Four Gate Split Stave (Batch 4)

Rating: 18/23 N: Initially a tad faint, but then some slightly tart corn with undercooked caramel scent comes out. It makes me think of Buffalo Trace. There's some nice musty wood with little bit of peanut shell in it too that carries a bit of spice (cinnamon, ginger, clove, black pepper). It's on the sweet side and smells decently old, but not packed with barrel richness. P: Drying with a tartness to it, but also sweet with the flavor of corn tied together with caramel that is a bit undercooked. The spices come out from the musty wood - clove, ginger, and black pepper mainly (not much cinnamon here. I definitely feel the heat from the alcohol, but I don't feel it stripping the surface of my tongue off, so that's good. There's a bit of sichuan peppercorn prickliness. It's sweet with a mellowness that occasionally suggests substantial age. F: The dry tartness and spices persist while the caramel and musty wood fade. A layer of sweetness with a bit of mineral remains as well. - Conclusion - This is a solid dram. It's not amazing, but it's very sippable. The subtle complexity and sweetness have been growing on me, so I'm appreciating it more than when I first tried it. I considered the 16 to 19 range and now I've narrowed it to 17 to 19. Side by side with Booker's Country Ham, which I consider to be a solid 17, I give the win to this. On the other hand, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, which I consider to be an 18 to 19 seems a bit better. It's actually quite close though. I've been borderline on giving this a 19 and I spent a while considering a 17, so I think I'm going to land on an 18. This is sample C in an unlabeled set of 4. There are about 15 different bourbons and ryes that this could be. My guess is that it's Pappy Van Winkle 15 or Weller CYPB based on its similarity to Buffalo Trace. This tastes more like a 10 year old bourbon to me because of its lightness, but I recall Weller 12 tasting younger than it actually is in a similar fashion. The proof seems on the higher side, so Pappy seems more likely. - The Reveal - I'm wrong.This isn't any Buffalo Trace product. It's remarkable how similar it tasted to one though. I'm not a huge Buffalo Trace fan, but I appreciate their sweet slightly light caramel character as an option on my shelf. This has the hallmarks of a nicely aged Buffalo Trace bottle, but it turns out that it isn't in any way Buffalo Trace. I'm not astonished that another bourbon managed to taste like Buffalo Trace, but I would never have been able to guess that this was Four Gate Split Stave with the constant distraction of the Buffalo Trace similarity. This has been an interesting - and enjoyable - experience for sure. Thanks to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for the sample!

This was a birthday buy. Has sat on the shelf for what feels like a year and price dropped to $160 from $175 so I went for it. The label is a bit lacking - KY straight bourbon but no age statement. Rumored to be a blend of KY 12y (18% rye) and KY 5 1/2y (12% rye) bourbons. Distillery not disclosed. Unclear when the blend is married but the whiskeys undergo Franken-barreling using toasted staves and either alternating #2 or #4 staves from Kelvin cooperage. Sounds like the whiskey is blended, aged an additional 5 months in one of the two Franken-barrels and then remarried somehow. Bottle #2598 of 2700 bottles and 57.8 proof (115.5). Non-chilled filtered. Nice medium amber color. Pop -> vanilla bomb. Oak char and spearmint follow. Cherry juice, pink pencil eraser shavings, pound cake all come around. Deep within the glass is a whiff of ethanol. Cool on entry and then a building heat and tingling spice wave toward before a thick, sweet finish sets in. The front is filled with campfire smoke, clove, cardamom and loads of vanilla. There is a thick mouthfeel with a mineral quality earthiness. I can’t quite nail it - something between black tea and blonde coffee. There’s a faint fruitcake note with stewed strawberries after several sips but the wood, earthiness and vanilla predominate. For the price? It hits some very good notes with the mouthfeel, char and mineral earthiness. There’s a satisfying balance between sweetness and char but I would like more. More what I can’t say exactly - perhaps raisin, tobacco and a few lighter fruit or fresh brown sugar flavors that are lost in the heaviness of it all. Admittedly I’m imaging a very good bourbon that may not exist. Expectations are often out of line with reality. If price wasn’t a factor I’d be very, very happy but not ecstatic about this one. Price factored in I’m still happy to pour this again and again but wouldn’t buy another. Perhaps next to an open campfire this would come alive, more data is needed before final verdict. ——————— After further data, I’m gonna nickname this one “Toasted Barton Barrel Strength” because frankly that’s what I believe it is. Second go I picked up that old brown banana ester more on the nose and palate that makes me think Barton, as well as their wealth of old stock and friendly approach toward NDPs. Better than the first pour, hopefully that trend continues.

So, I’m going in blind on this one and big thanks to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for taking the time to set this up and provide the sample. Let’s see how I do without knowing anything about this until after the taste. The nose starts with chocolate covered pecan caramel clusters then fruits of apple, fresh cut orange slices, and banana bread then spices of nutmeg, cloves, spearmint, leather and medium oak with a medium ethanol burn. The taste is a rich mouthfeel starting with chocolate covered pecan caramel clusters then fruits of apples, oranges, banana pudding followed by a medium spicy chipotle pepper that slowly fades away to reveal other spices of cloves, spearmint, leather and medium tannic oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with dark chocolate covered pecan clusters, apple, orange, banana runts, spearmint, leather and medium tannic oak. So this is definitely a bourbon with some age to it and high proof, that has all the traditional assortment of bourbon flavors with a creamy and rich mouthfeel but drifts to a spicy hot pepper note mid-palate that lingers for a little while before the other spices can come through that then finishes long with sweet notes and a medium oak spice. I have no idea what this is, it reminds me a lot of some of the Old Carter Single barrels or a Barton product with those banana notes, but those could just be in my head. Either way, it’s a very well done bourbon that I enjoyed each sip of and just need to prepare myself for that medium pepper note on the mid-palate to reap the reward of that long tasty finish. Perhaps if I put a little water in it, it would have toned down that spice kick, but I’m awful at that and usually end up ruining my drink. Anyways, time to open that piece of paper and find out what this bourbon treat is: Four Gate Split Stave. Wow, I’ve been curious about this one with the zebra casks they use to age these in and really grateful that @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington was generous enough to provide this sample as these appear really difficult to find.

Neat. Neck pour. The nose is very nice. More subtle than I was expecting but patience opened it up. This experiment with the barrels is so interesting. It feels like I am simultaneously smelling the different staves and the different ages. Deep Oak comes through accompanied by a brightness I associate with younger whiskey. That deep oak comes through as both charred and a hint of the marshmallow note I associated with toasted barrels. Caramels, vanilla, coconut, peanut shells, and berries are coming through hard now. The more time I spend with this the more the volume of all the flavors on the nose are turning up. I could go at this one all day. Super creamy and thick on the tongue. Ah damn, this a top notch way to start a Friday night. On the tongue, I get this whip cream and vanilla pudding sweetness. On the taste it shoots darker immediately. Peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow. Oak and a hint of cinnamon. It’s like making a s’mores with a peanut butter cup rather than just Hershey chocolate. The flavors last quite a while. The legs don’t bring additional flavors or change. It’s more like a song that tails off slowly turning down the volume. The peanut butter comes through more and more as time goes on. I’d even call it a creamy buckeye now. Such a good pour. I don’t recall a whiskey that I wanted to describe in such conflicting ways simultaneously. I just thought to myself “subtle flavor bomb.” How can a flavor bomb be subtle? Very nice job on this Four Gate.

Nose is bold but also a little bit restrained, which works for me here. It shows both characteristics of the different oak toasting. Gooey caramel, toasted marshmallow, and coconut from the lighter toast and tobacco, chocolate, and oaky spice from the darker char. Really beautiful stuff here. Palate is rich, creamy, and wonderfully mouth-coating. Lots of the same beautiful flavors from the nose show up here. Pronounced, deep caramel, s'mores, tobacco, and leathery oak. That tobacco and oak carry the finish that is a tad bit dry but very long lasting. What an awesome bourbon. Top marks for ingenuity, craftsmanship, and execution. I wouldn't change a thing about this bourbon. Perfection

So good… so good. Four Gate Whiskey Batch 4 – (Split Stave By Kelvin) carries a deep heavy complex profile that’s tasty and rich yet restrained and balanced. It’s not a wild whiskey but rather heavy and elegant. Water opens up some biscuity, cocoa powder and peanut notes on the Nose. On the Palate it opens up to more dark fruit and introduces some leather, citrus, nuts and hints of baked apples.