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Four Roses first introduced their Father’s Day Private Selection bourbon in June, 2019. It was a selection of 15 year old barrels that used the OESV recipe. This tradition has been ongoing (more-or-less) since then. What makes releases like this so special is that the barrels that are chosen are much older than a standard Private Selection (which are between 8-to-12-years old). That’s not something you see from Four Roses outside of their annual Small Batch Limited Edition.
With this kind of rarity comes hype. Hype breeds long lines at the gift shop. Crowd sizes have grown each year since its inception because enthusiasts know these are some of the choicest single barrels they can get their hands on. But for 2024, it seems like Four Roses decided to pull out all the stops. The barrels they chose were not only collectively some of the highest proofed single barrels they’ve released, one of the barrels is the actual highest proofed single barrel that Four Roses ever bottled. This review is for that bottle.
The only number you need to know: 138.2 Proof
Let me be clear about one thing first, I’m sure that 138.2 proof is not the highest proofed barrel that has ever rolled out of a Cox’s Creek Warehouse. But it is the highest proof that we’ve ever seen bottled by itself. If you think that number is still somewhat unremarkable, I would also like to point out that Four Roses uses a barrel entry proof of 120 instead of 125. The latter number is what most distilleries in the business barrel theirs at.
The barrels for the 2024 Father’s Day release all came out of Warehouse R. At face value, you’d think that there’s something special about that warehouse. But Four Roses builds their warehouses to be all the same. They are single story, internally wood but metal clad and all set at roughly the same elevation. Even the spacing between them is somewhat uniform.
Sometimes conditions get just right to raise the proof over time. What’s wild is that this was the proof after 16 years of aging. It’s a miracle that these barrels weren’t bone dry at that point.
A typical Four Roses rick contains 22 to 23 barrels. Each barrel is given a letter of the alphabet to identify where it sets. The first barrel pushed into the rick is always the letter A and the last barrel in is a V (or W, depending on Warehouse). So if you’re ever strolling down the central corridor in a Four Roses warehouse, you’re looking at all the V (or W) barrels.
In total, 15 barrels were selected for the Father’s Day release. No bottle counts were given for each barrel, but I assume they were somewhat low. Probably in the low 100’s; if not double-digits. Initially, when the bottles were released, enthusiasts spotted that Four Roses used barrels from the same warehouse and the same rick, but different tiers – 3 and 6. Four Roses later went on to clarify that all barrels came from Tier 6 and that it was a typo on the label.
One question that some enthusiasts had was “what happened to the 7 barrels that weren’t bottled for the Father’s Day release?” The answer – according to Brent Elliott – is that they were either empty or they were rejected due to poor quality. Brent has also stated that these OESV barrels were from the same production run as the 14-year-old OESV component that went into the 2022 Limited Edition Small Batch.
But what I do know is that this bottle needs my immediate attention. I’m very lucky to have my good friend James provide me with the experience of a lifetime with this bottle. So cheers to you! Now it’s time to see what legends are made of. I’m sampling this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: For being almost a HAZMAT-proofed barrel, the nose is incredibly understated. Rich notes of oak, brown sugar and molasses fill my nostrils. I’m finding scents of toasted citrus zest, vanilla and cocoa powder. More sweet notes like dates and flat cola also find their way into the mix. Later in the session, the nose begins to emit a distinctively buttery/creamy aroma with notes of vanilla tagging along. It’s wild how amazing this smells and might be the best part about this whole dram.
Palate: The heat gradually builds up on my tongue with each successive sip. I’m tasting the rainbow as a mélange of fruit, powerful spices and tannins wash over my tongue. On the fruit side are cherries, dates and citrus fruit (with orange being most dominant). The spice notes are no slouch either with the pervasive taste of premium licorice followed by red pepper flakes, cinnamon and clove. Tannins revolve around dark chocolate and oak that is well-seasoned, but doesn’t quite reach a varnish or antiqued note like the last few releases of Limited Edition Small Batch had. I would say that this is still the perfect amount. Rye-forward flavors include pine needles and some “barely-there” herbal notes that get shoved to the back because of how powerful everything else is.
Finish: The finish goes on what seems like forever. There are notes of citrus (orange and lime), blueberry, cherry honey and semi-burnt sugar. Tannic notes include oak, tobacco leaf and barrel char. All of those surprisingly don’t come off as bitter. I even find a few stronger rye notes like mint and licorice on the end. I’m surprised at how complex the finish is.
Score: 8.8/10
In my notes, I scribbled down that the level of proof combined with the age is allowing this bottle to enter into elite-levels of drinkability. Producers rarely have a product that is a combination of both and when they do, they typically make it into some sort of limited time offering. I would say that this year’s Father’s Day release meets those criteria.
Another reviewer rightly pointed out the fact that the 2024 Father’s Day release is comparable to a George T. Stagg release. In that sense, they’re right. Of course, GTS is a batched product using over 300 barrels whereas single barrels can vary widely. That’s why you’ll have to take my review with a tiny grain of salt because I’m lumping all 15 barrels in together on the hype. But I’d argue that with what I tasted here that modern versions of George T. Stagg are very much in this release’s crosshairs.
Final Thoughts
I’m going to hurt a lot of Four Roses fanboys and fangirls out there with what I’m about to say next, but these releases will always struggle to obtain the popularity and hype of a bottle of Buffalo Trace Antique Collection or Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. My reasoning? Because the packaging is the same old plain-Jane bottle that Single Barrel and standard Private Selections use. Unless you’re looking at the side label, nothing makes it stand out as special or unique.
It’s times like these that I wish Four Roses would create a 4th style of bottle that they’d reserve solely for specialized releases like Father’s Day, Charity Drops (like the Kentucky Flood Relief) or a new Visitor’s Center being finished. They’ve shown they could do it before with the Al Young 50th Anniversary, so why not do it again? Make these truly jump off the shelf and bring more focus onto the brand.
But until somebody at Four Roses takes my suggestion seriously, then I guess this bottle will remain low-key as one of the best Private Selections of all time. It’s just a shame that nobody else will know it if they see it setting on your shelf.
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