Woodford Reserve Masters Collection Four Grain Bourbon Batch #2

Woodford Reserve Masters Collection Four Grain Bourbon Batch #2 — the second annual release of the Four Grain expression: a Kentucky Straight Bourbon using the same four-grain mash bill of corn, wheat, rye, and malted barley that launched the Masters Collection as its founding release in 2005, with the second batch offering a distinct character from the first as a different year's barrels and maturation conditions produce subtle variations in the expression.

The Four Grain is the expression that started it all. When Master Distiller Chris Morris introduced the Masters Collection in 2005, he chose grain as the first flavor source to explore — adding wheat to Woodford's standard corn, rye, and malted barley mash bill to create a four-grain bourbon at a time when no major distillery had done this for over a century. The Masters Collection philosophy — change one flavor source, isolate the result — has driven the series through 20 annual releases. Batch #2 of the Four Grain continues the founding expression with a different set of mature barrels, demonstrating the year-over-year variation that even the same mash bill can produce.

The Four Grain's distinctive quality is the coexistence of both rye and wheat in the mash: rye's spice and structure alongside wheat's softness and sweetness, producing a bourbon that doesn't fully resemble either a standard high-rye bourbon or a wheated bourbon but draws on both grain traditions simultaneously.

Tasting Notes

• Nose: Four-grain complexity — corn sweetness, rye spice, wheat softness, and malted barley nuttiness layered with the triple pot still's fruit and caramel contribution
• Palate: Grain complexity more nuanced than standard Woodford — rye spice and wheat softness interact distinctly, producing a profile distinct from both standard high-rye and wheated bourbon expressions
• Finish: Medium-long with grain-forward warmth, gentle spice, and warm oak

Specs

• Distillery: Woodford Reserve Distillery, Versailles, Kentucky
• Style: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Masters Collection Four Grain
• Mash Bill: Four grains — corn, wheat, rye, and malted barley
• Distillation: Triple copper pot still
• Release: Batch #2

Browse the full Woodford Reserve collection at Wooden Cork.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How does Batch #2 differ from Batch #1? Same mash bill, same production process, different set of barrels at maturation. The natural variation between barrel batches — different ages, different warehouse positions, different maturation conditions — produces subtle character differences between batches of the same recipe.
• Is the Four Grain a wheated bourbon? No — a wheated bourbon replaces rye with wheat entirely. Four Grain includes both grains simultaneously, producing a more complex grain interaction than either pure high-rye or wheated bourbon achieves alone.
• Why is the Four Grain the Masters Collection founding release? In 2005 Master Distiller Chris Morris chose grain as the first of Woodford's five flavor sources to explore experimentally, launching a series now in its 20th year. The Four Grain addition of wheat to bourbon's standard grain bill was unprecedented in commercial production at the time.