Four Roses Blends

[benpearson]

I have been doing some experimentation with blending the 10 recipes of four roses, and wondered if anyone else has done the same. By simple calculation there are ninety 50/50 recipes that can be created not taking into account age. Anyone else interested in attempting to try all 90? My theory is that sometimes the sum can be greater than the parts.

[ramblinman]

Its been a while since Combinatorics, but I think its 45 possibilities. 10!/(2!*8!)

[jmj_203]

I keep hearing the sum greater than the parts but am unsure. I'm experimenting my own bo-bo's and bouryes since I fell in love with SAOS 7yr thats awesome here. All my 4R are single barrels too good to mix.

[GaryT]

I haven't, as I think even a few bottles of the same recipe will taste different and mingle different (which isn't to say there aren't some great possibilities! Just that they may be difficult to replicate). I have thought of creating a living mingle as my FRSBs get near the bottom, but that's as far as that has gone (I love each one by itself so much, I always seem to chicken out )

[jmj_203]

Thats how I am, I love the single barrels so much alone, and being what they are (Single Barrel expressions) you would likely never replicate any results. I'm assuming you're talking about Vatting Store Select bottles? Since they are the only ones that include the recipe letters. And all the standard bottled Four Roses Single Barrel is from one recipe I believe.

[Josh]

I've co-mingled recipes from time to time and I've come up with some very good results. Unfortunately I've been too lazy to record proportions. Maybe I'll start a co-mingling today. Got a few oz. left in a few different bottles currently.

[benpearson]

Ramblin Man. You are correct that there are 45, which seems like an even easier task to keep track of. The spreadsheet that I made only has 45 on it...but I got ahead of myself and made sections for blends of 3, 4, and 5. I think I should stick to just 50/50 simple blends for now.

I have a couple thoughts about how to eliminate the effect of the variation in single barrels.

1. Batch several single barrels together before blending to make a more generic O_S_ recipe.

2. Collect more data by repeating the experiment of blending 2 single barrels together at a time.

Another thought that I have is that it could take some time for these to properly blend.

I think my first effort will be to bottle each simple blend recipe and let them all sit for a few days. Then try 1 or 2 a day and take notes.

I've had some success blending certain recipes together in the past. I'm hoping that there are some rules to this that can be found by doing some research. Such as don't mix V with Q (just a random example).

I guess my reason for this is mostly that my favorite four roses product, aside from if I come across a particularly good single barrel, is usually Limited Edition Small Batch.

[mbroo5880i]

I would imagine that certain recipes blend well with certain other recipes. For example, OESK and OBSK might blend better together than OESK and OESF. I dunno. The possibilities are intriguing. I have only tried 5 of the recipes so I don't have enough experience to know which might provide the best blending properties. I agree that the Limited Edition Small Batch is better than any barrel proof single barrels that I have had. I would love to see a barrel strength regular small batch offering, possibly as a store select. Similar to what you guys did with AE blends. However, you could select 3 or 4 single barrels to batch. Probably cost prohibitive, unless a few retailers split the batch.

It will be interesting to hear your findings.

[StraightBoston]

Ramblin Man. You are correct that there are 45, which seems like an even easier task to keep track of. The spreadsheet that I made only has 45 on it...but I got ahead of myself and made sections for blends of 3, 4, and 5. I think I should stick to just 50/50 simple blends for now.

I have a couple thoughts about how to eliminate the effect of the variation in single barrels.

1. Batch several single barrels together before blending to make a more generic O_S_ recipe.

2. Collect more data by repeating the experiment of blending 2 single barrels together at a time.

Another thought that I have is that it could take some time for these to properly blend.

I think my first effort will be to bottle each simple blend recipe and let them all sit for a few days. Then try 1 or 2 a day and take notes.

I've had some success blending certain recipes together in the past. I'm hoping that there are some rules to this that can be found by doing some research. Such as don't mix V with Q (just a random example).

I guess my reason for this is mostly that my favorite four roses product, aside from if I come across a particularly good single barrel, is usually Limited Edition Small Batch.

It's been done (and been done very well!) by a friend. 50:50 is not the proportion you should be looking for.

Jim Rutledge talked about the possible combinations at a store near Boston in February. Somebody at a previous presentation had done the same combinatorial calculation until Jim pointed out the additional variables of age and percentages -- there is literally infinite variety.

[adub23]

I would imagine that certain recipes blend well with certain other recipes. For example, OESK and OBSK might blend better together than OESK and OESF. I dunno. The possibilities are intriguing. I have only tried 5 of the recipes so I don't have enough experience to know which might provide the best blending properties. I agree that the Limited Edition Small Batch is better than any barrel proof single barrels that I have had. I would love to see a barrel strength regular small batch offering, possibly as a store select. Similar to what you guys did with AE blends. However, you could select 3 or 4 single barrels to batch. Probably cost prohibitive, unless a few retailers split the batch.

It will be interesting to hear your findings.

I was talking with my local store owner about how cool it would be to do a store select small batch just yesterday. Maybe not offer all 10 recipes but like you said a couple options of which recipes blend well together and then let the store pick the ratio to their liking. Would be a really cool concept to offer to limited bigger market stores, not just every mom and pop shop that wants to do the barrel program.

[ramblinman]

I'm all for experimentation, but honestly this seems like the kind of thing that only professionals, or the idle rich could do and actually learn anything. Just too many variables, even without taking into account age/proof.

Might be a heck of a lot of fun trying it, but seems like it'd make drinking feel like a job. Cheers to you though and good luck.