in bourbon, and because of the extra time it takes, “open-air seasoning” costs way more than a kiln-dried barrel. Extra time is on-brand for Woodinville, a distillery that refused to sell its flagship bourbon until it was a minimum of five years old, so this open-air method seemed promising. It involves exposing the staves (the planks used to build a barrel) to rain, sun, wind, everything the elements can throw at them. This process promotes a deterioration of the wood polymers, creating smaller molecules that can be more efficiently transformed during charring and toasting. (Non-scientific translation: It basically gives you more of the “good stuff”.)

After ISC’s coopers turn those seasoned staves into a barrel, the careful art of toasting and charring begins. Toasting is the process of setting the barrel cylinder over a fire for 30 to 45 minutes without the fire ever actually touching the wood. During toasting, the inside of the barrel is heated, which caramelizes the natural sugars and creates a “red layer” in the wood. When you take a sip of whiskey and detect notes of vanilla, caramel, and toffee, what you’re tasting is the result of the toasting process.

Charring, on the other, is done by lighting the inside of the barrel on fire for 20 to 60 seconds. This creates a layer of char on the surface of the wood, which acts as a filter for the young whiskey, as well as adding color and notes of dried fruit, oak, and spice.

Brett and Orlin filled the eight test barrels with new-make whiskey and waited. And waited. And waited. Four-and-a-half-years later, the whiskies were ready for analysis by gas chromatograph at ISC. The heavily toasted, lightly charred barrel made from 24-month open-air seasoned staves was found to have significantly higher amounts of whiskey’s favorite core compounds: furfural (sweetness, almond, baked bread), vanillin (vanilla, creaminess), and phenols, namely guaiacol (smoky, spicy) and 4-methyl guaiacol (sweet, candy, clove, leather). But they couldn’t declare their mission complete just yet.

Brett and Orlin noted the whiskey from this barrel had a slight “graininess,” attributed to its light char. (Think of the carbon filter in your fridge’s water dispenser.) They decided if the barrel could be aged a little longer, that grain character would soften and transform into desirable flavor compounds. A little longer meant four more years. For all those who aren’t tracking the math, that’s two years of stave aging, four and a half years of initial aging, and four additional years in the barrel. 2 + 4½ + 4 = 10½ years of work, patience, and hope represented in this liquid, one of the most balanced, complex, refined bourbons you will ever taste.

An 8 Year version of this bourbon with its unique mashbill of 55% corn, 35% rye, and 10% malted barley was released in 2024. In 2025, Brett and Orlin will release the next limited release Woodinville Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 9 years. In 2026, a 10 Year age statement will be released, offering whiskey collectors a unique opportunity to acquire all three editions.

Woodinville: 24 Month Open-Air Seasons, Heavy Toast Light Char Read More »