Four Roses Unveils 135th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon, a Blend Featuring the Oldest Whiskey in the Distillery’s History

(Photo: Four Roses)

On Tuesday, Kentucky bourbon producer Four Roses announced the release of its 135th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon — and the blend includes a 25-year-old component, which is the oldest bourbon Four Roses has used in its 135-year history, a representative for the brand confirmed to Whiskey Raiders.

The well-aged spirit is bottled at 108 proof and will launch Sept. 15. This release will be the 16th in Four Roses’ annual series of limited-edition, barrel-proof bourbons.

“This release celebrates 135 years of meticulously crafted, high quality bourbon, and I’m excited to hear what our devoted consumers have to say about it,” Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliott said in a news release. “In crafting this blend, I wanted to create an elegant bourbon worthy of the brand’s heritage. Each of the 12-, 14-, and 16-year-old batches possess individual characteristics that complement each other perfectly. Once the ideal balance of these three batches was achieved, I looked at several other batches of various ages and recipes to add an extra layer of nuance to the blend. Ultimately I selected the 25-year-old OBSV, which melds perfectly with the other batches and adds additional complexity and depth.”

Four Roses famously crafts its bourbons from 10 recipes, which are each made from a different combination of the distillery’s two mashbills and five yeast strains.

This year’s blend is composed of the following Four Roses bourbon stocks:

• 35% 12-year-old OESV
• 40% 14-year-old OESK
• 20% 16-year-old OESV
• 5% 25-year-old OBSV

The recipes are identified by four-letter names. They all start with “O,” which represents that they were distilled at the Four Roses Distillery. The second letter is either “B” or “E.” These two letters correspond to the distillery’s two mashbills. “B” is 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley, while “E” is 75% corn, 20% rye and 5% malted barley. The third letter is always “S,” which stands for Straight Distillation — an indicator that an American whiskey has been aged at least two years in new charred oak barrels. The final letter indicates which of Four Roses’ five yeast strains the whiskey was made with: V (which the brand describes as imparting notes of delicate fruit), K (slight spice), O (rich fruit, Q (floral essence or F (herbal notes).

All barrels used in the blend come from either the first, second or third tier of Four Roses’ rickhouses, the brand said during a live tasting Monday.

“This is the thing I enjoy most every year,” Elliott said of crafting the annual Limited Edition Small Batch release during the tasting.

The use of 25-year-old bourbon in the blend is notable. While that level of age statement may not be all too rare in the world of scotch, it’s exceedingly uncommon for bourbon to be aged so long. Too much oak can be a curse for a bourbon, lending it harsh, astringent tannin. For this reason, using such heavily aged whiskey for only 5% of the blend.

Blended from 186 barrels, about 15,060 hand-numbered bottles of 135th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch will be available at a suggested retail price of $199.99. Beyond the bottles available at select retailers, Four Roses will offer a limited quantity for sale at the Four Roses Distillery Visitor Center through a public lottery draw. The lottery will be determined by random draw and can be entered here from Tuesday through Aug. 28.

Whiskey Raiders Tastes Four Roses 135th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon

You can find Whiskey Raiders Chief Spirits Critic Jay West’s official review of this bourbon here and watch him unbox and taste it for the first time in the video below.

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