25-04-2025
Whiskeys Of The Week: Four Roses Bourbon Single Barrel Collection
Four Roses is, for whatever reason, one of those bourbons I tend to forget about... until I drink it and I'm reminded of just how delicious it is. Not to mention affordable — even their higher-end Single Barrel and Small Batch Select expressions can be found in the neighborhood of $50 a bottle. Maybe that reliability makes it less... sexy? Which is why I tend to forget about it. Which is just plain silly.
Anyway, Four Roses is doing its bit to become more sexy, without resorting to gimmicks to do it. No awamori cask finishes, no LeBron James-themed artwork on the bottle, no barrels aged in outer space. Four Roses rests its reputation on its ten different recipes. It uses two different mashbills: one is 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% malted barley; the other is 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% malted barley. It combines those mashbills with five different yeast strains, each of which lends the finished product a distinct flavor, from herbal to fruity to spicy. Those yeast strains are, for me, what makes Four Roses stand out from the crowd — most American whiskeys use one proprietary yeast strain and mess around with the mashbills when they want to create something new.
Those ten recipes have historically been blended together to create various iterations of Four Roses, with the exception of the Single Barrel release, which was first launched in 2004 and employs the OBSV recipe. What the heck does that mean? Well, all Four Roses recipes start with 'O,' meaning they're made at the Four Roses distillery, and the third letter is always 'S,' which stands for 'straight bourbon.' The second letter represents the mashbill ('B' is higher in rye, 'E' contains more corn), and the fourth represents the yeast strain. So OBSV is a high-rye mashbill with a delicately fruity yeast strain. Got it? No? Heck, after decades of drinking Four Roses, I still need a cheat sheet to remember what's what, so let this be yours if you need it.
Four bottles, four recipes, one venerable distillery.
Photo courtesy Four Roses
Anyway, as I was saying, OBSV is the only one of the ten recipes that Four Roses has bottled individually... until 2023, when the distillery released the Ten Recipe Tasting Experience: mini bottles of all ten recipes, handsomely packaged complete with a QR code to access a virtual tasting with master distiller Brent Elliott.
The set was a hit, so much so that full bottles of the individual recipes are now hitting the shelves as the Four Roses Single Barrel Collection. In addition to the classic OBSV recipe, three more recipes will be bottled as single barrel releases each year. The first three are — drumroll please — OBSF, OESK, and OESO. All aged 7-9 years, all bottled at 50% ABV, all at a very reasonable $49.99 suggested retail price. $200 is considered a reasonable price for a single barrel bourbon from many a less reputable distillery, and you can get four distinct Four Roses bottles for that. Why, that's sixteen roses!
Suppose, however, you don't want four bottles of Four Roses. Which one to get? I myself am a staunch advocate for the classic OBSV, with its flavors of dark fruit, chocolate, and a delicate touch of oaky spice. Yes, it's been around for a while, but with good reason. If you're new to the brand, it's the one to start with. If, however, you're looking for a contrast to the classic, my pick is the OBSF. The mashbill is the same, but yeast strain F gives it a dry, herbaceous flavor that's distinct from most of the blends Brent Elliott puts together — if OBSV emphasizes the rye's fruitiness, then OBSF plays up the flavor of rye bread, with a little fresh mint in there as well.
As for OESK and OESO, the other two recipes featured this year, both employ the low-rye mashbill. OESK has a more pronounced fruity sweetness, with notes of cherry candy, vanilla custard and baking spices — if you like dessert-in-a-glass type bourbons, this is for you. OESO is on the spicier side, though the spice in question is cinnamon, not the black pepper notes you'll find in many older, more tannic bourbons. There's dry oakiness as well, but it's tempered by rich caramel and a touch of vanilla.
In a nutshell, you can't go wrong with any of these picks. I'm already looking forward to the three not-yet-revealed recipes Four Roses will be putting out next year. And if you miss any of this year's batch, not to worry — they'll return in three years or so, assuming my math is correct.
