Death By Foursquare, Part II: 2008 v. Master Series v. Nobiliary v. Empery v. HV 2013 v. Hereditas

We're here to see whether, in fact (as the haters allege), all Foursquares are the same. No better way of testing that than jumping straight into the proverbial deep end of the pool. In the interest of separating out the great 'Squares from the merely good ones, what we've got here is a blind tasting of six high-end bottlings (including the 2008 I already did in Part I -    • Death By Foursquare, Part I: ECS 2008 v. 2...  ): we're leaving out Doorly's et al and we're leaving out the lower-proof offerings from the Exceptional Cask Selection series, just sticking with the firebombs with eye-popping prices. I myself have never explored anywhere north of the Vintage releases, and I'm admittedly guilty of pointing folks in their direction rather than to the still-pricier options (without actually knowing if they were worth it). Thus my goal is to find out what bottlings (or what cask regimens), if any, can do better. I want 90s and over. As a ringer, I'm also throwing in the 100% pot still 2yo that Velier put out a few years ago. Happily u/mikehooker1 was kind enough to trade me these samples and my wife was kind enough to do the work of pouring them: to intentionally mess me up, she kept them in almost - but not quite - the order I gave them to her (and it worked!). Mercifully I managed to finish all this in just over an hour. Stats: SAMPLE 1: Foursquare 2008 12-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XIII; ex-bourbon casks, 2008-4/2020; 60% ABV), 89/100 SAMPLE 2: Foursquare Master Series Edition No. 1 12-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Private Cask Selection for Total Wine; 3 casks, ex-bourbon and ex-sherry, bottled circa 2020; 62% ABV), 90+/100 SAMPLE 3: Foursquare Nobiliary 14-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XII; ex-bourbon casks, bottled 12/2019; 62% ABV), 89/100 SAMPLE 4: Foursquare Empery 14-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Exceptional Cask Selection Mark IX; ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, bottled 12/2018; 56% ABV), 90/100 SAMPLE 5: Foursquare 2013-2015 2-Year-Old Pure Single Rum (Habitation Velier; 100% pot distilled, aged in ex-cognac casks; 64% ABV), 86/100 SAMPLE 6: Foursquare Hereditas 14-Year-Old Single Blended Rum (Private Cask Selection for The Whisky Exchange; ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, bottled circa 2018; 56% ABV), 89+/100 Not my finest day as a blind taster, but I could have done worse! The second half went pretty well: I picked out the Velier (which is good fun, but not at the level of the rest of these) and the two 14yo sherry-influenced twins. With the first half, though, the leafiness of the 2008 actually had me thinking that it too was sherry--matured, while the Nobiliary was doing a more traditional "rumsky" thing that made me pick it as the 2008. Meanwhile the sherry-matured Total Wine pick was happily presenting itself as the best bottle of modern, BTAC-style bourbon that I've ever had. Lessons learned? Well, the pot still bottlings to come may not be quite as great as we all hope (although they'll be very good). Also, you can indeed do better than the vintage bottlings, albeit not by much (and, e.g., I wouldn't spend the extra money on the Nobiliary). And lastly, dang but Foursquare seems to like ex-Oloroso casks. The Hereditas and Empery are doing terrific riffs on Aberlour and Mortlach for a start, while literally every bourbon drinker alive needs to try some of this Master Series. Does it hurt my soul that the best Foursquare I've had is so dang Pappy-like? A little. Do I wish I lived near a Total Wine? Yes, yes I do.