Which is the Best Four Roses Recipe?

Most distilleries have one or two different mash bills and their portfolio of bourbons are different iterations of those mash bills. The bourbons are bottled at different proofs, aged in certain warehouses or certain locations in the warehouses, some might be bottled in bond, toasted or double barreled. All of these factors affect bourbon and can drastically change the taste profiles from barrel to barrel.

Four Roses distillery is special because they use five yeast strains and two mash bills to make 10 unique recipes. Those 10 recipes can be bottled individually as Private Select Single Barrel Barrel Strength, standard 100 Proof Single Barrel (OBSV recipe only) or blended together to make Four Roses Bourbon, Four Roses Small Batch, Four Roses Small Batch Select or the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch.

If there are 10 different recipes to choose from, which one reigns supreme? There has to be one recipe that is better than the rest. As I touched on earlier there are so many factors that go into aging a bourbon and determining the final product, it might be hard to pick just one. Let’s try to analyze this and we will see what we can determine.

The Casual Bourbon Fan

First, let’s talk about the bourbon fans preference because without them none of this really matters. I have seen multiple polls on social media and this same question asked multiple times on many different forums. The consensus top two recipes are always OESO and OESV. Also, for what it’s worth, these two recipes normally command the highest secondary prices online. A lot can go into secondary prices as well but in general, these two are the most coveted. The E mash bill is popular because it had a higher percentage of corn leading to more sweetness. Both yeast strains used in these two recipes (O and V yeasts) also give nice fruit notes that are very attractive to bourbon fans.

Four Roses Distillery

Next let’s look at how the distillery uses their 10 recipes. All 10 recipes are blended into their standard Four Roses Bourbon. Four Roses Small Batch has around 70% OESK and OBSK mingled with 30% OESO and OBSO. Four Roses Small Batch Select blends six recipes together, OESF, OBSF, OESK, OBSK, OESV and OBSV. Four Roses Single Barrel 100 proof only uses OBSV. The recipes with the fewest barrels released to the Single Barrel program are normally OESO, OBSO and OBSK.

When it comes to the annual Four Roses Limited Edition, the most commonly used recipe is OESK (13 out of 15 years it has been used, not used in 2009 and 2014). Surprisingly the least common recipe used is OBSO, which has never been blended into the the Four Roses Limited Edition. Obviously the distillery is not going to pick a favorite, but just looking at their portfolio I think OESK is the most versatile and used the most. OESK blends very well with other recipes and ages well.

What is ChatGPT‘s Four Roses preference?

Next I decided, what the hell, lets ask ChatGPT. Artificial Intelligence has been talked about a lot recently and let’s see what it has to say. I asked the question, “Which of the 10 recipes of four roses bourbon is the best?”. The response, “The best recipe for you will depend on your personal taste preferences. It’s best to try different recipes to find which one you prefer, also you can ask for help from the experts at the distillery or the bartenders at your local bourbon bar to recommend one based on your preferences.” Which is actually a very good response. However, it also went on to talk about the OBSL and OESC recipes which don’t even exist, so what does artificial intelligence know anyway!

The Bourbon Enthusiast

Lastly, let’s talk about the preference of the hard core bourbon enthusiast. These are the guys that have tried every recipes from multiple single barrel selection. Honestly the overall opinion is that single barrels are all unique, one-of-a-kind experiences. Sure everybody has their own personal preferences but the enthusiast seek out special single barrels of all 10 recipes! In general though, I still think OESV and OESO are the most coveted.

Final Thoughts

Which is the best Four Roses recipe? The most used/versatile recipe is OESK and the fan favorites are OESO and OESV. I guess it comes down to what your definition of best is. In my opinion when we are talking best bourbon, I am going with which has the best nose, flavor and finish. While all of the recipes can be outstanding, some are more consistently home runs than others.

Pulling from my personal experience I prefer OESV. The higher amount of sweetness in the E mash bill, light fruit notes from the V yeast strain and creaminess of the mouthfeel are my favorite. Mix in some vanilla and caramel with the aging process and wow! If you have tried all 10 recipes which is your favorite? If you are still collecting all 10 recipes which have you tried so far?