Day 17 bears witness to the return of Four Roses, in the form of the Four Roses Single Barrel, a “Straight Bourbon Whiskey” that’s 50% alcohol. 
http://fourrosesbourbon.com/bourbon/single-barrel/
My first note says “Strong!” There are not a lot of other notes. This whiskey starts out strong and finishes that way, too. It pretty much vaporizes on the tongue and burns going down. In a good way, I should add. There’s not a lot of subtlety to this one, but it’s very nice, and quite sippable. It doesn’t have the honey smoothness that my favorites do, but it’s a quite pleasant bourbon. There’s a hint of something in the smell and taste that I can’t quite put a name to – a pleasant spicy wood quality.
The Web site claims that the flavor has “Hints of ripe plum & cherries…” and I can’t say I got that. They do agree with me that there are spicy and woody qualities to the nose, so I guess I got that right.
Two stars. The Single Barrel outdoes the undifferentiated version, but still doesn’t break into the top set.
The updated rankings:
- Blanton’s Gold Edition
- Smooth Ambler Old Scout 7
- Noah’s Mill
- Bulleit
- Elijah Craig
- Evan Williams
- Four Roses Single Barrel
- FEW
- Booker’s 7 Year
- Jefferson’s
- Four Roses
- Michter’s
- Eagle Rare
- 1792 Ridgemont Reserve
- Roughstock Montana
- Old Forester
- Smooth Ambler Contradiction