Four Roses Barrel Strength Single Barrel OESV Shelf Review
Shelf Review
Designed to give you all the quick hit information you need when you’re standing in front of your local liquor store’s whisky shelf.
Four Roses hasn’t done a great job differentiating their single barrel products. On the one hand, you have the 100 proof, standard issue single barrel that is around $40 and always uses Four Roses’s OBSV recipe. On the other, you have specifically selected, barrel strength picks of their single barrel that come in almost the exact same bottle and packaging – with the biggest differences being “private select” on the neck label, and a gold foil label on the front. This clearly isn’t enough of a difference as when posting this exact bottle on social media, with the price I paid for it ($79.99) I was hit with a lot of comments saying they could find it in their local store for around $40. That is assuredly not the case, as these special barrel strength private select picks are bottled at full cask strength and can feature any of the 10 recipes from Four Roses.
In this case, we have an OESV picked by Whole Foods in Southern California and was aged 9 years and 11 months. Coming in at 58.9% ABV, let’s see if this is worth double the price of the standard single barrel!
Age: 9 years 11 months
ABV: 58.9%
Cask: Virgin oak
MSRP: $79.99
Distillery Name: Four Roses
Review Date: 5/1/23
Nose: Wood, graham crackers, vanilla marshmallow, light green apple, and tart melon. Big, fruity, sweet nose.
Palate: Deep caramel sweetness, with orange chocolate, apple peel, and woody baritone notes. Viscous mouthfeel with a thick, syrupy character and a well restrained heat.
Finish: Long finish with a minty freshness. Traditional sweet, caramels, brown sugar, and dark chocolate with a touch of pepper. Like a Mexican hot chocolate that lingers for a long time.
