Episode 134 - Four Roses Single Barrel OESK Red Label

A bourbon brand changes hands for $775 million and we still have to answer the only question that matters: how does it taste in the glass? We crack open Four Roses Single Barrel (red label) OESK at 100 proof, talk price and value at the $50 mark, and give you the kind of honest bourbon review you would hear from a friend across the table.

We dig into the story behind the label too. Kirin bought Four Roses back in 2002 and spent decades rebuilding the brand’s presence, especially in the United States, before selling it to Gallo. We talk through what an acquisition like that can mean for a Kentucky bourbon icon, why distribution and “portfolio plays” matter, and why fans are hoping the new owner keeps the quality exactly where it is.

Then we get nerdy in the best way: nose, sip, and finish. Expect toasty sweet oak, a rush of baking spice, cinnamon that stays mild, and even a little coffee-like bite. We argue over whether there’s an apple-like note hiding under the spice or if it reads more like caramel, and we’re blunt about the ending: dry oak, a bit leathery, and a finish that can leave your mouth feeling parched. 

If you like bourbon tasting notes, Four Roses recipes, and real talk about what’s worth buying, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a whiskey friend, and leave a review telling us your go-to $50 bottle.

Transcript

Kentucky Stories And Running From Cops

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Been in Kentucky too long. I don't come here from Mark and Sall. Ain't running from no Johnny Law.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

The beast, man. You hear that bass in there? It's like a phone phone phone.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

And he's thinking about Kentucky, bro. Little Charlie Crockett. Would you did you have he said uh he's not running from the law. Do you have like friends in high school that were running from the law? No, not literally. I mean, did you have some some rough customers in your high school though? Oh, for sure, but not that I hung out with. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

No, you were a good kid. I guess you would say that. You didn't hang out with the bad crowd. No, I did not. I never got in that kind of trouble. I mean, I guess. Did you get in any trouble? Uh, you know, I we the only time I've ever run from the law would be when I was stealing lumber from like a construction site and somebody saw us and we were like busting ass through the woods trying to What were you stealing lumber for? To build our treehouse.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Running from the law to be a builder, which is what he is now. That's great. That's a good reason. I mean good reason to run from the law. Something to turn into your fucking career.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

We also did a uh roaming candle fight once on a new construction site. The cops showed up, we had all run away.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

John Ducky Burbank Brothers. Welcome to Kentucky, baby. We're not in Kentucky, but we're talking about it. That's Charlie Crockett. Charlie Crockett is not from Kentucky. He's not from Tony's hometown. He's from Texas, somewhere in Texas. But if you don't listen to Charlie, you should. And he's fucking great. He's got this like revival sound. This don't think the Yeah, kind of a good, like a different twang. He's not just country. He's like definitely not traditional. He's got he's got a little, he's got some rock and roll in there too. So uh it's like a southern soul. Give him some southern soul. Give him a listen. Give him a listen.

Why Four Roses Hits Today

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Let's talk about some whiskey though. Do it. Let's talk about some fucking whiskey. Alright, so showed up at the uh whiskey department to do a podcast. I said, Tony, you've been drinking? And he said, No, I've been working. I said, You sure? He's kind of slurring his words. And I I I I don't I still think Tony's been drinking, but I have not. You guys none between now and when we take our first sip, then he will officially be drinking. But you guys can you guys can be the judge until then. Today, we are drinking a four roses. Four roses, they just got acquired for many, many hundreds of millions of dollars. Tony will get into that. Yeah. But we are just doing a standard red label single barrel. Uh they still do the um the recipe, and the recipe is OES K. So if you're looking and you want to drink what we're drinking, there are 10 of these, and this is the OESK. But again, it is the single barrel, not the single barrel barrel strength. Many differences between this and those. One is price. This is 50 bucks. The barrel strength are about double that, 100. The barrel strength is older, more like 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years. This is between nine at the most, probably more like seven or eight. And this is bonded at 100 proof, and those barrel strengths are usually uh always more than 100, more like 115, 120, something like that. So older and higher proof. They're also half the price. And these are half of the price, but more expensive, gets you better juice. So, but let's be the judge of that. For 50 bucks, again, this is a four roses single barrel, 100 proof, and the OES K comes in um not as a high rye. Uh, it's got a lot of rye in there, but 75 corn, 20 rye, five barley, and this was released in 2025. Um, they came out, I think, throughout the year. I think I bought this summer of last year in 25.

The $775M Gallo Acquisition

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Um, Four Roses has been owned for a long, long time um by the Kieran Brewing Company. If you've ever gone to a sushi restaurant or had any sort of uh Thai Japanese style food, uh you might have had a Kieran or a Kieran Light. I think they're delicious beers. Uh that company bought four roses uh many, many years ago, and uh they finally finally, I shouldn't say finally, they just sold uh to Gallo. Gallo is a mega, mega, mega landowning wine, uh wine everything out in California. And it just closed. And Tony's gonna tell you about it.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Yeah, so uh Kieran acquired four roses in 2002, then they sold it to Gallo. That was a good run. Yeah, for in 2026, 24 years, uh, you know, almost two and a half decades. I feel like they've they did a good job. Kieran. What Kieran really did they built the heck out of this brand. Well, Kieran really did.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Four roses, they they do nothing wrong, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Yeah, well, they they rebuilt the entire brand's presence, especially in the United States. It always had a real good global distribution, and once Kieran got involved, it it just elevated it to like a premium name or overseas, and it really went well. Um, Kieran sold this. I I don't know how much Kieran purchased the uh four roses for, but I know they sold it for $775 million.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

That's a lot of juice. Yes, that's a lot of good brands. But I mean, I have found four roses, I mean, it is an international brand. Uh all made in Kentucky, and they ship it all over the world. So when you're talking about um, no, it's not a beam uh product, no, it's not Heaven Hill, no, it's not like, but they're really, really sizable when we're talking about tens and hundreds of thousands of cases of uh of really, really, really good whiskey. So um that's why they got a lot of money for them. And this is that that's in a down market. They probably could have gotten over a billion if uh they would have sold it a few years ago.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

Well, I guess that's how it works. Nobody, you know, you don't, you're not everything always looks good, hopefully. I mean, if not, you're in the wrong business. You got to keep your keep your stuff going. But you know, I would say the the the biggest thing for us is that you know, Kieran, they they're they're not saying that they sold this because four roses was struggling. They just said that it it's not even because it was underperforming. I think honestly, Kieran just after they re helped, you know, more or less brand this, they were just they were finished. That they they took this business as far as they could and they were moving on.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Yeah, that's a long time. That's not just some little five to ten year private equity play. That's you know, they really probably put a lot of uh a lot behind it, a lot of uh heart and soul. And um you know, one can be really great master distiller and like really did all the right things. Is that what yeah? Gal Gallo is just you know differentiating and kind of putting something else in their arsenal. And I don't think uh when I read it a few months ago when it started, I don't I don't think they have any boozes, they just have more or less wine, lots and lots of things. I'd have to look, but I think they do have some spirits, no, no bourbon for sure. But I think they may have some type of spirits. It's a great play, and and they're great. So this is only gonna get uh it was I think a lot of guys, Fred Minnick talked about it. Uh everyone is very happy with the acquisition that it went to another great uh brand, another great family that's gonna just do um hopefully I don't screw it up, but hopefully, you know it's the uh first time it's a US family has owned or US company or family has owned Four Roses in over 80 years.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

Wow, it's kind of interesting. Yeah. Seagram's Seagrim's owned um Seagram's before Karen. Yep. And Seagram's owned it, owned uh oh, for almost 60 years, 59 years. So anyway, yeah, that's that's the background. Um, you know, what do we need to know about this? This these red labels, single barrel, um OESK, or any of the other nine letters, you know, nine different versions of the four letters. I won't talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Anyway, this don't you're gonna confuse people. You do not have to be. We do a four roses. Anyone anyone sounds like Tony's been drinking, right?

SPEAKER_04 8:26

No, I'm telling you, these just started in 2024. So this is the third year of these red ones, and one of the things they're trying to do is have them all taste the same year to year to year, versus you know, the barrel strengths. When you got a single barrel, sometimes you can get some differentiation.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Oh, so they're trying to have a little more balance, like when you crack open a Budweiser, it tastes the same every time you know exactly what you're gonna get. But those four roses, they were kind of a little bit more uh, they weren't as specific and you didn't know what you get what you were getting. So this, okay, got it. I'm glad you explained that. But I I really thought, being that you've had a few drinks, that you were gonna get into the letters and the letters. No one knows what OES K means. They can listen to the podcast. Nobody cares. I want to know if that like this. So let's

Red Label Strategy And Recipes

SPEAKER_03 9:12

smell it. Cheers.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

All I have to say is that this is the low rye mash bill. The 20% rye, not the 35% rye.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

I already said that if you want to remind. Don't you not cheers me. Fucking not cheers me.

SPEAKER_04 9:24

I cheers you. By the way, Galileo has 25 different spirits, including horse soldier bourbon. Oh. Just to say that 25.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

They are mega.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Yeah. But that that's this is the how many wines do they have, though? A lot more than 25. They don't they've got like a couple, a couple vodka, a couple rum, three tequila, one. You know, E and J brandy is theirs. And that's like a that's a brandy that you've seen, you've seen for sure. It feels like when I met my grandparents.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

I was like 50 years old. I ain't doing no E and J over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Um Toasty. I think you cook with it. Uh I think you cook with it. Very, very um. Still pretty rye forward for not for not being uh very bacon spice. Very, very baking spice. See? Did you hear that? He said bacon spice. Baking. Yeah. Baking. He's been drinking. He wants to drink this because it smells it smells pretty good. It does. It's pretty light. I'm drinking it. It's pretty mild. A little oaky. Uh sweet oak, though. Sweet oak.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Yeah, it's not it's not like that, that musty.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Here, that was just not after that last podcast we did with that 18-year-old Stitzelweller. That was a dusty. That was a different thing. Can we do that again? Yeah, we should do that all the time. That was good.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Cinnamon but mild. Cinnamon um spicy but mild. Um coffee. With like a little like a little punch to it. Like a little um not like a bitterness, but like a um spice.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

It's a spice. It's like a spice sticking to the top of your tongue. Top of your mouth, I mean. It's a little bit of a spice. I don't know what exactly what it is. It's uh um it's just it just tastes like spice to me.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

I'm going on a limb here because I've been um listening to my doctor who says apple a day keeps a doctor away. How do you think it's got an apple? I think it's got an apple to it. It doesn't have that like soft sweetness or that soft fruit. It's got that kind of like pungent not that every apple is that that way, but you know when you get one of those like kind of acidic apples?

SPEAKER_04 11:49

I'm not really getting that apple, but I mean I think you're just getting I think you're just getting like I'm trying I'm saying it's not all spice.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

There's a ton of spice, but there's like something else that's like got a little bit of sweetness,

Tasting Notes And The Dry Finish

SPEAKER_03 12:00

but it's not like that. I think it's like caramel. I mean, honestly, I think there's like a caramel, like maybe you're I disagree. Caramel's like that that's real sweet. That's real sweet. It's like a little sideways sweet. Like it's um I'm sticking with apple. Alright. A little nutty on the finish. You get that cinnamon, but there's like a little um little peanut in there.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

Yeah, it's I would say I disagree with me.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

I would say it's a medium, medium.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

And I would say dry oak, very dry oak with a little bit of spice linger in there. And I think that spice linger is because it's literally sitting on the top of your mouth.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Am I smacking my lips too much?

SPEAKER_04 12:47

I don't know. I wasn't listening for that.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

If it's losing points right off the bat, it is the finish. The finish is what Tony said. Oaky, kind of leathery. Um there's no kids here. We have our window open and there's some kids coming home from or going to some practice, probably, because school's more than out. Yeah, we're not drinking it 2 30. But um, yeah, there's no kids here. It's just Tony and I. Yeah. I love that. But you're right. Um oaky, uh, leathery, drying finish that I don't really love. Really? Yeah, but but I but I I don't hate. Like it's it's pretty otherwise balanced, but then when I stop drinking it, I'm like, my mouth is really dry. Alright.

SPEAKER_04 13:35

I feel like you that you get that a lot with this mash bill, though.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

I'm gonna be brutally honest. Not that I'm not always, but I love four roses. So the so like I'm I'm almost like looking for faults.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

Yeah, I think you're trying to compare this to what you remember that single barrel, that barrel strength. No, not at all. No, I've not.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Oh, I'm not trying to say this one has complexity. Yeah, I'm just I'm just pulling things out so people can get an idea of it. Um, because it really is just kind of a mild spice with a dry finish. If I want to just be like, it's like a mild cinnamon red hot, nothing sour, nothing really too much about it, and then it ends dry. And I'm saying I like the start, I don't totally love the finish. So I think about this one, the OES K.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

The K, the K is a is a spice, and I think that the K is giving us I think the K is giving you more of the rye, the more rye taste, even though this is a little lower. I think that's what we're getting. We're getting a bunch of the spice because of this one. I think I I I just that's where I'm getting. I I I'm not getting the apple, but I am getting a lot of the very similar qual qual qualities that you are saying, guys.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

I told you. I told you I told you. He's been sitting in a whiskey apartment, getting some work done all day. He's got a Coke Coke Zero next to him. Do you don't you don't think he dumped a little something in there? Give me a break. No, I don't know. Anyone that knows him, come on. All right, so now you said bacon instead of baking. And there's been other words. There's an understanding. There's other words you can't trust me. I know you well enough, and I know your Kentucky slang that I have to like read through, and and sometimes others have trouble. I was like, oh no, this that's that's not what Tony said. Tony said this, and they're like, Oh, yeah, I couldn't tell. Okay, so enough about me making fun of you. I will stop. I thought I have an accent, I will stop. I know I have an accent. I will stop that bad. Um, but let's uh let's give it a little uh let's do a little separating.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

Yeah,

Scores Shareability And Party Moves

SPEAKER_04 15:48

what do you got? I'll start. Shareable, absolutely. Influence is great. We've always liked four roses. I'm I've always been a fan of all these these different uh these ten different um types really of these ten different recipes, I guess you would say, I think that's what you would say. Styles, recipes, yeah. And um price, I mean 50 bucks is pretty good. I mean, honestly, I think if you get like that that uh four four roses uh small batch select might be the same price or more. So I think this is pretty good to get one of those specials.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Maybe those are a little bit more, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Yeah, I mean, this is I think the price is good. I've given it three ups on that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Three ups, wow. Um I want to share something four roses because I drink a lot of it, uh, something that they do better. Um, but that said, um influence, they're the best or one of the best. Up there, I would say with Heaven Hill in my books, and uh price, that's really where uh where where they win here for 50 bucks. There's a lot of bullshit out there for 50 bucks, and this is not a bad deal. And in that way, you grab it uh on the way to a party, you go to the aisle, you don't at the liquor store, you don't even have to think about it. You're like, boom, we're going to a party, it looks cool, it shows well, it makes you show well, and it sounds like a winner all the way around to me. It's got that influence, and you're like, hey, you had this before, they're gonna say no, and then you're gonna open it, and it's gonna be delicious, and then you're gonna probably finish half or most of it. Um, so I would say uh price, uh, if you go backwards, price is the leader of a really, really great brand. Um, I am so far from being ready for a number. Uh I'll give you a number. It's in the it's it's in the threes for me. Um, but I'm that's I already said I'm not ready.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

You're not ready. All right, you can think about it. I I'm gonna give you a number. So I think this is a 320, a 3.25 for me. I think this is a um, I would say this is probably let's go back to the influence.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Did I influence you? That's a that's a big number.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

No, I mean, I just think that the they do well on these. I've always liked these different recipes, as I said earlier. I think that I'm a big fan of the E recipes, it's the the lower rye, but this K gives you just a little bit more spice. And I'm just I know you hate when I talk about it, but that's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

It's so fucked up, dude. How when you see letters and numbers when they're just that, like like numbers on a deck of cards or letters like on a deck of cards. You can't, you can't stay away from them. You just keep going back to letting people know, and they're like, Do you like it or not, Tony? And you're like, Yeah, but the K, the K's got a lot, and people are like, Well, I don't know, but it's so fucking great, guys. Before this podcast started, Tony hasn't been drinking. That was a joke, but maybe, maybe not. I was like, dude, every time we do a four roses, you get into the letters. Don't do that. He looks me right in the eye. He's like, I won't. I probably didn't know. I didn't give any of the other ones, guys, guys. Rewind back. Has he multiple times already? Yes, he has. Uh, I'm gonna go with uh I'm gonna go with a three flat. I'm gonna go with a three flat. Well, all right.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Three flat. That's uh that's a surprise to me.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

I uh you like these usually, but if we're gonna talk about the letters, which is the uh which is the recipe of these and for 50 bucks. For 50 bucks, I would uh have a lot of fun uh going to that party if you got a little extra cash in your bot in your pocket, buy an OE and something else, and an OB something else, because there's five OBs and five OEs, and you should try them against each other, and that's super fun. I am a dork like that, and I want to go to a party and be like, hey, not only are you gonna try something that I brought, and they're like, Oh, yeah, you have that podcast, you're super into whiskey. And I'm like, but I also brought this. Do they know I'm only a hundred bucks in for two bottles? No, look like a rock star, look like a hero, and all of a sudden you're comparing and you're making that party so much better for yourself. Who cares about everyone else?

SPEAKER_04 20:03

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

You should drink what you like. When you become an adult, a lot of parties become really fucking boring. Go there and it's like, oh man, is it raining out today? Oh, how's that rain? Oh man, just get all that snow. Oh, yeah. I don't want to talk about the fucking weather. I'm gonna talk about four roses, single barrel. Sorry to all my neighbors about parties with Mike.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Mike is just like, though, people will start talking about something he hasn't won. He just like walks out of the room. He's like, I'm done talking about this.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

I end up in the corner with like a few friends that I like. We just went to an NCAA party, and five of our whiskey department members went to this party of 50 guys and had a bunch of fun with a bunch of them. And um found myself kind of like going back to you know talk, talk trash and talk shit with uh with with the uh with the whiskey buddies. So it was fun.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

Yeah, no, it was it was yeah, it is what it is. Mike is funny because he he does live exactly like he sounds on the radio. That's exactly what he does. I mean, there's no that's just what it is.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

So I take that as a huge fucking compliment.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

You should, you should, because then you're not fake, and nobody likes to be fake.

Music Pairing And Final Cheers

SPEAKER_04 21:17

I'm going out with some more of this Charlie Crockett because you just introduced him to me, and I'm trying to listen to more of his stuff. And it's it's actually it's interesting. I like it.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

There's a new album out. It came out. I was on spring break. It came out this year, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

Last month, I think. Yeah, it's called Age of the Ram, Charlie Crockett, country music, but he's got a lot of different influences because yeah, there's a lot of stuff in these.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Did you drop did you drop his age? I did not. He looks like a younger guy, he looks like he's in his 30s or something. Which I guess for for music, he could be fucking 12. And that's act that's actually young.

SPEAKER_04 21:52

But I got a real baritone voice, and I feel like people with the baritone voices, sounds eager old looks, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. But I don't know, like I don't. I don't know how old he is, but he's been he's been in the music. He's been playing music for a while. Like he's had he's had a few different Billboard top 200 hits in the last five years. So you know.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

All right, let's play it. Let's play it. That's not a bad thing. Charlie Crockett with some four roses. The two things go very, very deliciously well together. And oh, this is that new song I really love. Uh Shite Take Burn Brothers, Mike and Tony. We take care of the whiskey so you can focus on with whom you share it. Oh, E S K. Tony loves letters. Four roses, single barrel. And yeah, I like the ease. I think you go pick up a few, and you also pick up the uh or download or whatever the fuck you do with music nowadays, the Charlie Crockett album. Thanks for taking a listen. Yeah, cheers guys. Sorry if I was too hard on you today, Tony. Oh I apologize. I'm not crying.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

I don't want to water down my bourbon.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Saturday night. We're in West Lake. The very next morning, down to Houston on the plain. One more night in Kansas City, I wish I was going home. Own star roads like a river down and just gone by the time. Got the feeling alright. Seven days a week.