I’d like to thank Four Roses and their PR team for sending this sample with no strings attached.
It’s that time of year again when we look forward to bourbon that most of us will never taste. It’s the annual Autumn Release Season, when Kentucky distilleries put out products designed to get people talking about their brand. Though many of us have salivated at the thought of trying these releases, everyone involved knows they’re primarily marketing tools. You hear glowing reviews from folks like me, can’t find a bottle, and maybe you’ll pick up one of the brand’s standard offerings instead.
Honestly, I’m sure that’s still the rationale. But more and more, I’m hearing people scoff at the price rather than salivate over the opportunity. For example, I bought my first two bottles of the 2009 edition of Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch in 2011 for $80 each. They sat on shelves that long. In fact, the first bottle I picked up was at a bourbon tasting hosted by a local distributor trying to clear out the inventory so they could make room for that year’s release.
In the years since—and noting that $80 was the retail price in my area, which tends to be higher than MSRP due to local taxes—the price of the release has jumped an eye-popping 311%. If it had only kept pace with inflation, that $80 would be $117.35 today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator. At $249 per bottle, I can see why people are scoffing. In fact, I got this comment on last year’s review that sums up what I’ve been hearing perfectly (edited slightly for clarity):
I last purchased Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition in 2014 for $75.00. It became harder to find, and once the price exceeded 125? I tapped out. I would enter the yearly Mellow Moments Club raffles mostly for fun, and if I happened to get picked? Good excuse for a quick trip to KY LOL!! These days, the prices are so out of whack (Four Roses certainly wasn’t losing money in ‘14 @75 bucks !!), I refuse to be gouged, and that’s what these prices are. This is no longer a cool release geared toward enthusiasts, but instead a pure profit and marketing gimmick aimed at flippers. I, too, am a Four Roses fanboy, but these days I’ll stick to the standard shelf releases (all excellent IMO) while the hoards swarm to Single Barrel Barrel Proof (an absurd $100 these days when Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is $75-$80) and the Limited Edition. I lament no longer seeking Single Barrel Barrel Proof as 10.5 years old is my personal sweet spot, and several recipes are all time favorites. I sincerely hope that at some point, many of these sit on shelves and rot as consumers wake up, and perhaps producers will restore sanity to at least the Single Barrel Barrel Proof pricing. Even with inflation, the Single Barrel Barrel Proof price should not exceed the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof price level in the current inflationary market. The gouging is simply unacceptable to this long-time Four Roses consumer.
In an era of distillery closings, bankruptcies, and industry layoffs, continuing to price your core customers out of the market doesn’t seem like the best strategy. And I know that if the folks actually making the whiskey had their say, they’d want everyone who wanted a bottle to get one. That’s one reason why this year’s release includes over 16,500 bottles for the U.S. market alone. In fact, Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliott addressed this during the media call Q&A. Here’s a transcription of his answer—with bracketed text showing my best guess of some garbled audio:
I don't really ever hear criticism, but maybe [there’s] a negative outlook for the future of the category. I try to stay positive. I mean, we're still, as a brand, we're growing out of [a category that’s] facing a lot of challenges. And whether those are, you know, is it cyclical? Is it economic? Is it [a] post-COVID wake-up call because that sort of artificially inflated everything? Is it all that? Is it a little bit of all these things? I don't know. But obviously, it's a more challenging environment than it was even three years ago. So I just tell everyone, don't worry. You know, we're not going anywhere. We're still going to be [here]. We're actually probably more energized and offering more unique expressions than ever before. So, you know, speaking from Four Rose's perspective, nothing but positivity, you know, no worries here.
At a time when more consumers are turning to non-alcoholic options or increasingly legal cannabis products, raising the price from $220 last year to $249 this year feels like quite a choice. But it is what it is. And though I can’t swing $250 a bottle, I know some of you can—so I’ll stop here and get to the review. Because at the end of the day, this is delicious bourbon, and I’m lucky my wife and I each got a taste. I know that’s a privilege many folks don’t have.
Before we jump into the tasting notes, let’s look at the details from the media call. This year’s release was built around two batches of 13-year-old bourbon, both using the V yeast (one OESV, one OBSV). Master Distiller Brent Elliott wanted to capture a bit of the “classic Four Roses flavor profile.” Famously, the flagship Four Roses Single Barrel uses that V yeast (and if you want to know more about that whole Four Roses yeast bit, check out last year’s review where I focused on that exclusively). The V strain typically brings notes of apricot, pear, and sweet barrel characteristics like vanilla. Building on that, the final blend also includes a 19-year-old OESV for added oak influence and a 13-year-old OBSK to bring in spice and depth. Here’s the final blend:
OBSV 13 year old = 38%
OBSK 13 year old= 37%
OESV 13 year old= 35%
OESV 19 year old= 10%
And now, after all of that, let’s see how it tastes, shall we?
Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch, 2025
Purchase Info: This 100 mL sample was provided at no cost by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $249 for a 750 mL bottle.
Price per Drink (50 mL): $16.60
Details: 54.5% ABV. A blend of 38% 13-year-old OBSV, 37% 13-year-old OBSK, 35% 13-year-old OESV, and 10% 19-year-old OESV.
Nose: Caramel, vanilla, stone fruit, JuicyFruit gum, herbal mint, and oak.
Mouth: Follows the nose with notes of stone fruit, herbal mint, JuicyFruit gum, cinnamon, caramel, allspice, and oak.
Finish: Medium in warmth and length. Notes of clove, allspice, cinnamon, and oak.
Thoughts: I’ve already covered my feelings about the price. And I’ve mentioned how tasty this is. But let’s dig a little deeper. When I think of Four Roses, I think of stone fruit and JuicyFruit gum—the flavor it had back in the '80s and '90s when I was a kid chewing it (not really sure if that has changed in the intervening years). This was built around those flavors, and it shows. Last year, I said the bourbon was good, but I wouldn’t have identified it as Four Roses by taste alone. This year? No question. It’s Four Roses through and through. It’s a really good bourbon. But if, like me, you can’t—or won’t—pay the premium, go grab a bottle of Single Barrel or Small Batch. They’ve never let me down.
And as a final word on price, Four Roses are not the only ones that are following what seems (to this consumer) to be a strange pricing strategy for the time we are living in, they all are. I fear that the industry I love will increasingly price the people who built it out of the market and that there won’t be a following group of consumers to pick up the slack so that we still get yummy bourbons into our old age. So I feel like I should mention that Four Roses is actually putting out some special releases that are more affordable. Their 100 proof Single Barrel Collection (Red Labels) is MSRP of $50 each, if you can find it and your retailer is able to sell it for that. I bought two in July while traveling in Chicago so I know they’re out there.
If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.