When it comes to buying a bottle of Four Roses, you have a ton of options. The distillery is famed for 10 distinct bourbon recipes (they don’t produce any rye). Those recipes create the backbones of their small batch and single barrel releases. But more importantly, those barrels of unique bourbon help create one of the most sought-after bourbon releases every single year — Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition.
Read our review of the 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019 vintages by clicking the dates.
Four Roses has gone through a true renaissance over the past decade or so. And that’s largely thanks to Master Distiller Brent Elliot taking the brand from a dismissed dive bar rail pour to one of the most delicious lines of bourbons coming out of Kentucky today. A big part of that transition from the ditch to international superstardom was the release of Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition — an unquestionably great whiskey.
But as with all “limited editions” in the bourbon world in 2024, it’s rare, hard to find, and often expensive when you do find one.
DETAILS ON THE RELEASE:
Four Roses “LE” is released once per year via a distillery-only lottery in September. In the weeks leading up to the release, Four Roses will run a lottery on their website for anyone to enter. Then the first week of September, they’ll announce winners (only 10,000 or so bottles are made) who’ll have the honor of going to the distillery to buy a bottle at MSRP at $199 per bottle.
After the lottery winners are announced, small allocations will go out to very elite bars and restaurants. And … that’s it. From there, you’ll start to see bottles pop up on the secondary retail market, auctions, and in whiskey groups for a much higher price than $200 (usually in the thousands per bottle).
So, set those alerts now. And good luck this summer!
