Four Roses Goes in a New Direction With Japanese Oak-Finished Bourbon

(Photo: Four Roses)

Four Roses is entering unfamiliar territory.

On Tuesday, the Kentucky bourbon producer announced the launch of its Experimental Series, a limited-edition collection designed to explore maturation techniques, barrel finishes and production methods beyond the company’s traditional framework.

The inaugural release, Experimental Series No. 001, is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in Japanese Mizunara oak barrels.

Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001 will be released July 30 at the Four Roses Distillery Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The bourbon will be sold in 375-milliliter bottles with a suggested retail price of $55.

Four Roses is known for producing 10 distinct bourbon recipes by combining two mashbills with five proprietary yeast strains, focusing on recipe innovation rather than the cask-finishing techniques that have become increasingly common across the whiskey industry.

That makes Experimental Series No. 001 a notable departure for one of bourbon’s most tradition-minded producers.

“This series is an exciting new chapter for us,” Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliott said in a statement. “It allows us to take the craftsmanship that’s been at the heart of Four Roses and apply it in entirely new ways, experimenting with finishes and techniques that reveal dimensions of flavor our fans haven’t experienced before.”

Four Roses said it selected Mizunara oak, a rare Japanese oak species prized by whiskey makers, after extensive internal trials involving multiple recipes, yeast strains, toast and char combinations and other barrel specifications.

Elliott chose a 6-year-old OBSK bourbon recipe for the project. According to Four Roses, the recipe was selected for its ability to complement Mizunara’s signature spice characteristics while allowing sweeter and more nuanced flavors to emerge during finishing.

The distillery said its team monitored the barrels closely throughout the finishing process, sampling them frequently to determine the ideal maturation point before creating the final blend.

The packaging was designed to reflect the balance between tradition and experimentation, according to Four Roses. The front label draws inspiration from the Spanish Mission-style architecture of the Four Roses Distillery, while the reverse label features one of the company’s historic single-story rickhouses.

The release comes on the heels of the debut of Four Roses’ oldest release ever, a 21-year-old single-barrel bourbon released in early June.