If you’re a bourbon fan, both the Four Roses Small Batch Select and Single Barrel expressions are worth your consideration. Both of these bourbons provide exceptional flavour profiles that can be appreciated by any level of connoisseur! While each one offers an enjoyable drinking experience on its own, they offer something distinct – making them great choices for those looking to broaden their bourbon taste experiences. In this article, we’ll compare and contrast Four Roses Single Barrel vs Four Roses Small Batch Select to help you decide which one is the best fit for you. Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon uses a high-rye mash bill (35%) and is aged for 7 to 9 years in a single barrel. First released in 1988, it’s one of the oldest bourbons available on the market today and a favourite among bourbon connoisseurs. Furthermore, its unique flavour notes are enhanced by only using one of Four Roses’ carefully selected yeast strands during production. Combining the two mashbills with these 5 yeast strains results in their 10 bourbon recipes. Recipes 1-5 use Mashbill B and recipes 6-10 use Mashbill E. See a screenshot of all 10 of the Four Roses recipes in the diagrams below. During the 1950s, Seagram’s made a strategic decision to end the distribution of Four Roses whiskey in the United States due to diminishing interest in this type of spirit. Surprisingly enough, despite waning popularity domestically – other countries such as Japan continued strong demand for Four Roses bourbon.

Small Batch: A subjective term signaling a bourbon made using a select number of barrels or recipes in a blended bottling.That’s why Small Batch should be a required pour for any new whiskey drinker looking to go deeper and farther into their journey with bourbon. –> Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon Rating Breakdown For a truly tantalizing pairing, try the Single Barrel whisky with smoked meats. The smokiness of both elements perfectly combine and will make your taste buds sing. From succulent brisket to juicy pork ribs or even fragrant smoked salmon – it’s sure to be a hit at any dinner table. In 2013 (the 125th Anniversary Release), the bottle count effectively doubled from an average of 4,000 bottles to 8,000 bottles. It then jumped to over 12,000 bottles the following year and has been climbing ever since (with the exception of 2016 where it inexplicably dipped to 9,258 bottles).

On the palate, its full-bodied texture is nothing short of smooth. Vanilla, cocoa and honey notes dominate the flavour profile while a gentle smokiness and subtle cinnamon hint leave an unforgettable impression. The finish trails long with sweetness that lingers in warmth; aromas and flavours collaborate to offer a complex indulgence. As caramel sweetens delicately against oak’s smoky spice & cinnamon tang, you’re presented with a pleasing, lingering aftertaste. Spice! Oak, complex dark sweets, dried dark fruit, leather, nuts, vanilla and bits of alkaline bitterness/metallic notes. Today we finally fix that with a formal review of Four Roses Small Batch. This is a blend of four of the distillery’s ten recipes — OBSK, OESK, OBSO, and OESO — and it carries no formal age statement, though I’ve read it reported that Small Batch is at least 4 years old. Master distiller Brent Elliott has also been quoted as saying there’s nothing under 6 years of age in the blend. Bourbon, the Great American Spirit, is not as simple as one might think. Despite the increasing demand (and price) for much-hyped bottles, bourbon is an every-person drink. At the end of the day, it's a blue-collar spirit, made by thirsty farmers, for thirsty farmers. But underneath its fundamentals swims a deep sea of factors — additional rules and regulations, hype machines and deceptive marketing, false myths and a boom that began in 2008 and is still going strong today — that make bourbon more complex than it seems. But I can’t help but note small traces of ethanol that remain after the sip has gone. Once again, at such a low proof it’s not really a distraction, but it’s worth noting. Score: 6/10

Four Roses Small Batch Details

Sweetness comes by way of wildflower honey and toffee (where was the honey on the palate?). Yes, some dry tannic notes remain like dry oak and leather, but they’re very well contained. This finish lasts for days Score: 9.5/10 Sour Mash: A fermentation technique used by almost all bourbon distillers that employs pre-fermented mash from a previous distilling in a new mash. The sour mash prevents wild yeast from entering the mash and causing infections. How a distillery defines small batch is less important than how the whiskey tastes. In the case of the Four Roses Small Batch it tastes great just like the rest of their products. Overall it’s a tremendously tasty and reliable release from a distillery that can seemingly do no wrong right now. Rich with caramel and rye the combination of sweet and spicy is enchanting and delectable. Four Roses Small Batch is made with an average of 250 barrels per batch with a combination of four recipes (two different mashbills with two different yeasts in each). The bourbons blended are anywhere from 6-8 years old.