Last month, I received a wonderful birthday gift from my family.  Knowing what a fan of bourbon I was becoming, they purchased my wife and I tickets to a private dinner and bourbon tasting with none other than the Van Winkle family, or Pappy Van Winkle fame.  We trekked down to Kentucky, and made a bourbon day of it – first we visited the Woodford Reserve distillery, pictures of which will be coming shortly.  Then, it was on to Buffalo Trace, where some of the absolute best bourbons – including Pappy Van Winkle, as well as Blanton’s, Eagle Rare and others – are produced.

The dinner was great and the tour fun, but the highlight was sampling the 10, 12, 15, 20 and 23 year old Pappys.  After wards, in a Q&A, I asked Preston Van Winkle a question I was dying to know the answer to: knowing how very very hard (read impossible) it is to get one’s hands on a bottle of PVW, what was his other favorite bourbon? His answer was Four Roses Single Barrel. And so with that, I bought a bottle to try for myself.

I tasted the bourbon in the way I have seen other connoisseurs on the web do it, as well as that way I had been taught to by the guides at Woodford Reserve.

My take: Very nice. Smooth, hints of clove, mint, nutmeg. Good nose, warmth from the finish. I liked it even better with an ice chip. Jen was particularly fond of it as well.  Spicier than I like, but definitely a treat.

Dan scale (1-10): 8.0