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Four Roses Mariage Collection 2009 ReleaseWhiskey: Four Roses Mariage Collection (2009 Release)
Distillery: Four Roses, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Age: 19- and 10-year-old
Proof: range of 114-118, (actual bottling proof unknown)
Bottle: Sample sent from the distillery, label reads “non-chill filtered”
Notes:The recipe  for this bourbon includes a 19-year-old and 10-year-old bourbon and from different recipes of Four Roses.  For more on Four Roses’ 10 distinct bourbon recipes, visit this link and  learn more  about Four Roses Mariage Collection here . Now, for the review…

Tasted in a lowball bourbon glass, poured straight.

Color: Lush Haystack-Tinted Amber

Nose: Dominant Tobacco shoppe, as though I’ve walked in to select the right one for an evening of smoking a pipe but wavering between several that all call my name to draw me in for a deeper sniff.  Once I go in closer, I smell a fresh zesty citrus with undertones of cinnamon and allspice.

Taste: Between a cherry and citrus tobacco, orange zest strikes before a warm  swallow.  This sample is barrel proof of 57%- 58% alcohol by volume, so I’m getting a warm breath of spices that gives a Christmas mouth feel.  Imagine a long evening walk up a snowy hill on your way to a  cabin where Four Roses Master Distiller Jim Rutledge greets you with a glass of what seems to be pure liquid Christmas.  No fluff in this amber to convince you of the festive flavor of Mariage, its just there; pure, straightforward.  With the same straightforward approach to bourbon making, I’m seeing Jim Rutledge lifting toast in this brief daydream of flavor analogy.

Finish:There is delightfully tight dryness on the finish.  A few swallows will keep you pouring the Four Roses Mariage Collection 2009 Release all evening long.

On the rocks:
Now sampling this bourbon on the rocks, more cherry notes.  The clarity of citrus and fruit comes to greater heights alongside the tobacco.

Four Roses Mariage Collection 2009 Reviewed by Tom Fischer, BourbonBlog.com

Copyright 2009 BourbonBlog.com

 

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