Today’s review is of a whiskey I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on for several months. Four Roses single barrels take advantage of one of the more interesting product variations in all of American whiskey. Four Roses creates their whisky based on two different mashbills and five different yeasts allowing for ten completely different recipes combinations. One of the best parts about Four Roses Private Selections is that whiskey from ten different barrels could potentially have ten different flavor profiles. If you’re not familiar with the different variations, this handy graphic should help. The code follows the format O[E/B]S[V/K/O/Q/F]
In reality, there’s a lot of overlap in flavors between the recipes. There’s also inherent variance that comes with comparing single barrels. In the right aging conditions, maybe a barrel of OESO whiskey tastes a lot like an OBSF. In any case, the recipes give you a good starting point for a base flavor profile.
This Private Selection was selected on site at the distillery by private barrel pick group Charred Barrel last fall. This is an OBSK whiskey that aged for 8 years and 10 months in Warehouse K before being selected and bottled at 60.3% ABV. The neck tag describes OBSK whiskey as “Rich in Spiciness, Full Body.”
Let’s see how close that assessment is.
| Category | Notes |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Walnut |
| Nose | Opens with brown sugar and toffee, ripe peaches, honey, a bit of sweet corn, Dr. Pepper, almond, hint of red hots, some black pepper. |
| Taste | A triplet of allspice, cherries and caramel up front followed by oak and anise, vanilla, butterscotch, hint of Yoo-hoo, some nice rye spice, and a bit of orange zest. |
| Finish | Fresh mint and assorted botanicals, some nice oak, clove, vanilla, cherry cola, herbal, candied walnuts. Oak and sugar sweetness is the last to fade in a medium-long finish. I was also expecting a lot more heat. |
| Overall Thoughts | Right of the bat, this drinks WAY under proof. If I had this blind, I would have guessed beween 100 and 110 proof. Defeinitely not over 120. There's some nice play here between spice, deep sweetness, and nuttiness. I tired this a few times several days apart and that first big blast of brown sugar on the nose is really nice. |
| Total Score | 89/100 |
