Four Roses Single Barrel Selections: OBSV, OBSF, OESK, OESO and Small Batch Bourbon Reviews

 

One of the most iconic American distilleries is Four Roses Bourbon. It has two Kentucky locations: the bottling and warehouse operation in Coxs Creek and the main campus in Lawrenceburg.

 

The facts of its beginnings are murky. According to the distillery, it was founded by Paul Jones, Jr. in 1888 but had been producing whiskey since the 1960s. Another theory is Rufus Matthewson Rose, a druggist, created it in 1867 as the R. M. Rose Co. Distillery in Vinings, Georgia. The name Four Roses represented Rufus, his brother Origen, and the sons of Rufus and Origen. Whichever story is true, the Lawrenceburg distillery was established in 1910 as Old Prentice Distillery, owned by J.T.S. Brown.

 

In 1922, The Paul Jones Company acquired Frankfort Distilling Company and a license to sell Four Roses as medicinal whiskey during Prohibition. In 1943, Frankfort Distilling Company was purchased by Seagram for the sole purpose of the Four Roses name. Despite Four Roses being the best-selling Bourbon at the time, Seagram halted sales in the United States, and it became an export-only whiskey, where it enjoyed a massive following in Europe and Japan.

 

That’s when Jim Rutledge came to the scene. Many of us recognize Jim as the previous Four Roses Master Distiller. He started with Seagram, and in 1975, he was transferred to its New York City headquarters. In 1992, he requested to be relocated back to his home in Lawrenceburg, and three years later, Jim replaced Ova Haney as Master Distiller. His goal was to bring Four Roses back to the United States market.

 

Then, in 2002, the Kirin Brewing Company, Ltd. purchased Four Roses from Seagram and greenlighted its return to American store shelves. Six years later, Al Young, the former pretty much everything at Four Roses, became its national brand ambassador. Jim Rutledge handed the reigns to Brent Elliott in 2015, its current Master Distiller.

 

Four Roses produces ten decidedly different Bourbons, which are called recipes. Most of them blended as Four Roses Yellow Label, Four Roses Small Batch, and, most recently, Four Roses Small Batch Select.  

 

Each recipe has a four-digit code.  Two of the four digits are always O _ S  _. The blanks are what matters. There is a 35% high-rye mash labeled B and a 20% low-rye mash labeled E. Then, the last digit tells you about the yeast:

 

V = Delicate

K = Baking Spice

O = Rich Fruit

Q = Floral Essence

F = Herbal Notes

 

If you take the five yeast strains and two mashes, you get ten combinations. Make sense?

 

Four Roses has also offered a retail version of its Single Barrel Bourbon for many years. It was always the OBSV recipe. The other nine were available only as private barrel picks. Incidentally, in 2013, I participated in my first barrel pick; we chose OBSO.

 

We will explore four single-barrel variants: OBSV, OBSF, OESK, and OESO. Four Roses was kind enough to send me samples of each in exchange for my no-strings-attached, honest review. I also came across an older media sample of Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon and will include that as well.

 

Each single barrel is aged between seven and nine years, packaged at 50% ABV (100°), and has a suggested retail price of $49.99 for 750ml. Beyond the OBSV, the other Single Barrels are new to the retail market. They’re also non-chill filtered.

 

Before I #DrinkCurious, you should know that I sipped each one neat from a fresh Glencairn glass and allowed adequate time to recharge my palate.

 

Single Barrel OBSV

 

 

Appearance: The OBSV Single Barrel had a honey gold color. A fragile rim released tightly spaced, slow, syrupy tears.

 

Nose: The aroma began with honey, vanilla, oak, and cinnamon. Inside my mouth, the air tasted of raw honey.

 

Palate: OBSV’s texture was thin and silky. The front was fruity with apricots, apples, and honey. My mid-palate plucked leather, brown sugar, and vanilla. The back had rye and cinnamon spices along with toasted oak.

 

Finish: Black pepper, rye spice, cinnamon, and oak rounded everything out, with a duration of 1:47, making it medium-long.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: There’s really nothing to dislike with this Bourbon. I’ve been drinking OBSV for years. While every single barrel is, by nature, unique, OBSV is consistently delicious and well-balanced. I loved the fruity, spicy combination. It is well worth the $49.99 investment and earned my Bottle rating.

 

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Single Barrel OBSF

 

 

Appearance: OBSF possessed an orange-amber color. The liquid formed a thicker rim that shed widely spaced, dense, slow tears.

 

Nose: I smelled sandalwood, clove, vanilla, and apples. Drawing the air through my lips presented rich vanilla.

 

Palate: OBSF had a thin and oily mouthfeel. Flavors of apples, caramel, and rye formed the front. The middle included dill, oak, and marjoram. The back tasted of chocolate, clove, and cinnamon.

 

Finish: At 1:55, the medium-long finish featured chocolate, clove, rye, and oak. It started soft and slowly built into a spicy, savory experience.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: Herbal notes are always a crap shoot with me. For the most part, I don’t enjoy them. Yet, Four Roses Single Barrel OBSF is a well-balanced Bourbon. While the herbs are noticeable, they aren’t overpowering and allow other flavors to permeate my tongue and throat. It is a tasty combination that just works, and this Bourbon deserves my Bottle rating.

 

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Single Barrel OESK

 

 

Appearance: The brass colored Bourbon created a thin, beaded rim which created tightly spaced, fast, thicker tears.

 

Nose: My olfactory sense discovered black tea, charred oak, nutmeg, cocoa, and a hint of rye spice. The air in my mouth reminded me of brown sugar.

 

Palate: There was a creamy texture. The front of my palate encountered cocoa, nutmeg, and cardamom. My mid-palate found black tea, caramel, and red berries. Clove, freshly cracked black pepper, and oak spice were on the back.

 

Finish: Black pepper, clove, fennel, black tea, and caramel notes were all over this finish. OESK’s finish seemed to run forever. When I thought it was done, it was like an infomercial: Wait, there’s more! I timed it at 4:04.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: With all of the savory and spice notes, I was a little shocked when the red berries came into play. It wasn’t a long-lasting flavor; the others beat it into submission. Yet, it was memorable. I might have thought differently about the sipping experience if it didn't appear. As it stands, a Bottle rating seems well-deserved.  

 

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Single Barrel OESO

 

 

Appearance: The deep, orange amber color was enticing. The Bourbon created a thin rim with almost overlapping, pencil-thin tears crawling down my glass's side.

 

Nose: The aroma included ripe plums, brown sugar, raisins, dried apricots, and sandalwood. Drawing the vapor into my mouth brought rich vanilla.

 

Palate: OESO had a thick, velvety texture. Plums, cherries, and vanilla battered the front of my palate and tried to subdue the mid-palate, where I found caramel, milk chocolate, and raisins. The back featured dry oak, clove, and light cinnamon.  

 

Finish: Raisins. Plums. Cherries. Caramel. Vanilla. Those were the sweeter notes. Cinnamon and oak fought for attention but lost. It clocked in at only 0:56, making it medium-short.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: The O yeast has always had a special place in my heart. Between OESO and OBSO, I prefer the latter, but I’ve never been one to deny the former a fair shot. The retail release of OESO was excellent; I loved the fruity notes, which wrestled with the spices. OESO is so deep in my Bottle venue that it isn’t even close.

 

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Small Batch Bourbon

 

 

Four Roses Small Batch is a long-time staple for nearly any bar. It is affordable, tasty, and gives an idea of the quality Four Roses has to offer. It is a blend of OBSO, OBSK, OESO, and OESK and consists of about 250 barrels. While it carries no age statement, the whiskeys involved are typically six and seven years old. Small Batch is chill-filtered and packaged at 45% ABV (90°). This Bourbon can be found for around $38.00 for 750ml.

 

Appearance: The orange whiskey produced a medium rim with medium-spaced, thick, fast tears.

 

Nose: I smelled bubble gum, vanilla, lightly charred oak, and caramel. When I pulled the air into my mouth, I discovered vanilla.

 

Palate: Four Roses Small Batch had an oily texture. Flavors of apples, pears, and apricots made up the front, while the middle offered vanilla, caramel, and cherries. The back included cinnamon, rye spice, and black pepper.

 

Finish: Flavors of black pepper, clove, rye spice, cherries, and vanilla stuck around, with the black pepper lasting the longest. The duration weighed in at 1:49, making it medium-long.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: There’s a reason that Four Roses Small Batch is so prevalent, and that’s because it is an affordable sipper with a lot of character and depth. It drinks slightly above the stated proof and has earned its mass appeal. There’s no reason to dislike Small Batch; it takes my Bottle rating.

 

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Final Thoughts: Four Roses deserves its well-received reputation. I was a Jim Rutledge fan and deeply respect Brent Elliott. They’re both talented distillers.

 

Without a doubt, OESO was my favorite of the five. Next came OBSV, OBSF, and the Small Batch, followed by OESK. Cheers!

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit but begs you to do so responsibly.