Head to head · same category, comparable price
Four Roses Small Batch vs Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
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 | Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Bourbon | Bourbon |
| Origin | Kentucky, United States | Kentucky, United States |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | 45% ABV | 45.2% ABV |
| Cask | New charred oak barrel | New charred American oak |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £34 | £38 |
| Per 10cl | £4.86 | £5.43 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £108 | £120 |
| 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, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select in new charred american oak.
Neither states chill filtration.
Colour: Four Roses Small Batch natural colour, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select silent.
What the price buys
Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select is £4.00 dearer a bottle than Four Roses Small Batch.
Strength keeps that ordering: £108 a litre of pure alcohol for Four Roses Small Batch against £120.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Four Roses Small Batch is 7th cheapest and Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select 9th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Four Roses Small Batch | Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet | 6 | 6 |
| Fruity | 5 | 5 |
| Spicy | 7 | 6 |
| Woody | 6 | 6 |
| Sherried | 1 | 1 |
| Cereal | 4 | 4 |
| Oily | 6 | 6 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is spicy, 7 against 6.
Identical on peaty, sweet, fruity, woody, sherried, cereal and oily.
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 →Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
Dried fruit, mint and cocoa. Rounder and less sweet than most at the price.
Woodford is the rare Kentucky bourbon distilled in copper pot stills. The 45.2% we list is the producer's own figure (90.4 proof); a 43.2% UK/EU bottling is widely reported but we could not verify it on any producer or retailer page. Despite common belief, Woodford publishes no mash bill percentages anywhere.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Four Roses Small Batch for value, cocktails and transparency, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select for mint julep and cocktails that need body.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Four Roses Small Batch and Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select: fourrosesbourbon.com, woodfordreserve.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.