Four Roses Is Releasing a New Chestnut Barrel-Finished Bourbon

Up until this year, Four Roses had never released a cask-finished bourbon before. That all changed, however, with the launch of the Experimental Series, which has included two expressions to date. Today the news arrived that the third bourbon in this series was finished in chestnut barrels, an uncommon but not unheard of wood in the world of whiskey maturation. We were able to try a sample, and it is indeed very good.

Four Roses is unique among bourbon distilleries for its use of 10 distinct recipes, which are made from two mashbills and five different yeast strains (the distillery recently added some new mashbills to the mix, but that whiskey won’t be mature enough to use for a few more years). All 10 recipes are used in the core bourbon, while just a few are used for the Small Batch expressions, and only one, of course, for the Single Barrel releases. The Experimental Series has included a few of the distillery’s 10 recipes so for: the first, the mizunara finish, was made from the OBSK recipe; the second honey cask-finish from the OESQ and OBSK recipes; and the new chestnut finish goes back to the OBSK recipe. If you’re unfamiliar with these codes, the letters refer to the Four Roses distillery (O), specific mashbill (B is high rye), straight bourbon (S), and yeast strain (K).

Experimental Series No. 003: Chestnut started out as 6-year-old OBSK bourbon, which was then put into 250-liter chestnut barrels made from Japanese wood that were toasted and charred to different levels for a period of five to 11 weeks. The final whiskey was bottled at 104 proof. As mentioned earlier, chestnut is not very commonly used in whiskey, but there are some notable examples—the most of which is the new Midleton Very Rare Rare Wood Collection, the first Irish whiskey to be finished in sweet chestnut barrels.

“To me, what makes this release so interesting is how chestnut wood can enhance and highlight the flavors of a bourbon,” said master distiller Brent Elliott in a statement. “We explored a number of different wood types in our initial trials, and chestnut stood out for the unique character it brought to the spirit. The OBSK recipe had the complexity and spice we were looking for to complement those flavors, creating a bourbon that feels familiar in its foundation but offers new, distinct flavors in the glass.”

I was able to sample this bourbon at the distillery last spring, and it really stood out to me as having the most rye-like character of the Experimental Series, with dry, tannic spice flavors that complement notes of vanilla, green apple, brown sugar, and maple candy on the palate.

Four Roses Experimental Series No. 003: Chestnut is available in 375 ml bottles (SRP $55) that you can find at the distillery starting November 20 while supplies last.