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Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:03 am
by Vital
I absolutely love Elijah Craig 12 for it's oily SPICY citric wood taste. Spicy is a key word here.

My favorite bourbons are Elijah Craig 12 & 18, Eagle Rare 10, Knob Creek and Jim Beam Black.

I've tried a lot of "top shelve/best pours" as per users on this forum - Maker's Mark (MM46 is pretty good btw, mostly because it's different) Wild Turkey, Buffalo Trace, Weller, Evan Williams.... All of those while different can still be roughly categorized as "sweet vanilla and caramel". I'm looking for more then that - wood, cigar, leather, charcoal/smoke, citrus/orange/fruit and most important - SPICE.

What would you guys recommend I try next?

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:07 pm
by ebo
Try Four Roses SB and Woodford Reserve. The WR isn't really all that special, but it has a bit of wood to it..... at least to my taste.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 5:57 pm
by Vital
Hm, I've actually never had any of Four Roses stuff.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 5:55 pm
by GaryV
You want spice? Might try Fighting Cock, aka "the Kickin' Chicken" :D

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:16 pm
by Vital
Just called a few liquer stores around my area and none of them carry Fighting Cock. :(
Reviews seem to be reppy good (spicy) so I'll def try to find one sooner or later.

On the other hand a few places carry Four Roses Single Barrel as well as Small Batch. Defiantly going to try SB first but after reading reviews seems like every Four Roses is spicy so Small Batch is also on the list.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:13 pm
by ebo
Just my opinion, of course, but Small Batch isn't as good as the Single Barrel. Single Barrel is woody....er :mrgreen: to my taste.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:24 am
by PaulO
How about Old Grandad 114?

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 4:40 pm
by EllenJ
The best example I've ever tasted of "peppery, spicy" bourbon was Fighting Cock, but that was the 8-year-old, which you can't find anymore. I THINK that was a Heaven Hill bottling, but I'm not sure. The current 6-year-old isn't bad, but nothing special and not like the 8. You might try finding or ordering Four Roses in the OBSK version. More expensive, but also a much higher grade of whiskey.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:33 pm
by JLH3
ebo wrote:Just my opinion, of course, but Small Batch isn't as good as the Single Barrel. Single Barrel is woody....er :mrgreen: to my taste.


And that's what is great about bourbon. I love the SB, but think you get a little more spice from the Small Batch. And I like it a tad more.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:55 pm
by Vital
Apparently there's serious shortage of Four Roses in New York. Very few stores carry it and out of those that do I've only been able to find 1 that had some Small Batch in stock. Single barrel is on a backorder in a few stores for a few months now and no local distributors have any....

So I'm sipping on Small Batch and LOOOOOVIIIIING IT!
Loaded with pepper and cinnamon, lots of fruits and some citrus. Long oily/buttery aftertaste with the heat that warms me up a lot longer then I expected it to....
This bottle was defiantly worth the effort it took to find it.

Now I REALLLLY wanna try Single Barrel seeing how much praise it gets over Small Batch.

As for:
Fighting Cock - it's damn impossible to find it. No stores have it at all. Looks like New York is pretty weak when it comes to bourbons that aren't "mainstream"
Grand Dad 114 - funny it was brought up. I had GD 101 (I cold be wrong on the number but it was defiantly lower then 114) just the other day for the first time and liked it as well. Not as much spice as Four Roses Small Batch or Elijah 12 but it did stand out with spices as well.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:37 pm
by ethangsmith
Old Grand Dad 114, Fighting Cock, or Old Heaven Hill 100 proof. All pretty spicy with good bourbon flavor.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:06 pm
by Mike
Interesting, I just had some Fighting Cock (6 YO) and did not find it all that 'spicy'. My standards for spicey bourbons are Wild Turkey and Four Roses......... each is spicey, and is different in its spicey attack. Wild Turkey bourbons are 'hotter' than Four Roses, which has a more floral element to my palate. Old Grand Bottled in Bond is an excellent spicey bourbon.

An aside to Vital in regard to this post. Find some Four Roses bourbon........... in my humble opinon, for the money, there is no finer bourbon than Four Roses...... it is its own bourbon, wonderfully unique!!

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 3:47 pm
by Birdo
I agree that Four roses single barrel is a great spicy bourbon, quite complex, excellent. I drink Fighting Cock as my regular bourbon and its almost as good as Knob Creek and Four Roses at at far better price.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 6:12 am
by dickelfanaustralia
Does 4 Roses use orange yeast like Old Grand DaD? If not then why is it orange color?

the tasting notes sound little like old grand dad like oily ,delicate, fruit. Is the alcohol balanced?

Ive had Beam black and hayden and can't put it on my palate at all.

Re: Looking for bourbon with spice

Unread postPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 9:28 pm
by Squire
Old Grand Dad of any proof.