Laws Four Grain Straight Bourbon

Nose - brown sugar, honey, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Shredded Wheat, oat, vanilla cream, cherry, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, toasted almond, candied pecan, mint, noticeable ethanol burn. Taste - vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, marshmallow, almond, rye spice, wheat, clove, spearmint, allspice, honey, chili pepper, cherry, strong alcohol bite, finishing briefly with brown sugar, mint, and rye spice notes. So I thought I'd return to normalcy after tasting Taliskers, Laphroigs, and Colonel Taylors. Truly, one needs to encounter the worst to better appreciate the best. This isn't quite the worst, but it's within my usual range of average. I got a Laws sampler pack some time ago and finally decided to try them. The pack has four small bottles: this four-grain bourbon, a rye, a wheat whiskey, and a malt whiskey. I'll review the others this week. The aroma was unexpectedly pleasing. It immediately reminds me of childhood breakfasts with big bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios. Toasted and sugared nuts join in, with vanilla and brown sugar. A hint of mint is in the background, likely indicating the rye in the grain bill. For a young bourbon, I'm cautiously hopeful. However, the taste changes things. It's quite clear this is barely two years old. The initial taste isn't terrible, though a bit warm, with brown sugar, vanilla, baking spices, and a touch of minty cherry right away. But the character really declines as it develops. The pleasant flavors vanish quickly, unfortunately replaced by a sharp, young tartness. The end is completely forgettable, and I won't elaborate further. Get the sampler pack or order it at a bar, if you feel you have to. The $75 cost for this is appalling. Don't encourage this nonsense.

The nose begins with hairspray and black shoe polish, followed by slightly browned apple slices, faint cereal notes that shift to nutmeg, roasted chestnuts, and damp bandages, with a slight ethanol burn. The taste presents a thin mouthfeel, starting with that hairspray and shoe polish mixture, then progressing to Apple Jacks cereal, followed by a medium spice that fades into burnt chestnuts and used bandages, with a moderate ethanol burn. The finish is short, featuring bitter melon, rubber tire mulch, clay soil, and damp bandages. This is simply bitter with light fruit and cereal on the nose and mid-palate, but the finish is dominated by earthy clay, bitter melon, and bandages just removed from a swimming pool. Compared to the Henry Road Malt and Centennial Wheat, this is the least appealing of the three and makes some of my 3-rated whiskeys seem like 5-star treasures. I am uncertain how it received an 82 rating or how it would meet any significant criteria. To provide further context, Icelandic whiskey, essentially sheep droppings, ice, and wool with some malt, is quite frankly a world-class dram compared to this offering. A sincere thank you to the individual who provided the sample.

Tasting this neat, from a 100ml mini-bottle purchased for $10 in Colorado. The nose is sweet grain, floral, and like cotton candy. The color is golden brown, with thin legs. In the mouth, there's an immediate saccharine sweetness, then vanilla, followed by oak, spice, and an ethanol bite, then licorice. The mouthfeel is thin. The finish transitions from licorice and dry oak into a light sourness and grassy rye. Adding ice cools it down and reduces the sweetness, perhaps providing the blending that this bourbon seems to lack when sipped straight. Two to three years seems too short for aging this wheated mash bill. It feels unrefined and unbalanced – too sweet, too spicy, too much licorice/sour, all at once. There's no integration or flow. If you're seeking a simple bourbon flavor profile, this isn't it. And at Laws Bourbon's price points of $80-90... that's a difficult justification. I feel better about spending $10 for the 100ml taster. However, it is interesting.

An elegant, grain-to-glass Straight Bourbon Whiskey from Laws Whiskey House in Denver, Colorado. It's made with a mash bill of 60% corn, 20% heirloom wheat, 10% heirloom rye & 10% heirloom malted barley. Aged for 3 years in new 53-gallon charred oak barrels, then bottled at 47.5% ABV. The aroma presents grain, fruits, flowers, wood, herbs & spices. The rich palate offers orange blossom, Pekoe tea, honey, cracked pepper, orange marmalade, cinnamon & flan. It finishes warm & dry with medium length, showing notes of oak tannins, sweet tobacco & rye spice. April 2023

Bright, shiny, cherry candy with a touch of mustiness that leans more towards greenness and bread crust, plus some mint. The nose carries a lot of wood, but it's more like raw lumber than barrel char. The taste starts with a dry, dusty cherry before bourbon barrel spices emerge. It remains somewhat bready, particularly reminiscent of the crust of a soft honey wheat loaf. Ultimately, the best taste comparison is an unglazed cherry-filled kolache. It's quite good, without any jarring flavor notes. A solid bourbon, although I prefer more unconventional flavors, and it doesn't particularly stand out.

This isn't the taste of a traditional KY bourbon. It's a bit less polished, but I really enjoyed it since I like exploring different kinds and variations of bourbons and whiskies. I appreciated the grain and sweet cereal character, along with a sweet, though "warm," finish. If you enjoy variety in your collection, this is a great change of pace if you're open to it.