Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Four Roses 2017 Small Batch Limited Edition Al Young 50th Anniversary

This year’s spring Limited Edition from Four Roses honors Al Young for his 50 years at Four Roses, and strays from the standard small batch bottle design to use a 1967 design, harkening back to the year that Al’s career at Four Roses began.  So it’s a sharp bottle, a worthy honor, and promising blend of recipes, but will it live up to expectations set by previous limited editions?

Bourbon:	Four Roses 2017 Small Batch Limited Edition, Al Young 50th Anniversary
Distillery:	Four Roses, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Age:	23-year OBSV – 5% 15-year OBSK – 25% 13-year OESV – 50% 12-year OBSF – 20%
ABV:	54.49%
Cost:	$150.00

Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample

for this review, without any strings attached. 

Thank you.

Tasting Notes

Appearance:

Brown side of amber with some reddish-gold in the light, and great legs.

Nose:

The traditional caramel aromas are here in force, balanced with light spring flowers and vanilla on the softer side, but at the same time pronounced oak and leather-bound books make me want to smell a bit longer.

Taste:

Luscious, creamy caramel along with ripe berries (think of that Fourth of July bowl of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries), brown sugar, honey, apricot, and dried dark fruit, balanced with the earthiness of oak, leather, and tobacco, and cinnamon on the spicy side.  The complexity is phenomenal.

Finish:

Long, with a huge swell and gear-shifting that I love, and eventually tapering off to tranquil warmth.  I was tempted to get a stopwatch because the finish kept going.  Flavors of oak and rich caramel dominate, but it’s much more complex than that, with a mint kicker.  I need to find a bottle to contemplate this one.

Bottom Line

The Al Young 50^th Anniversary Limited Edition has everything I look for in a Bourbon. We haven’t even hit the fall limited editions yet, but in my mind we already have a leader for Whiskey of the Year.  There are only about 10,000 bottles, so make your plans now for next week’s release.  Please just leave a couple for me.

Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale:  4.5+

The Sipp’n Corn Scale:

1 – Swill.  I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.

2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.

3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings.  Glad to own and enjoy.

4 – Excellent Bourbon.  Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws.  I’m lucky to have this.

5 – Bourbon perfection.  I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.