My review of EH Taylor 4 Grain from a thimble.

First off, I love Buffalo Trace.  I love their products, I love their marketing department, I love Mark Brown, I have nothing but love for the folks over there.  But make no mistake, no one is safe from my sarcasm and witty evilness (or evil wit?).  It’s like they say, “If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t pick on you”.   Except for Blood Oath.  I pick on Blood Oath.  And I don’t like Blood Oath.

Anyway on to the newest EH Taylor release, Four Grain, EHTFG as it will soon be called.  Per BT, the EHTFG is a 12 year Bottled in Bond bourbon made with corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley….hence the name….four….grain.  Suggested retail is $69.99 but good luck getting it retail unless you have a good relationship with a store, or people who work in the store, or you are Swiper. 

I would like to thank Buffalo Trace (henceforth knowneth as BT) for the opportunity to try EHTFG.  BT kindly sent me this sample, and as is usually the case, it was a 50ml plastic sample bottle inside a box that could fit both of my running sneakers.  For size purposes I matched it up with some household candy after trying it:

Now, if you didn’t realize that was a Halloween-sized Nerds box and some Japanese candy that like melts into soda when you eat it and it’s weird as hell but somehow delicious, you might think it was still a good size sample.  But if we pull back the perspective….

You just see an outdated stove and a broken Microwave and a lamp that’s being used instead of the built in oven light that is burned out.  Yes, ridiculous, but we are redoing our kitchen in a few weeks and it’s just pointless.  Anyway focus on the small bottle there, see it?  How about a larger perspective?

There, that does it for you right?  (Please note that Post did not pay me for this product placement.  I reached out to their marketing department to see if they would be interested in sponsoring me but all I’ve gotten back so far is a Kroger coupon for 50 cents off my next purchase.)

So three people in all got to try the Four Grain, myself, a buddy named Anh, and my buddy Jeff.  We each got about 10-15ml which is the same amount of saliva in your mouth at any given time.

This is my buddy Jeff and this is his face after trying Four Grain:

To be fair, Jeff’s face rarely changes, so he actually said he liked it.  

Anh and I felt differently.  We all three agreed it had a nice nose to it.  Despite having malted barley, we got no Scotch like smell from it.  The sweetness of the corn dominates and a little bit of rye spice is there.

We all agreed on the entry and initial taste.  With the four grains together, the corn still prevails and it’s a nice soft taste that to me said “Wheater” more than anything else.  I think the rye and barley were hidden a little bit, and I thought of Weller 12 when trying it.

The finish was the disappointing part, it faded into nothing really, just maybe a little burn with very little of the smoothness and caramel that usually comes with a 12 year bourbon.  Anh agreed on the finish, it just didn’t leave you wanting more.  Granted, all of this is taken from maybe 15ml of product so it’s really hard to tell.  I remember trying Seasoned Wood last year and I didn’t like it from the small sample, but I returned to my open bottle recently and found it really good.

And yes, I do appreciate getting a sample, even one as small as this.  Overall I just wasn’t overly impressed with it, I would give it a solid B.  

We’ll see if that changes when I come across a bottle, and pour a little larger.  And then I’ll give Jeff a little more, and then maybe he’ll smile.  When Jeff smiles, world peace ensues.  When there is world peace, aliens won’t attack us.  For the sake of humanity, I will have to hunt one of these bottles down and try it again.