Four Roses 130th Anniversary Small Batch Bourbon Review

By Randall H. Borkus

Rating: A

According to Four Roses lore, in 1884 Paul Jones Jr., a successful whiskey distiller and ex-Confederate army officer, was enamored with a Southern belle beauty. Jones sent his beloved a handwritten proposal of marriage prior to escorting her to a grand ball. She playfully replied that if her answer were to be “yes,” a rose filled corsage would adorn her outfit, and she appeared at the grand ball with a corsage adorned with four red roses. In honor of this seminal moment in his love life, Jones trademarked one of his most popular bourbons as Four Roses in 1888.

Another tale is that following the Civil War, Jones worked for a Georgia distiller named Rufus Mathewson Rose and other Rose family members. Jones, who by some accounts was a lifelong bachelor, took it upon himself to open a distillery in Louisville, Kentucky on the famed “Whiskey Row” many years later. Thus Jones named his new bourbon to honor the Rose family members.

Wee don’t really know, however Four Roses historian Al Young tells an account that Jones’ nephew, Lawrence LaValle Jones, was the driving force behind the brand. Interestingly, Four Roses was one of just six distilleries that remained legally licensed to distill bourbon for “Medicinal Purposes Only” during Prohibition.

To celebrate Four Roses 130th anniversary in 2018, Master Distiller Brent Elliott has created a superb limited-edition whiskey. The Four Roses 2018 130th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch bourbon was created by utilizing four of their ten distinct mash bill recipes while incorporating a 10-year-old OBSV (30%), a 13-year-old OBSF recipe (40%), a 14-year-old OESV (20%) and a 16-year-old OESK (10%).

Approximately 13,140 individually hand-numbered bottles of the 130th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon will be available. The whiskey is bottled at barrel strength of 54.2% ABV (108.4 Proof).

The Bourbon
The whiskey color is a deep reddish-gold amber, showing off oily legs clinging to the inside of my Glencairn glass. The nose is remarkably balanced, with aromas of rich over-ripe fruity crème brûlée, mingled with vanilla and soft hints of oak.

The mouth feel is warm and mellow. The whiskey greets my palate with sweet apricot and dried pear flavors, then opens further with a hint of ginger-mint slushy, cinnamon spice and dried green apples encased in an oily flavor coating. The finish is delightfully warm in the back of my throat with lingering notes of dried apricot, green apple and dried pears weaved into a vanilla-spearmint-cinnamon fusion.

I fully expected this to be something special, but I must say that this whiskey experience forces me to request a second pour, preferable a four-ounce second pour should I be so lucky. The Four Roses 130th Anniversary Small Batch is sophisticated, truly elegant and smooth with one of the most complex flavor profiles I had the pleasure to imbibe.

The Price
The suggested retail price is $140 a bottle but I’m already seeing it fetch $300-$400 a bottle on the secondary market.