Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch

The Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch is the annual limited-release bourbon from Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Each release is a small-batch blend of three to four of Four Roses' ten distinct bourbon recipes, hand-selected by the master distiller at unique age statements and blend percentages that do not repeat year to year. The series launched in 2008 under the "Mariage" name, was rebranded as the "Limited Edition Small Batch" starting in 2010, and has run annually since. Releases are bottled non-chill filtered at the natural proof of the blend (typically 105–115 proof) and feature extended age statements ranging from 10 to 20 years.

Four Roses is the only major American bourbon distillery built around a 10-recipe production system. Every Four Roses bourbon is built on one of ten distinct recipes — created by combining two mashbills with five proprietary yeast strains. Mashbill B is high-rye (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley); Mashbill E is the standard recipe (75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley). The five yeast strains are V (Delicate Fruit), K (Slight Spice), O (Rich Fruit), Q (Floral Essence), and F (Herbal Notes). The ten resulting recipes — OBSV, OBSK, OBSO, OBSQ, OBSF, OESV, OESK, OESO, OESQ, OESF — each produce a distinct bourbon character. Limited Edition Small Batch releases blend three to four of these recipes at various age statements to create a final flavor profile that exists nowhere else in the Four Roses lineup.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch is distilled, aged, and bottled at Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The distillery is owned by Kirin Brewery Company (Japan), which acquired Four Roses from Vivendi/Seagram in 2002. Master Distiller Brent Elliott — who became Master Distiller in 2015 after working alongside Jim Rutledge for the preceding decade — personally selects the blend for each Limited Edition Small Batch release. Elliott succeeded Jim Rutledge, who served as Master Distiller from 1995 to 2015 (his 20-year tenure included the launch of the Mariage / Limited Edition Small Batch series in 2008).

The annual limited-release series launched in 2008 under the "Mariage" name. The 2008 release was a blend of 70% OBSV (13-year) and 30% OESK (10-year), bottled at 107.8 proof in a release of approximately 3,492 bottles. The 2009 release was the second "Mariage" edition. Starting in 2010, the series was rebranded as the "Limited Edition Small Batch" and has continued annually under that name since. The 2025 release marked the 18th edition of the series.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch and Four Roses Single Barrel are different bourbon programs from the same distillery. Single Barrel releases are bottled from one specific barrel of one specific Four Roses recipe at full barrel proof — typically OBSV (the standard recipe used for the year-round Four Roses Single Barrel expression). Limited Edition Small Batch releases blend three to four different Four Roses recipes at different age statements into a single annual bottling. Single Barrel highlights the character of a specific recipe and barrel; Limited Edition Small Batch demonstrates the blending creativity of the master distiller across the brand's 10-recipe system.

The 2023 Limited Edition Small Batch was the 135th Anniversary release, celebrating 135 years since Paul Jones Jr. trademarked the Four Roses brand in 1888. The bottling was bottled at 108 proof and featured a blend of four hand-selected Four Roses recipes including a 12-year-old OESV and a 16-year-old OESV. The release was Brent Elliott's tribute to the brand's heritage and was widely cited at the time as one of the most-collected annual American whiskey releases of 2023.

Recent releases have included: the 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch at 114.2 proof, blending a 16-year OBSV, a 14-year OBSQ, a 12-year OESK, and a 16-year OESV. The 2022 release at 109 proof, blending a 20-year OBSV, a 15-year OESK, a 14-year OESF, and a 14-year OESV. The 2023 135th Anniversary release at 108 proof. The 2024 release blending 39% 16-year OESF, 31% 12-year OBSV, 23% 15-year OESK, and 7% 20-year OBSV. The 2025 18th-edition release at 109 proof, blending 38% 13-year OBSV, 35% 13-year OESV, 17% 13-year OBSK, and 10% 19-year OESV.

Paul Jones Jr. (1840–1895) was a Virginia-born distiller and the trademark holder of the Four Roses brand. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, he relocated to Kentucky in the 1880s. The most-told version of the brand-name origin involves a marriage proposal: Jones asked a young woman to wear a corsage of four red roses to a cotillion dance if she accepted his "final" proposal — she arrived in the corsage. He trademarked the Four Roses brand in 1888, having sold whiskey under variants of the name since the 1860s. Jones died in 1895; the brand continued under his nephew Lawrence Jones and various subsequent owners before the Seagram acquisition in 1943.

The Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky was constructed in 1910 in Spanish Mission-style architecture — distinctive and rare among Kentucky bourbon distilleries. The site was originally known as the Old Prentice Distillery and was historically owned by J.T.S. Brown (a Brown family operation related to but separate from Brown-Forman). The distillery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. All Four Roses bourbon distillation happens at this Lawrenceburg site; barrel maturation occurs at the Cox's Creek warehouse and bottling facility, where every single barrel is aged on a single floor of a single-story rickhouse, which Four Roses claims produces more even maturation than the multi-story rickhouses used at most Kentucky distilleries.

Brent Elliott is the current Master Distiller at Four Roses, having held the role since 2015. He succeeded Jim Rutledge, who retired after a 20-year tenure as Master Distiller (1995–2015). Elliott joined Four Roses in 2005 and worked directly with Rutledge for the decade preceding his 2015 promotion to Master Distiller. Under Elliott's leadership, every annual Limited Edition Small Batch release since 2015 has been personally curated — Elliott selects the specific recipes and age statements to blend for each year's bottling. He also oversees the broader Four Roses product portfolio, including the Single Barrel, Small Batch, Small Batch Select, and Yellow Label expressions.

Verify a Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch bottle in three checks. First, examine the capsule and label — the foil seal over the cork should be fully intact and tightly sealed, and the label should be crisp and high-resolution with no signs of fading, smudging, or off-color printing. Second, confirm the release year, proof, recipe blend percentages, and age statements on the front and side labels match the verified Limited Edition Small Batch release history for that year — for example, a bottle labeled "2025" must read 109 proof and feature the 13/19-year blend described in Four Roses' official 2025 announcement, and a bottle labeled "2023" must be the 135th Anniversary release at 108 proof. Third, cross-reference the bottle's stated specs with Four Roses' official press release archive for that vintage, which publishes the exact recipe-and-age breakdown for every annual release.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch is collectible for three reasons. First, each release is a single-vintage, single-blend bottling that does not repeat year over year — the specific recipes, age statements, and blend percentages of any given year's release are unique to that vintage and cannot be reproduced. Second, the series has been continuously released since 2008, giving collectors a dated chronology of Four Roses' blending creativity across 18 editions and counting. Third, the 2023 135th Anniversary release and several other anchor editions have become recognized landmarks in modern American bourbon limited-release collecting, with secondary market pricing for those specific vintages running several multiples above the original suggested retail (which has historically been in the $150 to $200 range at the distillery).