Four Roses Reveals Recipe For New Small Batch Select Bourbon

Earlier this year fans of Four Roses bourbon were thrilled to learn their favorite Kentucky bourbon distillery would be adding Small Batch Select as the first permanent edition to the core line up in 12 years. One key bit of information which was missing though was the recipe for this bottling, which is what has been revealed as of today.

Four Roses Small Batch Select, according to those behind it, was put together by Four Roses master distiller Brent Elliott. He hand-selected and mingled six of Four Roses’ 10 bourbon recipes, each aged a minimum of 6 years, to create this expression, which features the OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK and OESF variants.

“Small Batch Select includes six of our recipes and offers truly unique flavor characteristics from our current lineup of bourbons,” said Elliott in a prepared statement. “It’s all new, but at the same time, it’s an extension of what we do, and what we do well. Beyond the unique flavor profile, we wanted to give something to the consumer that they’re really looking for–a non-chill filtered, higher strength Bourbon–and that’s what they will experience with Four Roses Small Batch Select.”

As it stands now this new 104 proof expression is set to roll out to select retailers in Kentucky, New York, California, Texas and Georgia in the weeks following, and will be available in additional locations in the future. Very limited official tasting notes suggest this bourbon “balances notes of candied fruit with warmth and spice for a nuanced, mouth-coating flavor enjoyable to both casual drinkers and connoisseurs.”

It should be noted as well Small Batch Select releases as Four Roses celebrates the culmination of its $55 million expansion project. This undertaking, which began back in 2015, is said to have

invested $34 million into Four Roses’ Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ky., and $21 million at the Warehouse & Bottling Facility in Cox’s Creek, Ky. At the Distillery, Four Roses added two new buildings and equipment, including a new column and doubler still and more fermenters. With the duplicate column and doubler still, production capacity is scheduled to increase from 4 million to 8 million proof gallons, enough to fill more than 130,000 barrels a year. Louisville, Ky. based architecture firm Joseph & Joseph designed the original Distillery in 1910, and modeled the new buildings after the existing Spanish mission-style structures unique to Four Roses.

At the Warehouse & Bottling Facility, Four Roses built a new bottling facility, containing two bottling lines, including one specifically designed for Single Barrel and a high-speed bottling line, bottling support areas and office space. Warehouse X, the first of several new Four Roses warehouses to be built in the coming years, was completed in November 2018.

“It’s an exciting time at Four Roses and we are proud to celebrate the next step in our effort to provide even more Bourbon to our consumers, while maintaining a commitment to produce the same premium quality that defines the brand,” said Four Roses Chief Operating Officer Ryan Ashley. “We welcome and encourage you to make the trip to our Distillery in Lawrenceburg to experience our continued growth first-hand.”