bringing drinks to life

This week I am feeling pretty lucky. You see Jim Rutledge, the Master Distiller from Four Roses is over in the UK and I have been invited to tag along with him as he does various events and trainings in bars across London, Leeds and Glasgow. He's here in the UK to kick start the new focus that Four Roses has on the UK market, since teaming up with InSpirit. So as we reach the half way point in Jim's stay I thought it only right to share some Jim's teachings and insight with those who've not been able to meet him in person.

I thought I would pick one day during his visit and share my notes from his training sessions as they panned out across the day... I guess I had better start with the bourbon Breakfast. That's right, you heard me, bourbon Breakfast!

Yesterday started with a small group of us meeting Jim for breakfast at Smith's of Smithfield as a chance for a few industry bods to get to know him in a fairly relaxed setting. It was only a matter of time before someone suggested that we 'just quickly run through the range' (while tucking into a full English fry up of epic proportions). I should state for the record that it's not my usual practice to have neat bourbon with my breakfast... but actually it did go really well with the bacon! So Jim kindly obliged by giving us a brief run through of the three products in the Four Roses range, Yellow Label, Small Batch and Single Barrel. He also talked a little about the history of Four Roses and how it has arrived at this point in time:  its rejuvination.

You see Four Roses has suffered a combination of bad decisions, bad publicity and misunderstandings over the years, so Jim is a man on a mission to make-good the past problems and paint a bright picture for the brand's future. Four Roses was one of only six distilleries that were allowed to continue bourbon production during prohibition (for medicinal whiskey) and as such, when that era ended the brand was well recognised by the public and quickly became the best selling bourbon in the US. At around this time a company called Seagrams, the dominating player in the drinks industry, decided to buy Four Roses mainly so that they could ride on the strength of the name. Unfortunately they slapped the brand on a blended whiskey (a cheaper product not produced to the strict rules of bourbon production and not even produced at the Four Roses distillery) and set about hitting the market with what was, in Jim's words, 'rot gut with our name on the bottle'.   But what did they do with the real Four Roses bourbon I hear you ask?  Well they sent it overseas to Europe and Asia where big money was to be made, leaving only the cheaper 'Four Roses' in the USA.

Jim is clearly passionate about his bourbon and has fought for years to reintroduce Four Roses to the US, but it wasn't until Seagrams went out of business that he finally got his chance. Of course relaunching Four Roses Bourbon  when there had already been a Four Roses Whiskey on the market confused a lot of people and even today there is much confusion over whether Four Roses is a Bourbon or a Blended Whiskey... It is a Bourbon. Full stop. End of discussion. Any questions? No? Good.  So wherever you are in the world, you can be sure that the Four Roses you're drinking is made to the guidelines that define Bourbon; here are a few of the key ones:

1. Bourbon must be made from a grain mix with a minimum of 51% corn

2. Bourbon must be aged in charred, NEW oak barrels

3. Bourbon must be aged for a minimum of 2 years and if aged for less than 4 years must state the length of aging on the label

4. Bourbon must be distilled to no more than 160 proof (80% abv) 

5. Bourbon must be put into the barrels at no higher than 125 proof (62.5% abv)

6. Nothing may be added to affect the flavour or colour of the Bourbon

Now you would think it would be a relatively simple job to clear up a little bit of market confusion, especially after pulling all the nastly 'rot gut' off the shelves and relaunching Four Roses as a proper Bourbon, but unfortunately the very thing that's unique about Four Roses also proved to be a problem. When we moved on to our first proper training session of the day at the Hoxton Pony Jim elaborated.

Four Roses does something that no other bourbon producer does. You see traditionally a Bourbon House uses one recipe or 'mash bill' (basically a recipe of which percentage of which grains they use to make their bourbon) and they have one yeast strain that they use to ferment. When it comes to yeast the exact strains are a closely guarded secret as this is largely what gives each bourbon its unique character. A company wanting to produce different bourbon products from their recipe will simply age it for different periods of time, use differently charred barrels, or age them in different locations within different warehouses. This allows them to have different products all from one basic recipe.

Four Roses uses two recipes and has five yeast strains... so they are able to produce 10 distinctly different bourbons. These are then aged and once they reach maturity are mixed together (the bourbon industry shies away from the term blended as it relates closely to Scotch and Canadian whiskies) to create the final product. In the case of Yellow Label all 10 recipes are blended in different ratios to create the final flavour profile. With Small Batch they use just four recipes and just 18 barrels to create the right taste. Obviously Single Barrel is exactly that... one barrel of one recipe, bottled individually.

Getting back to my original point, the fact that Jim 'blends' 10 different recipes led to a lot of speculation about whether Four Roses was still producing a 'blended whiskey'. It has taken a while for the truth to prevail but finally this is becoming a less common question at Jim's training sessions. So having cleared up that myth once and for all, Jim moved on to explain a little more about why they use their unique multi-recipe process and what effect it has on the finished product.

Four Roses has by far the highest rye content of any bourbon and it would be easy to assume that all three products in their range would be big spicy bourbons because as a result. Mash bills vary from 20% rye, 5% barley, 75% corn to 35% rye, 5% barley and 60% corn, yet it is the different yeast strains they use that ultimately determine the basic flavour profile. You see each yeast strain enhances certain properties of the grains as they ferments. Some yeasts draw out the spicy notes, others will allow the fruity notes to dominate or even floral and herbal notes. Having done a tasting of different barrels at Four Roses back in July (we tried seven different recipes) I can tell you that it's remarkable how different each one is! So by carefully blending these different recipes, Four Roses have the ability to produce very well balanced and very different bourbons. 

As I said earlier the Yellow Label is a combination of all 10 recipes, selected in various proportions that closely match the desired flavour profile. On the subject of consistency Jim simply says it's impossible to make every batch taste the same as every barrel is unique, but he believes that the Four Roses method of combining 10 recipes allows him to have the most consistent product of all the bourbon producers.

As for Small Batch, it's a blend of just four of their recipes, two from each mash bill but with two different yeast strains. The yeasts were specifically selected to draw out the subtle fruity notes in the finished product, to balance the high rye content of this product (average 27.5% rye). The result is a very elegant and subtle bourbon that shows both a delicate fruitiness and a gentle spice. It was interesting to see that at all the tastings we did there was an almost even split of people preferring Small Batch or Single Barrel. The two are distinctly different products, both good but both with their own personalities.

Single Barrel is exactly that, a single barrel of the higher rye recipe bottled individually as needed. There is no confusion here, they use the same recipe with the same yeast strain every time. Big rye and bold fruitiness create a complex and big bourbon. This is much more masculine than the Small Batch.

After The Pony we moved on to Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen where Jim did the second full training of the day. Here the audience were a little less forthcoming with questions, but with Jim's encouragement they were soon hooked and we got a chance to hear about some of the concerns that people have about the bourbon industry. Jim talked about the use of American White Oak for barrels and the fact that although this is the preferred Oak, it's not the only one they could use. Someone asked him about the sustainability of harvesting the Oaks for barrels, so Jim explained how the harvesting works. You see American White Oaks grow all over the central and southern states but (fortunately) gone are the days when cooperages they would clear cut a forest, now they selectively harvest areas leaving plenty of trees to continue growing while harvesting moves to a different area. By doing this the trees grow better and by rotating between five or six areas, each of which is harvested for five years or so, the process is entirely sustainable. In fact there are more White Oaks today than there were 40 years ago, because of this careful harvesting process.

From The HSBK we moved on to our final training of the day at The Light Bar in Shoreditch. This was attended by about 40 bartenders from various bars across east and central London. This session gave us a chance to discuss how bourbon ages. There are no hard and fast rules but it is generally accepted that most bourbons reach their peak (in terms af flavour) at between six and eight years, anything beyond this and they are largely just taking on additional wood flavours from the barrel. Jim talked about how this compares to the aging of Whisky in Scotland, and research that was done in the 40s, 50s and 60s that showed that it took about 22.4 years (on average) for a scotch to reach the same level of maturity as a six year old bourbon.

Now the two products are very different but what Jim took from this was the fact that because bourbon uses new barrels that have been charred, they benefit from the first-time hot at all the char and the sugars in the wood, so the product ages quickly and takes on a full rich flavour in just a few years. Climate is also a key factor; Kentucky enjoys about as many warm days as it does cold and this is perfect for aging a spirit, it means that the expansion and contraction of the liquid in the barrel is extreme and as such it interacts with the wood of the barrel to the maximum effect. In short the rules that govern bourbon and the area in which it is produced result in a unique spirit that is distinct and different from all other whiskies produced anywhere else in the world.

The session also went in to depth about the still used, the fermentation process and of course the usual debate about which bourbon in the range everyone preferred. The split between Single Barrel fans and Small Batch fans was once again 50-50 with Sarah Mitchell from Townhouse, Paul Bradley from Citizen Smith and myself firmly in the corner of Single Barrel, and Tom Pook, James York-Pryce and Will Foster of Casita all liking the Small Batch best. I guess that is one of the things that I like best about Four Roses, there is something for everyone.

Right I am getting thirsty with all this talk about bourbon, so maybe it is time to grab the Small Batch (it may not be my favourite neat, but it is so great to mix with and is fast becoming my go-to cocktail bourbon) and whip up a Marmalade Julep or two.

MARMALADE JULEP

60 ml Four Roses Small Batch bourbon

1 very heaped barspoon of orange marmalade

8 - 10 mint leaves

2 big sprigs of mint to garnish

In a jam jar (yep, we've embraced our country cousins in the Southern States) add the bourbon, marmalade and mint leaves and mix with the spoon untill the marmalade is breaking down. Add a good scoop of crushed ice and put the lid on and give it a quick shake. Take off the lid, top with more crushed ice and garnish with the mint sprigs and a couple of straws.