Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon Review

The latest addition to the Four Roses core line, the Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon is a blend that’s all about the number six. Six different mashbills (OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK and OESF) all aged for at least 6 years (6-7). Bottled at 104 proof it’s non-chill filtered to give the biggest dose of flavor possible.

Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon

This whiskey differs from the original Four Roses Small Batch not just in proof and non-chill filtering, but in barrel selection as well. The original being a blend of four mash recipes: OBSO, OBSK, OESO and OESK – only half of which are used in this release. With that in mind, let’s see how different these whiskeys truly are in the bourbon review below.

Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon Review: Details and Tasting Notes

In Four Roses’ Words:

We wanted to add something to our lineup that brings that pure experience you get with a non-chill filtered Bourbon, while also showcasing some of our recipes and flavors that aren’t as forward facing in our other existing bottles.

The Details (price, mash bill, cask type, ABV, etc.) for this bourbon whiskey

Details (price, mash bill, cask type, ABV, etc.)

Region: Kentucky, USA

Distiller: Four Roses
Mash Bill: OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK, OESF
B = 60% Corn, 35% Rye, 5% Malted Barley
E = 75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: NAS (6+ years)
ABV: 52%

Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Price: $55

Tasting Notes

EYE
Ruddy caramel

NOSE
Spice! Oak, complex dark sweets, dried dark fruit, leather, nuts, vanilla and bits of alkaline bitterness/metallic notes.

PALATE
Spice! Oak, dark fruit, dark sweets, waxy cocoa, roasted nuts, dried corn and some minerally/metallic notes.

FINISH
Long -> Oak, spice, caramel, vanilla and candied citrus.

BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Great balance, round-full body and a warm oily feel.

balances a deep heavy profile with a soft refined elegance. This is the kind of whiskey that can do anything.

Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon Review: Overall and Score

If this wan’t a core release I’d want to bunker a case. The aroma pulls me right into a rickhouse with the oak and leather, but the spice and fruit bring me back to the glass; Palate is complex and interesting and gets more expressive as it opens both in the glass and in the bottle over time; Finish is an elegant fade that rolls out perfectly.

This is good enough to blow away some of the Four Roses Single Barrels I’ve had. Not all of them, but enough to mention it. I want to call the Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon a rollercoaster of a whiskey, but that’s not quite right. It is a bold spicy experience, but it’s also refined and there’s a delicateness to it. The more I drink it the more I like it… and I’m going to be drinking a lot of it.

SCORE: 89/100 (B+)

Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon Review