THEDAILYWHISKY

After 138 years and 10 recipes, Four Roses has never once finished a bourbon in a second cask. That changes on 30 July.

Experimental Series No. 001 is the inaugural release in a new limited-edition line from the Lawrenceburg distillery, and it is the first time Four Roses has taken a finished bourbon and put it back into wood. The wood in question is rare: Japanese Mizunara oak, the same prized and famously porous oak that Japanese distillers have built reputations on. For a brand whose entire identity rests on consistency across two mashbills and five yeast strains, a cask finish is a genuine departure.

The key facts up front. Experimental Series No. 001 is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey built from the OBSK recipe, aged six years, then finished in Japanese Mizunara oak. It is bottled at 104 proof, which is 52% ABV, in a 375ml format. The suggested retail price is $55, and it goes on sale on 30 July exclusively at the Four Roses Distillery Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Why Four Roses is finishing bourbon now

The timing is not a coincidence. In April 2026, E&J Gallo Winery acquired Four Roses from Japan’s Kirin Holdings. Gallo signalled almost immediately that it saw room for the brand to experiment in ways the previous owner had not pursued, and the Experimental Series is the first concrete result of that shift.

That context matters for how you read this bottle. Four Roses spent two decades rebuilding its reputation on the purity of its recipe system, so a cask finish is the kind of move that splits a fanbase. Some drinkers will see it as overdue innovation. Others will see it as a house style being stretched in a direction it never needed to go. Either way, No. 001 is a statement of intent rather than a one-off curiosity, with No. 002 and No. 003 already confirmed as further finishes in the series.

What OBSK means and why the Mizunara choice is interesting

Four Roses names its recipes with a four-letter code. The first and third letters are always O and S. The second letter is the mashbill, and the fourth is the yeast strain. OBSK means the B mashbill, which is the higher-rye recipe at 35% rye, paired with the K yeast strain, which is known for delivering a slight spice.

That pairing is the whole point. Master Distiller Brent Elliott ran trials across recipes, barrel specifications, and toast and char combinations before landing on OBSK, because its built-in spice complements rather than fights the sandalwood-and-incense character that Mizunara is known for. A sweeter, lower-rye recipe risked being flattened by the oak. The high-rye spine gives the finish something to push against.

This is also a slower, fussier process than a standard finish. Four Roses says the team pulled samples almost weekly during finishing, tracking each barrel individually to find its balance point before blending the final liquid. Mizunara is unforgiving wood, and left too long it can dominate a spirit completely, so the close monitoring is a sensible hedge.

Who Four Roses is

Four Roses was established in 1888 and distils in Lawrenceburg with warehousing at Cox’s Creek, Kentucky. Its signature is the 10-recipe system: two mashbills combined with five proprietary yeast strains, blended in different proportions across the core range, the Small Batch, and the Single Barrel expressions.

For most of its modern life the brand has been a reference point for what consistent, recipe-driven Kentucky bourbon can be. The Experimental Series is the clearest sign yet that the new ownership wants to widen that remit without abandoning the recipe DNA underneath it.

What Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001 tastes like

We have not tasted this bottle, so the notes below are the distillery’s own and those reported by US press at early sampling, not ours. We will update with first-hand notes if we get a pour.

Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001 tasting notes (per Four Roses)

Nose: Spiced vanilla, sandalwood, gentle incense, coconut 
Palate: Layered spice, dried and fresh fruit, maple, toasted oak over the bourbon’s core vanilla 
Finish: Rounded and soft, with the Mizunara spice lingering rather than the sweetness
ABV: 52% (104 proof) | Recipe: OBSK, six years old | Cask: ex-bourbon finished in Japanese Mizunara oak | Price: $55 / 375ml

The distillery describes the overall profile as surprisingly rounded and soft, layered with rich spiced vanilla and notes you do not get from American oak alone. The recurring descriptors from people who have sampled it early are sandalwood, incense, and exotic spice sitting on top of Four Roses’ familiar vanilla and maple, rather than burying it.

Price and availability: the catch for international readers

Here is the honest part. Experimental Series No. 001 carries a friendly $55 sticker, but it is a visitor-center exclusive in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and the bottle is a half-size 375ml. There is no wide US retail release and no international distribution announced. For readers outside the US, this is a bottle you either travel for or buy on the secondary market, where a $55 visitor-center exclusive rarely stays $55 for long.

That makes No. 001 less of a buy-it-now release and more of a signal worth watching. The pricing and the half-bottle format suggest Four Roses is treating the series as an accessible experiment rather than a flagship luxury play, which is encouraging if you care about where the next releases land.

Our take

This one is for the Four Roses completist, the Mizunara curious, and anyone who happens to be visiting Kentucky in August. At $55 for 375ml it is fairly priced at the distillery door, and a six-year high-rye bourbon under expressive Japanese oak is a genuinely interesting proposition on paper.

It is not for the international collector who expects to buy it without a flight or a secondary markup, and it is not for the Four Roses purist who wanted the recipe system left exactly as it was. The more useful question is what No. 002 and No. 003 bring, and whether Four Roses eventually gives one of these finishes a full-size, widely distributed release. If you want to track that, this is the bottle that started it.

Frequently asked questions

What is Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001? It is the first release in Four Roses’ new Experimental Series and the brand’s first ever cask-finished bourbon. It is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon made from the OBSK recipe, aged six years, then finished in rare Japanese Mizunara oak. It is bottled at 104 proof in a 375ml format.

What does Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001 taste like? Per Four Roses, it is rounded and soft, with spiced vanilla, sandalwood, incense and coconut from the Mizunara oak sitting over the bourbon’s core vanilla, maple and toasted oak. The high-rye OBSK recipe gives it a spine of spice that the Japanese oak complements rather than overwhelms.

How much does Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001 cost? The suggested retail price is $55 for a 375ml bottle. That is the distillery price. Because it is a visitor-center exclusive with no wide distribution, secondary-market prices are likely to run well above the $55 SRP once initial stock sells through.

Where can I buy Four Roses Experimental Series No. 001? It goes on sale on 30 July 2026 exclusively at the Four Roses Distillery Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. There is no general US retail release and no announced international distribution, so buyers outside Kentucky will need to travel or use the secondary market.

What does OBSK mean? OBSK is one of Four Roses’ 10 recipe codes. The B is the higher-rye mashbill at 35% rye, and the K is a yeast strain known for delivering a slight spice. Brent Elliott chose it for No. 001 because that spice complements Mizunara oak’s sandalwood and incense character.

Why is Four Roses finishing bourbon now? Four Roses had never cask-finished a bourbon in its 138-year history. The Experimental Series follows E&J Gallo Winery’s April 2026 acquisition of the brand from Kirin Holdings, which opened the door to more experimentation. No. 002 and No. 003 are already confirmed as further finishes in the series.