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Four Roses Original

malty spicy
3.3
(17)€31United States, Kentucky, Bourbon

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

Four Roses runs its Lawrenceburg distillery on ten bourbon recipes at once. Two mash bills, one heavy on rye, meet five proprietary yeast strains. Each strain pushes the spirit somewhere different, from delicate fruit to herbal notes. Original blends all ten back together. Its barrels rest in single-story warehouses at Cox's Creek, where temperature stays even between racks. In the glass, caramel and cinnamon come first. Then rye pepper and clove arrive, and the finish turns to lemon and cherry. This is a bourbon built by combination, not by one loud idea.

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3.3 /5

17 reviews

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About the distillery

Distillery

Four Roses

The Four Roses distillery, located in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, has a rich history of producing bourbon whiskies. Four Roses crafts their whiskies using a unique combination of two mash bills and five yeast strains, resulting in a variety of flavour profiles. Their whiskies often exhibit notes of caramel, vanilla, spice, and fruit, with a smooth and well-balanced finish. An interesting fact about Four Roses is that it was the only distillery allowed to continue producing bourbon for domestic consumption during the Prohibition era, making it a significant player in American whiskey history.

3.8Average rating

13Whiskies on Distilld

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Kentucky

Most popular whiskies from Four Roses

About the Four Roses Original

Four Roses Original is a Kentucky straight bourbon made in Lawrenceburg, in the United States. Ten separate bourbon recipes go into every bottle, blended into one spirit. Two mash bills supply the grain backbone. Five proprietary yeast strains, coded V, K, O, Q and F, supply the character. No other bourbon house works quite this way. The blend lands at 40% ABV with no added colouring. Mash bill B runs 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley. Mash bill E softens that to 75% corn and 20% rye. Both are cooked with limestone water drawn from the nearby Salt River. After a column still and a doubler, the spirit fills charred new oak barrels. Those barrels rest in single-story rack warehouses at Cox's Creek. Keeping every barrel on one level holds temperature swings to roughly eight degrees Fahrenheit. The nose leads with caramel and cream, then a dusting of cinnamon and vanilla. Green apple and peach sit just behind, with a clear floral lift. Rye wakes up on the tongue, bringing pepper, clove and soft banana. The finish turns brighter, carrying lemon, cherry and a thread of honey. Oak stays in the background rather than taking over. Nothing here shouts, yet plenty is happening at once. Other bottlings in the range work from a smaller selection of those ten recipes. Four Roses Original is the one that uses the full set. That is why it tastes balanced rather than pointed in a single direction. Each yeast strain contributes something the others cannot. The blend also keeps the price low for a bourbon with this much going on. Start here to understand what the distillery is actually doing.