Four Roses OBSO Single Barrel Overview
Four Roses Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon is something special. The recent bourbon boom has made it extremely difficult to find well aged, barrel strength bourbon at all, let alone a reasonable price. I believe Four Roses Distillery has done a fantastic job of putting out high quality single barrel bourbon in a time that other distilleries are having trouble keeping up with demand. Now these are not the easiest bottles to find but they are much more available than some of the Stagg Jr’s, EH Taylor Barrel Proof or other highly allocated products. MSRP on the Single Barrel Barrel Strength is around $90 per bottle (these were around $55-$60 in 2015) which is a fairly drastic increase and not pocket change. However I would argue that the quality and transparency you are getting from Four Roses is second to none and these are more often than not worth the price tag.
The amount of information located on these Four Roses Single Barrel Private Selection bottles is astounding. For example, the bottle I am going to review below has a front and a side label. The side label tells us that this is an OBSO Four Roses recipe. OBSO is one of the ten unique bourbon recipes produced by Four Roses using two different mash bills and five different yeast strains. This recipe has the high rye B mash bill (35% rye, 60% corn, 5% malted barley) and the O yeast strain that adds notes of rich fruit (ripe berries and fresh cherries). It is also shown that this barrel was aged 9 years and it was selected by a liquor store, East Bay in California. The small label on the bottom front tells us that this barrel is 55.1% ABV (110.2 proof), it was aged on the North (N) side of warehouse S, it was located on the 83rd rick, on the first tier (bottom level) in position 12 (L).
O yeast strain is a fan favorite because of the rich fruit notes it add to the bourbon, yet OBSO has never been used in the annual release of Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon. The Four Roses Limited Edition was first introduced in 2008 and the Master Distiller (previously Jim Rutledge and now Brent Elliott) has used every other recipe in this highly anticipated blend, except OBSO! Hopefully we will get a Limited Edition bottle with some OBSO in it in the near future. Lets get started and see how this barrel stacks up!
Four Roses OBSO Bourbon Barrel Strength Single Barrel 9 years 55.1% NS 83-1L
I poured this neat in a glencairn and let rest for around 10 minutes.
Color – Straw, lighter than expected for a 9 year old.
Aroma – Predominant oak, some sweetness with a tinge of alcohol. Not a ton of fruit on the nose as I would expect. Going back for another nose definitely some tobacco.
Taste – Tons of rye spice, oak, tobacco, caramel, there is a sweetness there but still not getting a lot of berries/fruit.
Finish – This has a great finish, the spiciness travels down your chest and warms inside, it lingers and it’s fairly intense.
Rating – 8.0/10
Thoughts – In this particular barrel Four Roses OBSO, I think the spiciness might have overpowered the fruit/berry aspects of the O yeast. The tobacco note from the high amount of rye was nice but not a much fruit as I was looking for in an OBSO. I would say this is on the lower end of Four Roses Single Barrels I have tasted. I love Four Roses but this bottle is on the lower end of their single barrels that I have tried.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect
Debonair Gentlemen 
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