🥃Review 87: Four Roses Single Barrel - OBSV

Four Roses has long been praised for the quality and consistency of its single barrel editions. They currently release a number of their ten recipes as single barrels, but this is from the original OBSV recipe "standard" bottling that is most prevalent. If you're not familiar with Four Roses recipe codes they follow a structured format:

1. Distillery - "O" for all recipes, meaning distilled at Four Roses Distillery
2. Mash Bill - either "B" (60% Corn, 35% Rye, 5% Barley) or "E"(75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Barley)
3. Straight Whiskey - "S" for all editions
4. Yeast Strain - V(Delicate Fruit), K(Spice), O (Rich Fruit, Q(Floral),or F(Herbal).

The combination of the two mashes and five yeasts yields 10 possible variations. If your head isn't already spinning, Four Roses also includes the exact warehouse aging location for each single barrel. This one is from Rickhouse TS and has the code 49-3C which means rick/row number 39, tier 3 (height), and position 3 (C=3 into the rick/deep). The warehouses have tiers 1-6 with lower ones having less temperature interaction for lower proof and less wood while the opposite will be true of the high tiers. I tend to seek out those in tier 3/4 when I get the chance as they'll have the most balanced aging experience.

🛒Sourced: $42.99 at Tower Beer Wine & Spirits, GA - 750ml. A pretty darn good value for the proof and age.

🧪Proof: 100 proof, 50% ABV 

🎨Color: Y5 - honeycomb yellow, decently leggy

🥔Mash Bill & Production: 60% Corn, 35% Rye, 5% Barley per the "B" recipe above. This is the very high rye mash bill and brings plenty of spice.

• Distiller's Beer: 8% ABV
• Distillation Proof: 138-140
• Age - No Age statement - Marketed on their website as 7 - 9 Years.
• Barrel Entry Proof - 120
• Char - 45 second burn, ~3.5 (between #3 and #4)
• Batch Size - 1 Single Barrel
• Chill Filtered - Yes

Four Roses uses single story warehouses which means that temperatures are much more consistent, around 8 degrees different between top rick and bottom. Compare this to a 30 degree differential in some of the taller rickhouses used by their competitors and you can start to understand how they are able to more easily offer a consistent single barrel experience. Barrels that don't make the cut are dumped into yellow label or or small batch select.

👃Nose: Ample fruit and spice with date, nutmeg, figs, and ripe plum.

😜Palate: Relatively smooth on the tongue but with a little bit of rye spice tingle into the finish which keeps it interesting. True to nose though more baking spice than fruit. Medium thickness and pleasant mouthfeel; roll it around to maximize flavor. It feels like it should be sweeter from the nose, but there is a little white pepper aspect to balance well.

💦Finish: Somewhat short, there is a good nip of clove and allspice that tapers into a lingering warmth after the flavor fades. Cozy.

🏆 Overall:  7.5/10 - Great - OBSV lives up to its expectation and is a solid pour and an even more solid price. This particular barrel is a great spice bomb while remaining temperate and easy-drinking. I'm a pretty big fan!

💵Would buy again? Sure, I also need to get the batched full proof in the rotation at some point. This bottle is a phenomenal value.

🙈Blind Tastings:

• 5/18/26 - OBSV > Russell's Single Barrel > Green River Full Proof
• 3/30/26 - OBSV > Russell's Single Barrel > Dickel 12