Oak & Eden 4 Grain & Spire - Torched Oak

My exploration of the Oak and Eden lineup continues… Nose features burnt firewood, orange peel, vanilla, and a minty note reminiscent of toothpaste. Strong enough given the proof but too odd to be considered “inviting”. Palate contains orange zest, some toasted caramel, butterscotch, and toffee, and is by far the best part of this bourbon. Apparently there is wheat in here to make up the fourth grain but you’d never know it, as the flavors are pretty jagged. Doesn’t contain much of a mid-palate and basically races to the finish. Finish is quite short, with astringent oak, smoke, and the medicinal toothpaste note found in the nose. Not stellar. Mouthfeel is sharp and “sandpapery”. I don’t know if that’s a word, but it is now. Overall, it looks like the “torched oak spiral” just cannot overcome the obvious youth of this whiskey. Man if I had to guess I’d say this is 2 years old. Some of the Oak and Eden line has been a pleasant surprise; not so this one. At $54, it’s so far from a rebuy as to be considered laughable. I’ve had better whiskey in the $20 price range. Hard avoid.

Really rich bold profile, I like this 4 grain mash a lot. It really needs about 2-4 years more aging to turn this into a top shelf bourbon whiskey but for what it is, a sugars forward dram, they did well. I get a bit of toasted or burnt butterscotch and certainly dry molasses, the bit-o-honey wheat sugar notes are dark and subdued, it's a much hardier rich sugar middle style of bourbon. I wish more startups and established distillers alike would try this, I know the new J.D. 4 grain(rye) is in this category, and it's excellent btw. I find this spiral cut barrel inset a bit gimmicky but nothing really to complain about, the idea it's going to actually help "age" this liquor in the bottle is a stretch Gumby wouldn't try to make. With their large number of finishes, Oak and Eden seems to be throwing everything at the wall to see what works and with the 4 grain addition they found something. Cheers!

B02/100. The first few drams of this bottle I was ok with, but not impressed. Sticking to my rule of making it halfway through before judgement, it has grown into a great whiskey, if just a bit to sweet for my normal taste. Nose is beautiful and sweet. Lots of darker floral and sugary notes with cinnamon and spice woven in. It does have some ethanol heat though, it's just that the notes are much stronger. Palate is a dessert. Sweet burnt caramel and cinnamon from start to finish. Some depth in the long finish with dried fruits and spices forward. The extra oak is hiding right between the notes and gets stronger towards the finish. Overall it's a great experiment and worth a try. I don't usually like sweet whiskeys but this was great. A touch of water turns into a toasted marshmallow.... definitely a dessert whisky!

Part of a virtual tasting with Oak & Eden Wood: American Oak Infusion: No Fire: Heavy Nose - Toffee, hot gingerbread cookie, clove, allspice, light black pepper, light dill, molasses, flamed orange peel, medium oak, and light ethanol. Palate - Gingerbread, almond bread pudding, molasses, clove, cinnamon stick, and oak extract. Finish is medium with dry molasses, dry baking spices, saturated oak sugars, and light ethanol. This is the closest to a rich double barreled bourbon of the tasting, but maybe a little too much toffee and oak for an every day sipper. I like it a lot, but wouldn't pour multiple in a night.

Nose is caramel, apple, sugar. Nose is fantastic. Body is like water. I really don’t get much of anything. Vanilla maybe? Lemon? Finish is really where the wood spike finishing hits. Extremely oaky aftertaste. Genuinely hard to handle that level of oakiness. It’s bitter. There’s chocolate. Bit of cinnamon.

Very good. Can’t identify the dominant flavor. Not as sweet as the “bourbon & spire”, but still smooth. Little spicy at the end.