Four Roses Single Barrel
Kirin Brewery Company (Four Roses Distillery, est. 1888) · Four Roses Distillery, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Four Roses Single Barrel is the product of the most obsessive production system in bourbon. While every other distillery works from a single mash bill and a single yeast strain, Four Roses developed two distinct mash bills and five proprietary yeast strains — creating ten unique recipes, each with its own flavor fingerprint. The standard Single Barrel uses recipe OBSV: the high-rye mash bill (35% rye — among the highest in Kentucky) paired with the V yeast strain, which contributes delicate fruit and cream. At 100 proof, it has the structure to showcase every layer of that complexity. The result is a bourbon that tastes like it was engineered by someone who couldn’t stop asking “what if?” — because it was.
Kit Aromas
Nose
Ripe plum, maraschino cherry, brown sugar, vanilla bean, toasted rye bread, and a floral lift that’s unmistakably Four Roses.
Palate
Full and layered — caramel apple, baking spice, rye pepper, cocoa dusted berries, maple, and a creamy mid-palate sweetness balanced by assertive rye structure.
Finish
Long and complex with lingering cinnamon, dried fruit, oak tannin, and a dry spice that slowly fades into warm caramel.
- Mash Bill
- 60% Corn / 35% Rye / 5% Malted Barley (Recipe OBSV)
Cocktail Suggestion
Cocktail — The Ten-Recipe Old Fashioned: 2 oz Four Roses Single Barrel · 1 bar spoon demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · 1 dash orange bitters. Stir with ice 30 seconds, strain over a large cube. Garnish with an expressed orange peel. The 100-proof backbone and rye spice make this an Old Fashioned that needs nothing else.
Food Pairing
Pair with: Pecan-crusted pork chops with apple chutney. The bourbon’s fruit-forward profile and rye spice mirror the pecan crust, while the caramel sweetness plays against the tart chutney.
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