Diageo Launches Bulleit 10, Surprising No One

In recent years it has become almost impossible for alcoholic beverage producers to keep their new products a secret until launch. So it is that the new 10-year-old iteration of Bulleit Bourbon was announced today with plenty of fanfare but not much excitement, since everyone has known about it for months.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is part of the problem. Labels for alcoholic beverages have to be approved in advance by the TTB. Each approved application--formally known as a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA)--is public information and easily found on the TTB web site (ttb.gov). COLA trolling is a popular hobby among some enthusiasts.

In addition, producers will often test market their new products, or announce them well in advance to trade audiences such as distributor sales forces. Today, with social media and a camera in every pocket, a new product that makes a brief appearance in Walla Walla, Washington, will have its image broadcast around the world in minutes.

For reasons that are increasingly hard to fathom, company PR departments and their agencies steadfastly refuse to confirm the new offerings until the official release date. The ancient practice of giving favored journalists the first taste has become an empty gesture.

So it is that today marks the official launch of Bulleit 10, which made its first appearance on StraightBourbon.com on November 10th. It should begin to appear on store shelves, at about $45, toward the end of this month. It will be ever-so-slightly higher in proof than standard Bulleit, 91.2° proof (45.6% ABV) instead of 90° proof (45% ABV).

Here's a fun game you can play. The press release mistakenly states the Bulleit 10 ABV as 45.5%. Let's see how many 'journalists' fail to catch the mistake. (ABV is always proof divided by two.)

Since the standard Bulleit Bourbon expression is NAS (no age statement), it's impossible to know how much older the 10-year-old version even is, but it's bound to be good. Bulleit Bourbon is made for Diageo by Four Roses and everything they make is good.

The Genealogy Of Beam Yeast

The post earlier this month, in which Sam Cecil briefly outlines the careers of the many Beam family distillers, raised a question about the yeast all of those Beams were using, not just at Jim Beam but at Heaven Hill, Four Roses, Yellowstone, Maker's Mark, Barton, Stitzel-Weller, Early Times, and many others.

The specific question: Jim Beam's yeast has a reputation for imparting a 'foxy' taste, a characteristic not associated with any other producer, despite having Beams in their lineage. How come?

Historically, 'yeast making' meant propagating a strain from a wild source. Although the Beams all started from the same place, with the same yeast mash recipe, and were all taught the same organoleptic standards, each distiller in each generation would have made his own subtle adaptations after years of practice, and would have passed his way of doing things on to his son.

I say 'son,' knowing that some Beam family distillers were trained by their grandfathers more than their fathers.

Either way, the genealogy of the yeasts is essentially that of the yeast makers.

David Beam (1802-1852) had three sons who became distillers. If you're a fan of Underworld, think of them as the three sons of Alexander Corvinus.

The youngest, Jack Beam, started Early Times and although his only son followed him into the business, there was no third generation. That line died out. It's unknown if that strain was preserved and passed on to the people who revived Early Times after Prohibition, but it seems unlikely.

The other two were Joseph B. Beam and David M. Beam. Those two traditions split more than 150 years ago, and there have been many other subdivisions since.

Each of them had two distiller sons. Joseph B. had Joseph L. (Joe) and Minor Case, and David M had the famous Jim Beam and his brother, Park.

We know from Booker Noe, Jim Beam's grandson, that the Jim Beam yeast was 'caught' by Jim on his back porch in Bardstown as Prohibition was ending and he prepared to build a new distillery.

When Park's son, Earl, left the Jim Beam Distillery in 1946, he took the Jim Beam yeast with him to Heaven Hill, replacing the Joe Beam yeast Joe's son Harry was then using. Under Earl Beam, Heaven Hill's bourbon had a reputation for being oily, but not 'foxy' like Beam.

I should note that, to me, the 'foxy' yeast characteristic is only noticeable in the white label Jim Beam expression.

It's hard to say what changed at Heaven Hill. It may have been the water. Yeast can change for very subtle reasons -- different water, different atmospheric conditions, different airborne microorganisms, different mash temperature, a different amount of back set, etc. The loss of the 'foxy' characteristic may have been deliberate, or an accidental by-product of different practices in a different place.

In addition to training his sons Joe and Minor Case, Joseph B. Beam may also have trained Will McGill. Will was a friend of son Joe, who married Will's sister, Katherine McGill.  Will must have been a good student because he became Pappy Van Winkle's master distiller at Stitzel-Weller after Prohibition.

It is likely Joe and Will also learned from Joe's older brother, Minor Case, who was 11 years Joe's senior. Minor had his own distillery at Gethsemane, which made the brand Old Trump, and which eventually merged with the nearby Yellowstone distillery. Joe and Will worked together at many different distilleries during their early careers, including at the Tom Moore distillery, today's Barton.

So the Stitzel-Weller yeast that made its way to Maker's Mark would have originated with Joseph B. Beam and probably went through Minor Case to get to Will McGill, and from him into the hands of Elmo Beam, Joe's firstborn, who would already have been familiar with his father's version.

That Pappy gave the yeast to Bill Samuels Sr. is known, but what Elmo actually used is not, at least not by me. Sam Cecil probably knew, since he followed Elmo at Maker's Mark.

Among his many feats, Joe Beam restarted Four Roses (then in Shively) after Prohibition, and employed some of his seven distiller sons there, as well as some of their sons. Seagram's bought Four Roses during WWII and Roy's son, Charlie, spent most of his career with Seagram's, where he developed the Eagle Rare Bourbon brand before finishing his career at Four Roses in Lawrenceburg.

Minor's son, Guy, was a distiller or master distiller at several different distilleries, including Heaven Hill, Fairfield, and Cummins-Collins. During Prohibition he was a distiller in Canada. Guy had two distiller sons, Burch and Jack. A third son, Walter, who was better known as Toddy, operated a liquor store in downtown Bardstown that still bears his name.

Jack worked for Barton. The two brothers who recently started the micro distillery Limestone Springs in Lebanon are descended from Guy.

Nobody is catching wild yeast these days and if distillers want to tweak their yeast, they do it in the lab, not on a back porch as Jim Beam did.

The Rufus M. Rose House Is For Sale.

Then

The Rufus M. Rose House is for sale.

Once valued at more than a million dollars, it was recently foreclosed and the bank has it listed for $315,000. They’ll probably take less.

Its significance, for our purposes, is that Rufus Mathewson Rose founded the original Four Roses Distillery. That claim is not universally accepted, however, as the present owners of Four Roses Bourbon only acknowledge its history back to Paul Jones, who brought the name from Atlanta to Louisville in 1884.

The Jones family built Four Roses Bourbon into a major national brand. For reasons unknown, Jones and his successors never acknowledged the Rose family, although they did claim that the Four Roses name was in use in Georgia as early as the 1860s.

As the Rose family’s version is told, the original "Four Roses" were Rufus Rose (1836-1910), his brother and business partner, and their respective sons who were also in the business. Four guys named Rose, hence "Four Roses."

Not very sexy.

The R. M. Rose & Co. Distillery was located twelve miles northwest of downtown, on Stillhouse Road in Vinings, Georgia. The Roses sold their whiskey through a chain of Atlanta-area stores that also sold tobacco.

Since whiskey brands, as such, were only just coming into existence in the last few decades of the 19th century, it’s possible Jones acquired some kind of rights from the Roses but it was Jones, not they, who first registered Four Roses as a national trademark in 1888.

The “official” (per the City of Atlanta) history of the house says the Roses were still making Four Roses Whiskey as late as 1907, when Georgia went dry and they moved to Tennessee, after which their trail grows cold. That claim, obviously, is inconsistent with the Paul Jones Company timeline.

Now

The house is prominently located on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta and is one of the few single family homes left in that neighborhood. It has five bedrooms, three baths, and 5,700 sq. ft. It is right next door to a Gladys Knight Chicken and Waffles location. If you want to find the listing, search the street address: 537 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30308.

According to the Atlanta Preservation Center, the 1901 house was designed by Atlanta architect Emil Charles Seitz Sr., in the Queen Anne style. For more than 50 years (1945-1998), it was the home of the Atlanta Museum, a privately-owned museum established by James H. Elliott, Sr. to display his eclectic collection, which included furniture belonging to Margaret Mitchell and a Japanese Zero war plane. It was the headquarters of the Atlanta Preservation Center from 1999 through 2001. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as an Atlanta Landmark Building.

The Atlanta Urban Design Commission calls it “the sole survivor in the central business district of [the] era of grand residential development and is an invaluable part of our cultural heritage. It conveys a sense of residential Peachtree at a time when streetcars, not automobiles, determined the patterns of residential development and its importance as such cannot be overstated.”

The previous owner’s restoration plans fell through and Central Atlanta Progress, a private nonprofit community development organization, estimates it will take about $500,000 to whip it into shape as an office building or restaurant.

A better idea would be for Four Roses to buy it, restore it to its original glory, and operate it as a tourist attraction, which would also tastefully promote Four Roses Bourbon.

If you drink Four Roses Bourbon and think this is a good idea you might want to suggest it to them. They’d love to hear from you.

Four Roses 2011 Single Barrel Limited Edition.

Referencing back to Monday's allegory, the 2011 Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel, released last month, is what happens when Flora gets frisky with the very wry farmer. It's what you get 12 years later, that is.

I reviewed the 2011 Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel here.

Fairest Rose And The Five Yeasts.

Once upon a time there was a rose, a rose so blessed with elegance and beauty that it was said she was more fair than any four ordinary roses. Her name was Fairest Rose. One day, while strolling on the forest path, Fairest Rose came to a fork in the road. Five forks, as a matter of fact.

At the foot of each fork stood a tall yeast. From the first two forks, a man and woman stepped forward. The man spoke. "Hello, I'm Herb Yeast." This is Flora Yeast and those three are Big Fruit, Little Fruit and Spicy. Here's how this works."

Herb explained that if Fairest Rose wanted to walk their paths, she would have to accompany each of them in turn. Along the way they would meet two farmers, each with a wry sense of humor, but one much more wry than the other. She would walk for a while with each of them as well.

Each walk would change Fairest Rose. Together they would complete her.

And that is how Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is made.

Drinking Bourbon But Thinking Islay.

Many drinkers, upon trying their first Islay malt, wonder what the appeal is. Even most Islay lovers would agree that whiskeys from that island assault the senses like no others, with flavors and aromas not ordinarily considered appealing. The pleasure in those drams is when they combine their discordant pieces into a harmonious whole. A pact is forged between drink and drinker to struggle past the repellant first impression to find the bliss beyond.

Few Scottish whiskeys attempt this high wire act, even fewer do from other lands. Some Americans do it with advanced age. Something like the 18-year-old Sazerac Rye poses a similar challenge. So have a few limited-edition releases from other distilleries, including several of the annual limited edition single barrels from Four Roses, like the new one for 2011.

For those of you who know the code, it's a 12-year-old OBSQ. (For those who don't, go to the web site for an explanation. Look for the tab that says '10 recipes.')

Like an Islay malt, this bourbon throws down the gauntlet right away. It has a strong bitter herb note that a grappa drinker might recognize. The balance comes from sweetness and an enveloping, scone-like body. When you've acclimated it presents more as caraway seed and horehound candy. There is nothing subtle about any of it.

This bourbon will not be for everyone which is just as well since these Four Roses Single Barrel Limited Edition releases always sell out fast anyway. You'll either love it or hate it. I totally get it, I think it's a great whiskey, but I don't love it.

My Rye Whiskey Epiphany.

I promised you some follow-up to my posts about the new Bulleit Rye. If you want to read those previous posts first just scroll down. They are all recent.

Under ‘old business,’ there was one unanswered question when last we broached this matter, “my question about the Bulleit Rye label’s use of the word 'mash' in 'Straight 95% Rye Mash Whiskey,' in which I wondered if that is an alternative form of the designation 'distilled from rye mash,' which permits used barrels. Point blank, is Bulleit Rye aged 100 percent in new charred oak barrels or are used barrels used? I'm still waiting for an answer to that one.”

I received that answer from my official Diageo contact and the answer is, no, used barrels are not used. Bulleit Rye is 100 percent aged in new, charred oak barrels. They even gave me the specific char level, the highest, #4.

Note for CVI Brands and other producers. If you want to squelch ‘speculation,’ provide direct answers to direct questions.

And just to be clear about another potential point of confusion, Bulleit Rye is made at Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI) in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Bulleit Bourbon is made at Four Roses, which is in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. This is pure coincidence. The Indiana Lawrenceburg is near Cincinnati, the Kentucky one is near Lexington, about 120 miles away.

Diageo – which owns the Bulleit brand – does not own either distillery, although if they’re interested the Indiana one is for sale. Four Roses, which is owned by Kirin Brewery, has a long term contract to sell bourbon to Diageo for Bulleit, a holdover from when both the distillery and the Bulleit brand were owned by Seagram’s. LDI is a former Seagram’s property too.

I have now tasted Bulleit Rye and also, as it happens, Redemption Rye, which is another bottling of the LDI 95 percent rye juice.

In tasting both of these products I had an epiphany.

Whiskey is usually evaluated neat or with a little water. That’s how most whiskey-drinkers drink whiskey and so that is the traditional whiskey-tasting paradigm. The whiskey is expected to stand on its own as a drink in its own right.

But does it have to be that way?

I’ve mentioned before, for example, that this LDI 95 percent rye recipe was created many years ago by Seagram’s to be a flavoring ingredient in blends like Seagram’s 7. What else can you do with a whiskey designed to be an ingredient? Use it in cocktails. For that, both of these ryes shine. Unbalanced? Not a problem. Balance it in the glass with other ingredients. Use it for the sharp, intense, and distinctive vegetal flavors it brings, and use other ingredients to give your drink the body and dimension the whiskey alone lacks.

If you don’t like cocktails, mix it with a bourbon like High West did (Bourye).

The main difference between Redemption Rye and Bulleit Rye is age. Redemption is just north of two years, while Bulleit is just north of four. Redemption has slightly more alcohol too, 46 percent compared to 45 percent for Bulleit.

Neither rye tastes especially white-doggy, but even Bulleit could do with a little more age to be a good straight sipper like Rittenhouse BIB or Baby Saz. Maybe it can never be that. Maybe it doesn't matter. Where Bulleit and Redemption should get love is from bartenders.

My epiphany wasn’t wholly spontaneous. Both Bulleit and Redemption address bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts in their promotional materials.

Both of these ryes have a big rye grain flavor, as close to rye bread as you are likely to get. There is plenty of heat, spice, mint and sod. Yes, sod. And fresh lawn-clippings. Mint toothpaste too. And all of it is great big and in-your-face.

Bulleit Rye is a Diageo product and its packaging resembles that of Bulleit Bourbon, except with different embossing on the glass and a green label. Redemption Rye is owned by Dynamic Beverages and bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky, by Bardstown Barrel Selections, a new independent bottling house run by Dave Schmier and Michael Kanbar. Schmier is the young entrepreneur behind Dynamic Beverages and Kanbar is the young entrepreneur behind Strong Spirits.

The Redemption line also includes a bourbon that happens to have the same high-rye mash bill as Bulleit Bourbon, except this is the version distilled and aged at LDI. Like the rye, the Redemption Bourbon is a little more than two years old and designed to work better in cocktails than it does in a glass by itself. Both Redemption products use the same simple but elegant bottle, which is topped by a sensible screw cap instead of a pretentious cork. Bravo for that. The price is also attractive, $26.99 for the bourbon and $27.99 for the rye at Binny’s here in Chicago, about the same retail price as Bulleit.

I guess if you’re going to copy somebody why not copy the biggest and most successful company in the business?

LDI Determined To Remain A Mystery.

Fans of American whiskey will sometimes see an unfamiliar label on a liquor store shelf and wonder if they have discovered some previously-unknown distillery. In most cases, what they have found is either an obscure brand from a major distiller, or the product of a non-distiller using whiskey bought from one of the majors.

These days it might also be the product of a micro-distillery, but they are easy to spot and their combined whiskey output doesn’t amount to 1/10 of one percent of US whiskey production.

A straight rye might come from a non-US distillery, such as WhistlePig from Canada, but if it’s bourbon and not from a micro or defunct distillery (now very rare), then it was made by one of the thirteen US whiskey distilleries that are currently active.

If a bottle is bottom shelf, possibly a store brand, vague origins are no big deal. If you don’t pay much you don’t expect much.

But if the product has a premium price you are smart to ask questions and the first and most obvious one is, “who made this?”

Which brings us back to those thirteen large distilleries that produce 99.9 percent of the whiskey made in the USA.

Nine of them are so open they give regular public tours. Three of the remaining four give occasional press and trade tours. That leaves one.

Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana LLC, usually abbreviated as LDI.

Lawrenceburg, Indiana is near Cincinnati and developed in the 19th century as the main distilling center for spirits brokered and distributed through Cincinnati firms. Until the American distilling industry began its big contraction in the 1970s, two of the Big Four -- Seagrams and Schenley -- had large whiskey plants there.

LDI is the old Seagrams place. It traces its roots back to 1847, although little is known about its early days. The name was Rossville then and after 1875 it was owned by the James Walsh Company. They operated it up to Prohibition, and even during Prohibition under a medicinal whiskey license.

At the end of Prohibition, Walsh sold Rossville to Seagrams, which expanded it and operated it until that company was sold for parts in 2001. Pernod-Ricard had it until 2007, then sold it to Angostura, the current owner.

LDI is actually two distilleries. The larger one makes neutral spirits (vodka and gin) while the smaller one makes whiskey. It has maturation warehouses and a bottling house. According to the LDI web site, it sits on 78 acres and is one of the largest beverage alcohol distilleries in the world. It makes distilled and compound gin, corn whiskey, rye whiskey, and three different bourbons.

Of greatest interest to the enthusiast community are their rye, which is 95 percent rye grain, 5 percent malt; and their high-rye bourbon, which is 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, 4 percent malt.

Unlike the other twelve major whiskey distilleries in the USA, LDI makes no brands of its own. It sells its entire output in bulk to other producers, large and small, up to and including Diageo (Bulleit 95 Rye) and Pernod (Seagrams Gin). Some LDI whiskey in current distribution was brokered by Pernod, the rest seemingly comes from LDI directly.

In that word “seemingly” lies the rub. The people who run LDI won’t give interviews, at least not to me. Some of LDI’s customers will provide a little bit of information but they don’t necessarily know very much, except what type of whiskey they bought and the fact that LDI made it.

Being secretive and close-mouthed is what bulk producers do. Heaven Hill has always had a big bulk whiskey business but getting them to talk about it is like pulling teeth. Four Roses and Brown-Forman will both confirm that they sell whiskey to Diageo, primarily white dog that Diageo barrels and ages in the maturation warehouses at Stitzel-Weller near Louisville. Buffalo Trace has been in and out of the bulk business and currently says it is out, including at its Tom Moore Distillery, which sold bulk when it was owned by Constellation. Everybody sells bulk whiskey from time to time, to adjust their inventory or when the price is just too good to pass up.

Neither the producers nor their customers will say much about the bulk whiskey business. Since a bulk producer doesn’t really know what happens to the whiskey after it leaves their plant, and since they don’t own the brand names under which it is sold, their reluctance makes a kind of sense. If a marketing company wants you to think it’s really a distiller, as some do, its reluctance to talk about the real producer makes sense too.

Or consider this. Diageo confirms that its new Bulleit 95 Rye is LDI. The LDI high-rye bourbon mash bill is the same as the one Four Roses makes, which is no surprise since both plants used to be owned by Seagrams.

That bourbon recipe happens to be the Bulleit Bourbon recipe. Is Diageo taking spirit distilled in Indiana, aging it in Kentucky, mixing it with the all-Kentucky bourbon from Four Roses, and calling the whole thing “Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey”?

Can they? The rules say producers may not misrepresent where a product was manufactured, but they don’t define ‘manufactured.’ They do say that when distilled spirits are bottled by or for a rectifier, the phrase ‘manufactured by’ may be used in lieu of the phrase ‘bottled by.’

If mere bottling is considered ‘manufacturing’ then surely aging is too.

Beyond the TTB’s general misrepresentation rule above, no entity regulates the use of ‘Kentucky’ in the phrase ‘Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.’ Nowhere is it decreed that whiskeys using the phrase must be distilled and aged in Kentucky.

So I’m not saying Diageo has done anything wrong if they are doing this, but it sure would be interesting to know.

Maybe that tells you why nobody wants to talk about LDI. The problem, of course, is that when you can’t get information from authoritative sources, the rumor mill takes over. I may hear something that doesn’t sound quite right but if I can’t get a company to confirm or deny a rumor there’s not much I can do to set the record straight.

The best hope is that LDI’s customers will convince them to open up. The place makes good and interesting whiskey. Somebody should be bragging about it.

Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition Coming In September.

It’s hard to make money writing about whiskey but there are other benefits. I get lots of free samples for one. What’s more, I get lots of very good free samples, like advance tastes of limited releases.

While they are all great and I hope they never stop coming, some excite me more than others. Only a few invariably get tasted right away.

At the top of that list is Four Roses.

When a box arrives from Bandy Carroll Hellige (Four Roses’ ad agency) I can’t wait to get it open. Today it contained a tiny (100 ml) bottle of the 2010 Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition, which is scheduled for a September release of 3,600 bottles.

Four Roses, you see, has a unique advantage over other distilleries when it comes to limited editions. It is the only distillery that makes ten different bourbon recipes and because it makes them year in and year out, its warehouses contain all ten whiskeys at every possible age from newborn to double-digits.

The possibilities are endless.

In the USA, Four Roses has three platforms: (1) standard, a mixture of all 10 recipes; (2) small batch, a mixture of two to four recipes; and (3) single barrel, by definition a single recipe.

Each spring Four Roses issues a limited edition from the single barrel platform and each fall it issues one from the small batch platform.

Finally, for full geeky pleasure, the ten recipes have names, sort of, a sequence of four letters. To find out what it all means go here.

This fall’s small batch will be a mixture of three bourbons, a 15-year-old OBSV, an 11-year-old OBSK, and a 10-year-old OESK. It’s bottled uncut and unfiltered, so 110° proof (55% alcohol).

The nose is about what you would expect with tobacco-ey wood notes. I was surprised, therefore, that the taste starts out fresh and fruity, with citrus, raspberry, honey, and oak. Then came the dark caramel and molasses, syrupy and just slightly bitter. The finish, also slightly bitter, is very rich and long.

Every mixture of bourbons from the Four Roses vaults is interesting, but this is one of the more successful purely for drinking. To the extent they use these limited editions to test candidates for future regular-issue products, this would be a good one to consider.

A New Limited Edition From Four Roses.

There are two kinds of limited edition releases in the American Whiskey business. Some are about the whiskey, some are about the bottle.

Four Roses has been one of the leaders in limited editions that are mainly about the whiskey. In recent years, they have rolled out a limited edition version of their single barrel expression each spring, just in time for the Kentucky Derby (May 1 this year).

For 2010 it is a 17-year-old bourbon that is being used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the main building at the distillery site in Lawrenceburg. There have been distilleries on or near that site for almost 200 years, but the distinctive Spanish Mission-style building (pictured above) was built in 1910 by the sons of J. T. S. Brown, who ran it on both sides of Prohibition.

The Browns (cousins of the Brown-Forman Browns) had bought the place in 1904. In 1909, a nearby distillery burned down and while it was being rebuilt, the Browns decided theirs could stand to be spruced up too.

During WWII, Seagram’s bought the plant and renamed it Four Roses, after a brand they had also just acquired. Seagram’s was big in the production of neutral spirits for the war effort. They owned 14 Kentucky distilleries by war’s end. They must have liked the one they named Four Roses, because they gradually closed all the rest. By the time Seagram’s itself was sold a decade ago, Four Roses was the only Kentucky distillery they had left.

Today it is owned by Kirin and run by long-time Master Distiller Jim Rutledge. The Four Roses 100th Anniversary Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon will be released in early April. It is bottled at barrel strength (55 percent alcohol) and not chill filtered. About 2,300 bottles will be distributed in all U.S. markets where Four Roses currently is sold.

Even though Four Roses limited editions are about featuring a special whiskey, the bottles are nice too. For this one, an etching of the distillery, in gold, has been added to the standard Single Barrel package.

Although Four Roses makes ten different bourbons, it almost doesn’t matter which of those recipes this is, because at 17 years it is all about the wood. That doesn’t mean all 17-year-olds taste the same, of course. In this case, the result is a whiskey that is very dry, even astringent, but not overly tannic, the usual failing of an extra-aged bourbon.

Instead, the most striking taste here is pure oak, with just a little bit of char. Pretty quickly, though, this whiskey hits a wall. That’s when a splash of water helps to wake it up. Then you get figs and dark molasses, if you can imagine figs or dark molasses denuded of most of their sugar.

If what you like about bourbon is its sweetness, this may not be the bourbon for you.

Also to commemorate the anniversary, and as a tribute to the distillery’s employees, past and present; Four Roses is searching for the oldest living person who once worked at the Lawrenceburg plant. That person will receive bottle no. 1 of the limited edition and other nice prizes.

If you’re interested in a bottle for yourself, and you’re not a former employee, better call your whiskey-monger now.

Mini Skirts And Straight Bourbon.

Mini skirts were the fashion craze of the 1960s. Designers, always trying to profit by creating the next new trend, followed that up with something called the maxi skirt.

As the name implies, the maxi skirt was long, typically ending mid-calf. As fashion leaders always do, they urged women to discard their mini skirts immediately in favor of the new maxi skirts.

Women refused (and men cheered).

Much like the introduction of New Coke, the failure of the maxi skirt proved that there is a limit to what marketers can shove down the throat of the American consumer.

At about that same time, some of the largest distilled spirits companies tried to wean Americans away from straight whiskeys such as straight bourbon and straight rye. Instead, they thought we should drink blended whiskey or the newly-developed light whiskey.

Americans were turning away from straights at that time. They were drinking more blended scotch and blended Canadian whiskey, but also a lot more vodka, gin, rum and tequila, all of which were lighter in taste than American straight whiskey.

All of those products were also cheaper to make, which is why the producers were so enamoured of them. They even tried to get the Standards of Identity changed so they could make a lighter and cheaper product, by reusing barrels and distilling at higher proofs, and still call it straight bourbon.

That proposal was rejected by the BATF and light whiskey was solidly rejected by consumers. Blended whiskey--which combines a little straight whiskey with a lot of vodka (i.e., neutral spirit)--gained a little traction but never got close to unseating the straights.

When American whiskey began to rebound in the 1990s it was Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey that led the charge.

This is essentially the story of Four Roses. The brand started in the mid-19th century as a straight bourbon and returned after Prohibition that way too. Eventually it was acquired by the Jos. E. Seagram Company, a Canadian producer that only made blends there and thought that's what we should drink down here too. In the U.S. market they converted Four Roses into a blend, although they sold it in the rest of the world as a bourbon.

As time went on, competitive pressures caused Seagrams to cheapen the blend by reducing its straight whiskey component. The legal minimum is a mere 20 percent. Even among blended whiskey drinkers, Four Roses was considered rot gut.

When Seagrams was sold for parts a decade ago, Kirin (which had been partners with Seagrams in Japan) became the new owner of Four Roses and immediately began to reintroduce it into the United States as a high quality straight bourbon whiskey. They had to overcome the blend's bad reputation, but by that time the brand was such a loser that most younger consumers had never even heard of it. To them, Four Roses Bourbon was a new brand.

They began the revival in Kentucky, naturally, and gradually expanded as they were able to produce enough to meet the growing demand. That process is now just about complete. With the new year, Four Roses is now available in Michigan, Maryland and New Hampshire.

No, they were not expanding alphabetically. For a variety of reasons, they chose to expand into control states last.

So the next time you enjoy a fine straight bourbon, think about the American consumers who refused to be herded like sheep so many years ago.

We preview the 2009 Four Roses Single Barrel Limited Edition.

'Challenging,' like 'interesting,' is commonly used as a backhanded compliment to describe something of dubious merit which the observer is unprepared to condemn outright. Heavily-peated single malts often receive one or both of those assessments.

But 'challenging' also can mean a creation that requires extra effort from the reader or viewer or, in our case, drinker, an effort which ultimately is rewarded.

Four Roses Bourbon is notable, in its standard expressions, for its exceptional balance, which makes it easy to enjoy. But Four Roses also has had an aggressive limited release program and some of those whiskeys have been challenging, though usually in the good way.

That is the case with the 2009 single barrel limited edition, which won’t be in stores until June.

I got a preview.

The Four Roses Single Barrel Limited Edition 2009 Release will be uncut and not chill filtered. The distillery will be able to produce up to 1,800 bottles, from the super select barrels, that will be distributed in select U.S. markets.

Master Distiller Jim Rutledge specially selected the sophisticated 11-year-old whiskey from among the 10 bourbon recipes the distillery produces.

"We’re excited to continue the tradition of releasing an exceptional, and very unique single barrel limited edition that consists of one recipe we feel exhibits various combinations of flavors and aromas pleasing to any Bourbon enthusiast," said Rutledge.

What makes this release challenging is an unusual bite that persists in the aftertaste. It still has the complex but balanced flavor profile for which Four Roses is famous, but with an edge. I taste citrus, licorice, honey, and wheatgrass, all improbably rolled into one.

This is not a starter bourbon, but most experienced bourbon drinkers should appreciate it.

These releases are very small and typically sell out quickly. The price point will be a little higher than the standard Four Roses Single Barrel, which sells for about $40 a bottle. If you’re interested, it is not too early to alert your favorite whiskey monger and ask them to reserve a bottle for you.

Four Roses is now available in almost 20 U.S. states, and will continue expansion in other markets throughout 2009.

A Special Four Roses Single Barrel Bottling Is Coming to Binny's.

We're lucky here in Illinois, because Four Roses is presently available in only seven states and this is one of them. Sorry Iowa, Wisconsin. and the rest of you.

We're about to get even luckier.

Sources tell me that Brett Pontoni, the Specialty Spirits Buyer at Binny's, has selected three casks for a special Binny's exclusive Four Roses Single Barrel bottling.

Binny's already has many special bottlings of casks selected by Brett, of both American and Scottish whiskey. One of my favorites is his pick of an Elmer T. Lee Bourbon, from Buffalo Trace.

These "buy a barrel" deals are good for everybody. The producer/distributor sells the equivalent of a barrel of whiskey (about 20 cases), maybe more than the retailer normally would buy. The retailer gets an exclusive product and a story to tell, and the customer gets the opportunity to taste something a little bit different.

Buffalo Trace has been the leader with these programs, but Four Roses has seen a good thing and gotten in the game too. At this as with many things, Four Roses brings something unique to the party. They do what no other American distiller does, they make ten different bourbon formulas, by combining five different yeasts with two different mash bills. Their standard, yellow label expression is a mixture of all ten, but by its nature a single barrel can be just one. For the standard issue Four Roses Single Barrel, they don't want too much variation from barrel to barrel, but with a special bottling like this one for Binny's, getting a couple of different tastes is the whole idea.

I'm told they should be available in the next month or so and will be labeled Cask 1, Cask 2 and Cask 3. I'm told that Cask 3 is the "fattest."

Trust me, the crazy people I know will buy as many bottles of all three as they can afford, so don't wait too long. Three barrels, or about 60 cases, may sound like a lot but I predict that it will go fast.

Coming Soon, Another Limited Edition from Four Roses.

Gentlemen and Ladies, start your engines. Or start salivating. Whatever. Here comes the next Four Roses Limited Edition.

In April, just in time for the Kentucky Derby, Four Roses will release another limited edition bourbon. It is to honor the brand's founding 120 years ago. It will be barrel strength again, single barrel and in the single barrel bottle, very similar to the Rutledge 40th Anniversary edition in that respect. This is a 12-year-old and non-chill filtered. Proofs will range from 103 to 116. There will be approximately 3,000 bottles produced.

I've had a sample and it's very unusual, with very bright fruit flavors. My main thought was of the homemade raspberry preserves a friend of mine's mom makes, maybe even pomegranate. I haven't talked to Jim Rutledge about it, but my impression is that he set out to find something a bit different. Don't even think about stashing this in the bunker. You really have to drink it.

Although they haven't said so per se, I suspect this will be an annual thing, at least as long as they continue to be successful. The last one sold out quickly and generated a lot of buzz.

The 40th was primarily sold in Kentucky, with a little bit going to New York. This one will be in Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee and Illinois.

Suggested retail is $69 to $100, depending on the market, probably cheapest in Kentucky and Tennessee, most expensive in NYC. That's a bit more than last fall's Rutledge 40th. The standard Four Roses Single Barrel sells for about $35 a bottle, so they basically double it for the limited editions.

Also, here's good news for those of you just dying to get your hands on any Four Roses bourbons. Although I don't know which ones, they expect to have distribution in 15 more states by the end of 2008, bringing the total to 20.