Four Roses Small Batch Select

A quirk of history means Four Roses have 10 recipes at their disposal, by using five different yeasts and two different mashbills. The classic Small Batch uses all 10, while the single barrel we featured a couple of years ago used just one.

The truly excellent Small Batch Select, first released in 2022, utilises six: the catchily named OBSV, OESV, OBSK, OESK, OBSF, and OESF. O simply means made by Four Roses and S means straight bourbon. Then B denotes their high rye mashbill (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley), while E is high corn (75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley). Finally, different yeast strains contribute different flavours: V (light fruit), O (rich fruit), Q (floral), F (herbaceous), and K (spice). The focus here is on spice, with herbal and light fruit supporting.

If you only had room for one bottle of American whiskey in your drinks cupboard, then this rye-forward sippable non-chill filtered bourbon might just be the one!