Four Roses Small Batch Select
Four Roses Small Batch Select
The bottle above was a gift from a friend for my birthday this last year. . Just a quick tip, make sure your friends know you like whiskey before your birthday and you might get some whiskey. Bourbon is a really easy gift for people to pick up and also a really unique gift to give to others. If you give your friend a bottle of bourbon for their birthday and they don’t like it, you might want to get some new friends.
Back to this bourbon. Four roses needs no introduction. Their reputation among Kentucky bourbon is top notch. Their list of awards and accolades speak volumes One great thing about Four Roses, is that they offer quite a variety of whiskies that showcase their wares to a wide variety of audiences from mixed drinks to neat, their whiskies really cover the gambit. Their standard offerings, are
Four Roses Bourbon (Yellow Label),
This Small Batch Select strays from the traditional Four Roses offerings, and in my opinion, It is nice to see a company like them deviate from their traditional product lines and experiment with their recipes.
The hang tag in the pictures tells the story of this bourbon, and Four Roses says the following on their website:
“Master Distiller Brent Elliott selected and mingled six of Four Roses’ 10 Bourbon recipes, each aged a minimum of 6 years, to handcraft Small Batch Select.”
Small Batch Select launched in Kentucky, New York, California, Texas and Georgia and will be making its way to other states very soon.
Our notes:
PROOF: 104
NOSE
Raspberries, clove, and nutmeg
PALATE
Apricot, berries, vanilla, and light oak
FINISH
Lingering spearmint, light touch of cinnamon
Cost (in Texas) $56.99
Final Verdict:
This is an incredibly unique bourbon, with a great taste profile and finish. I cracked this bottle open with my bother in law and we were both amazed at how smooth it is for the proof. It is a fantastic bourbon. If you have already had Four Roses other offerings (Single Barrel, Small Batch) and enjoyed them, then you will definitely want to grab one of these if you see it.
The Small Batch Select is a little pricey at $56.99. That is a bit of a premium, but still a great value considering that their are way worse whiskies for that pice (or higher). If $56.99 that is a little steep for you, I would recommend opting for the Four Roses Single Barrel. It is more widely available, checks in at 100 proof and is only $42. In my opinion, the Single Barrel is about as good of a bourbon that you can get for $42. Another way to look at it, is for the price of the Small Batch Select, you could get a bottle of Single Barrel and a Bottle Four Roses Yellow Label…….or you could just buy all three!