Yellow Rose Outlaw Bourbon is one of those bottles that catches your eye before you even crack the seal. Coming out of Texas — a state that's been making serious noise in American whiskey over the past decade — this is a bourbon that leans into the outlaw spirit its name promises. At 46% ABV, it sits at that sweet spot above the legal minimum of 40% where you start getting real texture and body without needing to add water. No age statement here, which in the bourbon world is neither a red flag nor a gold star — it simply means the distillers are blending for flavour profile rather than chasing a number on the label.
What to Expect
Here's what I find interesting about Yellow Rose Outlaw: it's a bourbon built in a climate that forces maturation to move fast. Texas heat means wider temperature swings in the warehouse, which pushes spirit deeper into the barrel and pulls it back out with more intensity than you'd get from the same time spent ageing in, say, Kentucky. The result is a whiskey that punches above what you might expect from a NAS release. At 46%, it's bottled at a proof that tells me the producers want you to taste the full character of the spirit — not a watered-down version designed to offend nobody.
The "Outlaw" name isn't just marketing either. This bourbon uses a corn and rye mashbill approach that gives it an edge — expect warmth, a bit of spice backbone, and the kind of sweetness that comes from charred American oak doing its job properly. It's a bourbon that doesn't try to be smooth for the sake of smooth. It has opinions, and I respect that.
The Verdict
At £71.25, Yellow Rose Outlaw sits in a competitive bracket. You're paying a premium over your standard Buffalo Trace or Wild Turkey 101, and you need to know that going in. What you're getting for that price is something genuinely different — a Texas bourbon with its own identity that doesn't taste like it's trying to copy what's being made 1,200 miles north in Kentucky. Is it worth it? I think so. This is a well-constructed bourbon with enough character to hold your attention through the whole glass. I'd score it a 7.9 out of 10 — it's a confident, well-made whiskey that earns its place on the shelf, even if the price asks you to commit a little more than the everyday pours. The quality is there to back it up.
Best Served
This is an Old Fashioned bourbon if I've ever tasted one. That 46% ABV means it'll stand up to dilution from the ice and still carry weight through the sweetness of the sugar and the bitters. Two dashes of Angostura, a sugar cube, a fat orange peel — let the bourbon do the talking. If cocktails aren't your thing, a single large ice cube in a rocks glass will open this up beautifully without drowning it. I'd avoid drinking it as a shot — that would be a waste of a whiskey with this much going on.
