A young American whiskey that turns milk chocolate, toasted grain and pepper into something far more elegant than its age suggests.
Stats
- Type: American Whiskey
- Age: 2-4 year
- Proof: 110 (55% ABV)
- Mashbills: 100% two-row pale ale malted barley
- Origin: Brother Justus — Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Blend Components: 56% aged 4 years, 8% aged 3 years, 36% aged 2 years
- Finishing Cask: None
- Release: Limited release, blended, finished
- MSRP: $149.99 / 750 mL (via Brother Justus)
- Awards: ASCOT/Fred Minnick Top 5 American Whiskey of 2026.
Tasting Notes
- Nose: Rich milk chocolate leads the way, almost like a box of Whoppers, followed by sweet brown bread, vanilla cream and a touch of prune and red grape. There’s also a subtle toasted character underneath the sweetness that gives the nose some depth.
- Palate: The texture is silky and velvety, though slightly thinner than the nose initially suggests. Chocolate carries through beautifully, joined by more noticeable grain character and soft stone-fruit sweetness.
- Finish: A punch of black pepper arrives alongside Earl Grey tea before settling into a moderate-to-long finish. Sweet apple juice, earthy milk chocolate and a root beer-like note linger well after the sip.
Brother Justus Founders Reserve IV brings together rich milk chocolate, toasted grain, vanilla cream and a surprisingly lively peppery finish in a whiskey that feels more refined and layered than its predecessor. It may not have the immediate punch of Founders Reserve III, but give it time and its elegance starts to show.
Presentation
Brother Justus has made a fairly significant visual change since I reviewed Founders Reserve III. The bold but minimalist Christian cross that previously represented the brand’s relationship with faith is gone, replaced by a hammer.
I understand the change. Not everyone wants Christian iconography sitting on their whiskey shelf, and moving toward a more broadly accessible symbol potentially opens the brand up to a wider audience. The hammer itself works, too. It’s simple, memorable and representative of the craftsmanship and labor behind what’s in the bottle and the story of Brother Justus.
Still, I’ll admit I miss the old design a little.
There was something iconic in its simplicity, particularly on the flagship American single malt, where the relatively restrained label let the whiskey itself do much of the talking. The new design is perfectly attractive, but the original cross had a visual identity that felt unusually specific to Brother Justus.
There have been some other changes since Founders Reserve III as well, including adjustments to the coloring and labeling terminology. The bottle no longer uses “American Single Malt” in its title following the TTB’s adoption of official American Single Malt terminology; instead, this is now presented simply as an American whiskey.
Of course, those of us paying attention know the foundation of this whiskey is still single malt. The terminology may have changed, but the character in the glass certainly hasn’t lost its identity.
Distinctiveness
This is easily one of the most interesting pours I’ve had this year.
Milk chocolate isn’t particularly unusual in whiskey tasting notes, but Founders Reserve IV doesn’t merely brush against chocolate. It’s a defining part of the whiskey, arriving with the richness of Whoppers and chocolate malt, then carrying through the palate alongside toasted multi-barley grain.
Then the whiskey takes an unexpected turn.
The black pepper and Earl Grey tea on the finish keep the chocolate from becoming syrupy or dessert-like, while sweet apple juice, earthy chocolate and even a little root-beer character hang around after the sip. It’s a strange combination on paper that makes considerably more sense in the glass.
And that’s ultimately what makes IV so compelling. It’s not just different for the sake of being different. The individual pieces actually come together into something cohesive, distinctive and memorable.
“This is easily one of the most interesting pours I’ve had this year.”
Transparency
There’s very little mystery about what Brother Justus is doing here and I appreciate that.
The distillery is remarkably open about the fact that Founders Reserve IV contains younger whiskey, including the blend percentages and ages. The majority, by about 6%, is four years old, with the remainder being younger distillate.
Rather than trying to hide that information behind vague language or make the consumer dig for it, Brother Justus puts it out there.
And honestly? Good.
If the whiskey tastes this good, why pretend the age is something it isn’t?
That’s one of the reasons Founders Reserve IV makes for such an interesting bottle. It forces you to separate the number on the label from the whiskey in the glass. Brother Justus is effectively saying, here’s what we made, here’s how old it is, and here’s what we think it can do.
I respect that approach. Transparency doesn’t mean every consumer has to agree with the price or the blend. It means they have the information necessary to make that decision for themselves.
Value
Here’s where Founders Reserve IV gets really interesting.
A majority of this whiskey, by roughly 6%, is only four years old, while the remainder is younger. And yet the bottle carries a $149.99 price tag.
Normally, that’s a pretty easy place for me to start questioning the value proposition.
But Founders Reserve IV is one of those rare cases where I genuinely don’t think age matters much at all in valuation. This is a taste what’s in your glass and tell me if it’s worth it whiskey.
For me, it gets pretty darn close.
Is $150 difficult to justify for a bottle? Absolutely. That’s a lot of money for any whiskey, regardless of who’s making it. But this bottle makes a much stronger argument for that price than I expected it to, particularly considering the relatively young whiskey and the fact that we’re talking about a small craft producer.
Smaller barrels and the resulting increased wood interaction can certainly help accelerate maturation, so age isn’t the entire story here. But acceleration isn’t the same thing as automatically creating complexity—and Founders Reserve IV has enough going on in the glass to make the conversation worthwhile.
I wouldn’t tell someone that $149.99 is an obvious bargain. It isn’t.
But if you’re the kind of drinker who can forget the age statement, look past the number on the price tag for a moment, and simply ask “Is this whiskey worth drinking?”, Founders Reserve IV gives you a surprisingly compelling argument.
For me, it gets very, very close to yes.
Buy if:
- You want one of the year’s more distinctive craft pours.
- You love chocolate-forward whiskey with unexpected savory and earthy edges.
- You appreciate transparent producers willing to show exactly what’s in the bottle.
- You’re willing to pay a premium for a small-craft whiskey with personality.
Skip if:
- $150 is outside your comfort zone for a bottle.
- You place a high premium on age statements.
- You primarily want high-proof intensity and barrel spice.
- You prefer a thicker, heavier mouthfeel throughtout the experience.
Verdict
Wow. Brother Justus does it again.
Founders Reserve IV is a fascinating whiskey because it becomes more impressive the less you try to judge it by conventional bourbon metrics. The whiskey is young. The price is high. The proof isn’t trying to knock you out of your chair. And yet, none of those things really explain what happens once you actually sit down with the pour.
Compared with Founders Reserve III, IV feels like a more refined evolution. III has that deeper caramel, more immediate barrel spice and a hotter, heavier finish. It’s the whiskey that grabs you immediately. IV takes a different route: toasted grain, soft chocolate sweetness and a silky texture build into pepper, tea and an unexpectedly long, earthy finish.
I actually found myself leaning toward III when comparing the two, simply because I love that high-rye-style barrel spice character, even when the whiskey itself contains no rye. But that doesn’t diminish what IV is doing. If anything, it makes the progression between the two more interesting.
Founders Reserve III feels like the rougher, tougher cousin. IV feels like the refined version; the whiskey that shows a blender and distiller becoming increasingly comfortable with how to make these unusual components work together.
And that may be my biggest takeaway. Founders Reserve IV doesn’t need you to ignore its youth or its price. Brother Justus tells you exactly what it is. They simply made something delicious with it.
That’s a pretty compelling way to make a whiskey.
Bourbon Bishop Bottom Line:
Founders Reserve IV proves that young whiskey can be remarkably elegant when the blending is right: silky chocolate, toasted grain and pepper make this a $150 bottle that comes surprisingly close to earning its price.
For those who prefer numbers, here’s the full score breakdown:
- Nose: 6.5 / 7
- Palate: 6 / 7
- Finish: 6.5 / 7
- Presentation: 5.75 / 7
- Distinctiveness: 6.5 / 7
- Transparency: 7 / 7
- Value: 5.4 / 7
Bourbon Bishop Rating: 6.24 / 7 – Holy Heaven
Out-of-this-world. A true unicorn.
| Score | Descriptor | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | Hell No | Drain pour. Seriously undrinkable. |
| 1.1–2 | Purgatory | Bad, but could be worse. Only in extreme cases. |
| 2.1–3 | Only Earthly | Just okay. Best used as a mixer. |
| 3.1–4 | Bliss | Passable to Good sipper. Works well in cocktails. |
| 4.1–5 | Angelic | Good to great. Often high value for the price. |
| 5.1–6 | Divine | Top-shelf. Must-buy for fans of the style. |
| 6.1–7 | Holy Heaven | Out-of-this-world. A true unicorn. |
Disclosure: This bottle was provided to me free of charge for review. All opinions are my own.
About Brother Justus
Based in Minneapolis, Brother Justus Whiskey Co. is a craft distillery built around a simple philosophy: quality over category. Rather than making whiskey simply to fit an established mold, Brother Justus follows flavor wherever it leads, using 100% malted barley and Minnesota-sourced ingredients to create American whiskey with a distinctly Northern identity.
That sense of place runs throughout the whiskey. Brother Justus uses Minnesota barley, Minnesota oak and water from the Mississippi River headwaters, with the state’s extreme climate playing an important role in how its whiskey matures. The company was founded by Phil Steger, whose interest in whiskey grew from a lifelong connection to Minnesota, the monastic tradition and a desire to build something that could become its own American whiskey lineage rather than simply imitate Kentucky or Scotch.
The name comes from Brother Justus Trettel, a Minnesota Benedictine monk and blacksmith who made and taught whiskey during Prohibition. Today, the hammer featured on Brother Justus’ label honors that legacy of craft, conviction and independence; values that remain central to the distillery’s approach to making whiskey.
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