Four Roses OESK Single Barrel Bourbon QN 51-5Q Review

Four Roses has 10 uniquely different recipes they produce with their five yeast strains and two mash bills. When a recipe is selected as a cask strength single barrel you are tasting that one recipe by itself, unlike the rest of the Four Roses lineup (excluding 100 proof Single Barrel) that all contain blended bourbon from multiple recipes. In this review I will be tasting a Four Roses OESK private selection single barrel bourbon and it will be the third OESK I have talked about thus far (My first OESK review from the ME run and the 18 year old OESK Happy Holidays). What I want to point out is that each of these OESK single barrels I have written about are going to be the same Four Roses recipe, but all will have slightly different ages, aromas, tastes, color, finishes, proof and distillation run.

Among Four Roses enthusiasts, a “run” is a popular term used to help identify certain batches of single barrels all from the same batch of distillate. A run is also aged through the same seasons and in very close proximity to each other in the rickhouse, hopefully leading to similar flavors, aromas and notes throughout the run of barrels.

To identify barrels from the same run, simply look at the front bottom label the single barrels. Private Selection Single Barrels from the same run will have the same warehouse code, same rick number and same tier number. The only difference will be the letter that follows the tier number indicating the placement of that specific single barrel on the rick. Sometimes the distillery will release multiple tiers of the same run of barrels as well.

This bottle is an OESK Four Roses recipe selected by Liquor Barn in Louisville, Kentucky. Liquor Barn is one of the largest spirits retailers in Kentucky and pick a ton of barrels from all over the world (all different kinds of spirits) every year. This OESK is from the QN 51 run. This batch of barrels were all aged on the North (N) side of warehouse Q, on the 51st rick. This particular barrel was on the fifth tier in the 17th position (Q). It was left in wood for 10 years and 1 month and clocks in at an ABV of 61.3%!

Four Roses OESK Bourbon Single Barrel 10 years 1 month 61.3% QN 51-5Q

I obtained this bottle in the local trade as I was looking to try the new QN 51 run that had recently been released by the distillery. MSRP is around $90. I pour this neat in a glencairn and let rest for around 10 minutes.

Color – Solid copper

Aroma – Intense baking spices, cinnamon, pepper, strong beautiful oak as well. 

Taste – Caramel, leather, oak, light rye spice that starts subtlety and comes on strong towards the end. This drinks close to its proof. I get a decent amount of alcohol.  

Finish – Solid finish that fills your chest and the baking spices linger on your pallet. 

Rating – 8.5/10

The flavors are great and everything you expect from an OESK. Baking spices, cinnamon, pepper and oak. This just drinks a little hot. The flavors influenced by the 10 years plus of aging and evident but the alcohol didn’t mellow out enough to be a top notch OESK for me. I did enjoy this and could potentially be a great barrel for a blend. I would like to seek out another barrel in this run to see if it is still as flavorful and hopefully a little more mellowed out.

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