Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Four Roses Small Batch vs Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
No flavour axis separates these two, so the choice is price and occasion.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Four Roses Small Batch | Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Bourbon | Bourbon |
| Origin | Kentucky, United States | Kentucky, United States |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | 45% ABV | 45.7% ABV |
| Cask | New charred oak barrel | Fire-charred new American white oak, air-seasoned 18-60 months, toasted before charring |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £34 | £58 |
| Per 10cl | £4.86 | £8.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £108 | £181 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Kentucky whiskies, from different distilleries.
Neither carries an age statement, so neither discloses its youngest spirit.
Cask as each producer describes it: Four Roses Small Batch in new charred oak barrel, Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon in fire-charred new american white oak, air-seasoned 18-60 months, toasted before charring.
Neither states chill filtration.
Colour: Four Roses Small Batch natural colour, Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon natural colour.
What the price buys
Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon is £24 dearer a bottle than Four Roses Small Batch.
Strength keeps that ordering: £108 a litre of pure alcohol for Four Roses Small Batch against £181.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Four Roses Small Batch is 7th cheapest and Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon 25th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Four Roses Small Batch | Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet | 6 | 7 |
| Fruity | 5 | 5 |
| Spicy | 7 | 6 |
| Woody | 6 | 7 |
| Sherried | 1 | 1 |
| Cereal | 4 | 4 |
| Oily | 6 | 7 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is sweet, 6 against 7.
Identical on peaty, fruity, sherried and cereal.
Each bottle in its own right
Four Roses Small Batch
Red fruit and rye spice, cleanly made. One of the few bourbons that tells you its recipe.
Four Roses is one of the very few American distillers to publish actual mash bills: this blends recipes B (60% corn / 35% rye / 5% barley) and E (75% / 20% / 5%). Its single-storey rack warehouses vary only about 8°F from top rack to bottom.
Full record →Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Rich caramel and baking spice with unusual depth for the strength. Genuinely small batch.
Actually small batch, unlike most bottles using the phrase: Michter's states each batch is held in a tank sized for a maximum of twenty barrels. It also publishes a barrel entry proof of 103 against the 125 legal maximum, which is unusually low and unusually disclosed.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Four Roses Small Batch for value, cocktails and transparency, Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon for sipping neat.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Four Roses Small Batch and Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon: fourrosesbourbon.com, michters.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.