Mister Sam Tribute Whiskey (Batch 4, 2025) Review

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If you’ve ready my previous reviews, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Mister Sam. In fact, if there is one whiskey in the world that I think is consistently the best expression of what whiskey can be, it’s probably what’s inside this bottle.

If you want more of a backstory on how Mister Sam came to be, you can read my previous three reviews where I go into detail on how Sazerac basically gave Drew Mayville (Buffalo Trace’s Master Blender) the keys to every warehouse in their portfolio and said “make something good.” And if you want to know why there is no “Bourbon” designation on this bottle, it’s because this is a blend of (likely) bourbon, rye whiskey, wheated bourbon and Canadian Whisky. Production is limited and press release info is scarce, so most people don’t even know this sort of thing exists.

What’s different with Mister Sam Batch 4?

The only bits of new information I’m bringing to this review that I didn’t know before have been gleaned by my good friend Matt Schniper over at sidedishschniper.com. He conducted an interview with Drew when he came out to a whiskey tasting event at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs back in the fall of 2023. At that point, only three Mister Sam batches had been released. Drew informed Matt that he had a team that was currently sorting through the final barrels to make the blend for the fourth batch. He said the release would be imminent and that future batches would be released annually.

It turned out that none of that ended up being true. Not only was Batch 4 not seen for another 18 months, but there has not been any indication that Sazerac plans on sticking with a yearly release. And one more thing I noticed is that when Mister Sam does release, it feels like it takes 9-12 months to get distributed to every state that qualifies to get one. I guess what I’m trying to say is that whenever Batch 5 gets released, it’s going to be on whatever timeline that Sazerac feels like and if you see it come out in an adjacent state but yours didn’t get any, you should probably be patient because they are extremely slow to push it out.

Matt also got Drew to admit the barrels that typically make a batch of Mister Sam are between 15 and 18 years old. That’s a tidbit that I’ve never heard reported anywhere else but have long suspected. To put it succinctly, I think that the contents of Mister Sam are nothing more than BTAC-level quality barrels along with the best Canadian Whisky money can buy. Just my theory, though!

So how does Batch 4 taste? Does it keep up with the other releases? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Putting words to how incredible the nose is on this bottle is hard to do. It seems to have every major whiskey nosing scent that I’ve experienced (in some capacity). So I’m just going to have to pick out the ones that stand out the most. For starters, I can smell the scent of hot cinnamon candies (without the heat), chocolate-covered strawberries and Grade B maple syrup (is this the Canadian Whisky talking?). There are notes of toasted blood orange rind, butterscotch candies and marshmallows. Following in the realm of butterscotch candies is salted caramel scents as well. I find the dense red fruit note of plums along with a more rye-forward note of pine tree sap. The tannins smell equal parts old and rich with seasoned oak, unlit pipe tobacco and some shoe leather.

Palate: For the age of the barrels, I’m a little surprised I’m not really finding the varnish note that I love. It seems like it’s there, but it’s not as robust as previous batches. That’s okay though, because there is enough oak, leather and tobacco notes to keep me entertained. It just seems like the varnish note would give it that oxidized maturity that a bottle of this magnitude deserves. Moving on, I find spice notes of cinnamon candies, clove, allspice and chili powder. The 131+ proof points don’t hit you like it’s that much. I find this to taste along the lines of 120 proof – a testament to the age and selection of these barrels. For fruit notes, the rye content must be doing it’s thing with fruit notes like citrus zest (tangelo?), strawberries, currants and honey’d figs. I find two kinds of chocolate in the form of baker’s chocolate and dark chocolate – surely this is a result of the wheated bourbon.

Finish: A finish that lasts this long proves that God exists and that he loves us, haha. But for real, this is another amazing experience that only cements what a complete experience this is. Fruit notes of figs, cherry juice and dried cranberries lead the way and then move to the right lane to let the tannins pass. I find tremendous oak, leather, cigar wrapper and chocolate notes. All wonderful in their own way. Oddly, I pick up on a bit of pralined pecans which is nice, but kind of unexpected seeing as how I don’t typically get nutty flavors from any Sazerac distillery product.

Score: 9.5/10

Don’t look at the score and think to yourself that Mister Sam Batch 4 is a failure because it didn’t get a perfect 10 like two of the other three batches, think of it as keeping up with the high quality that this name has represented since 2018 and being off from perfection by just a smidge. It’s true, I have the tiniest nit to pick with this batch that made me deduct a half a point – and it’s that for all the more age the barrels had in them, I felt like that perfectly mature note – varnish – was not as plentiful as previous batches. The flavors could not have been any more layered and diverse, but I thought that the final bit of wood varnish would have been the cherry on top.

Final Thoughts

I have been hounded by many people who have asked my thoughts on this batch for more than 6 months now because they want to know how it stacks up to its predecessors. I feel like they’re missing the point. To experience a bottle of Mister Sam is the one thing I tell everyone they must do in their journey through bourbon and American whiskey. It’s simply a force of nature that hasn’t been replicated by anyone else in the scene and it doesn’t need to be compared to any of its previous versions. If you can get it for retail – $250 – then don’t even hesitate. With that being said, I guess my preference for ranking them would be in the order that they were released: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

I purchased this bottle on the secondary market for an eye-watering $1100 and to me, it was worth every penny. I also got a speeding ticket on my way to get it, so I guess I paid more than that. And the reason I got this bottle was because I wanted to share it with all of the guests that attended my 1,000th review party that I held back in November. This bottle was a hit and made me proud to be able to share it with my friends who have helped me out along the way. I can’t wait to experience Batch 5.