Four Roses Barrel Strength Identification

[Parkersback]

Friends, I've been perusing various 4R threads and cannot find out how to ID their Barrel Strength offerings. Mainly I want to find out which recipe may be in which bottle, since some of the recipes seem to get more love here than others.

I'm not talking about the Mariage or the 120th or 40th or whatever: the bottles I'm looking at in my local store simply say, "Barrel Strength", and they also have handwritten info on each bottle that list the warehouse (for example, "BN") and the barrel (for example, 22-IV). But the recipes used are not written. The neck says, "Private Selection", but this store did not select them. I know this for a fact because when I asked the owner, he had no clue.

To make it even more confusing, one of the bottles is $49+, and one of them is $75+!

Specifically, the names of each on the tags in the store are:

Four Roses Private Selction Single Barrel Barrel Strength 750ml: $49.60

Four Roses Single Barrel Barrel Strength 112.4pf 750ml: $75.31

For what it's worth, here's the info on the three bottles I looked at:

Warehouse: BN

Barrel: 22-IV

Warehouse: BS

Barrel: 73-SE

Warehouse: TS

Barrel: 8-2E

[OscarV]

The bottle that is barrel strength for $49.60 I'd say but it! No matter what the recipe is, that has to be the wrong price, they are uaually at least $65.00.

But I don't understand why you can't find the recipes on these barrel strength bottles.

They are always listed on the side.

Check out post #52 in the link below for an explanation.

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13638&page=6

[Parkersback]

Oscar, I knew you'd come through. I've already learned alot from your other 4R posts. I'll go back and check the side of the bottle.

Later edit: no info on the sides of any of the bottles.

[cowdery]

I think the key to the $49.60 bottle would be the words 'private selection.' That's a retailer who bought a barrel and may be more interested in turning it quickly than in maximizing the profit potential. Still, a good deal.

The annual limited edition single barrel justifies its price by being limited, barrel proof, and extra-aged. Does the 'private selection' single barrel say anything about age?

The new general release for 2011 is 12-years-old and 118 proof, which is high for Four Roses. Isn't it?

[BourbonJoe]

The bottle that is barrel strength for $49.60 I'd say but it! No matter what the recipe is, that has to be the wrong price, they are uaually at least $65.00.

[OscarV]

I think the key to the $49.60 bottle would be the words 'private selection.' That's a retailer who bought a barrel and may be more interested in turning it quickly than in maximizing the profit potential. Still, a good deal.

The annual limited edition single barrel justifies its price by being limited, barrel proof, and extra-aged. Does the 'private selection' single barrel say anything about age?

The new general release for 2011 is 12-years-old and 118 proof, which is high for Four Roses. Isn't it?

[BourbonJoe]

No kiddin', I did not know that and it really seems cheap.

But I have heard some testimonials about PS's selections vs oh say Binny's selections of the same recipe.

[nivto]

Even Binny's barrel picks are only $55. That's still a respectable price for what you're getting, in my opinion. I'm planning on placing an order for some OESO and OBSV from binny's soon, before I move to WA.

But Tallahassee's Market Square Liquor picked a barrel of OBSK that is very good bourbon, and is selling it at barrel proof for $35... talk about a good deal!! The store had the bottles originally priced down at $30, the same price that they have the standard Single Barrel marked at. It was crazy. I personally think the single barrel at $30 is a steal, let alone barrel proof OBSK at that price.

[2highcal]

There are very few that will ship to WA The Party Source, Julios and Drink up NY are the ones I have ordered from. At least the state is getting better on their selections

[chefnash51]

There are very few that will ship to WA The Party Source, Julios and Drink up NY are the ones I have ordered from. At least the state is getting better on their selections

[nivto]

Julio's liquors in Mass? They ship?

[Parkersback]

Well friends, you can count this as yet one more piece of evidence that Four Roses is one of the best in the business, certainly when it comes to quality of their whiskey, but also when it comes to customer service.

So I continued to be flummoxed about the question I asked above, that is: I found a bottle of Four Roses Private Selction Single Barrel Barrel Strength at my local store, bit there was no neck tag or sticker that indicated what recipe comprises this whiskey, and the owners did not know anything about it.

Finally I wrote an email to Fur Roses asking if they knew. giving then the handwritten info on the bottle that lists the warehouse and the barrel.

Two days later I receive an email from Jim Rutledge, first thanking me for being a customer. He then tells me that he forwarded my email to the Director of Warehouse and Bottling – Corey Ballard – and that from the info I gave she was able to tell me the exact location of the barrel I was asking about. Here's a quote from the email:

Our barrel warehouses are single story rack warehouses (unique to the Bourbon industry) and each of our 20 warehouses is nearly 1 acre in size. Each warehouse is divided by a firewall and each side has 90 rack locations – 45 racks on each side of the aisle - and Barrels are racked 6 tiers high. Based on this and the hand-written information on the bottle label (BN – 22-1V) tells us the following:

BN = “B” warehouse the North side.

22 = rack number 22

1 = tier number one

V = 22nd letter in the alphabet so the barrel was stored 22 deep in the rack and tier for the entire time it was being aged

Corey was able to ascertain that your bottle was from a barrel purchased by Drink Up NY on November 10, 2010. The barrel was filled in February 2001. Using 2 mashbills and 5 proprietary yeast cultures, Four Roses uniquely distills and ages separately10 recipes of Bourbon. The product code is OBSQ - “B” indicates the mashbill: 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley, and “Q” is our yeast culture that generates a floral essence.

He finished up by thanking me again, and saying he hoped I'd be able to come visit the distillery someday.

I was already a big fan of Four Roses--their standard Single Barrel offering is great bourbon at a great price--but this kind of customer service is only going to make more likely to buy Four Roses, and to recommend it to others.

[CaptainQ]

Excellent customer service, bravo Four Roses! Thanks for the story Tom.