Four Roses Private Selection Single Barrel Barrel Strength Bourbon

OESQ Brent Elliott, Master Distiller OESV Bourbon Scotch Beer, NJ

sample/intense but better than similar type whiskeys I've tried

This review is for an OESK recipe private selection from Hi-Times Wine Cellar, aged 10 years and 1 month, and bottled at 59.1% ABV. Four Roses Private Selections have to be some of the best values in the bourbon world -- $70 for a barrel-proof, 10-year bourbon is hard to find in today's market. Complexity and chocolate are the standout characteristics for me from this bottling. There's a lot going on in its boozy power punch of a nose. The strongest aromas are cedar wood, chocolate fudge, and vanilla. That chocolate fudge is really the star of the show as I go in for a few more whiffs. I love bourbons and scotches that have pronounced chocolate notes, and this bourbon delivers with a very sweet, rich mélange. This is a French dessert bar whipped into liquid form. There is also an oily or gassy edge to the nose, almost verging on the smell of a grill right after igniting it with lighter fluid. The first time you sip this, that classic honeyed bourbon flavor will whet the palate for future forays. Further sips reward the taste buds with Aztec chocolate filled with chilis or crushed red pepper -- this is a spicy and hot bourbon! Unlike Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, which is an oak monster, Four Roses has comparatively mild woodiness, although there is a respectably firm backbone of woody flavors. I also don't detect as much fruitiness as I got in standard Four Roses Single Barrel, which features the distillery's OBSV recipe. This bourbon is heavy on the rye spice in spite of the fact that it's the lower-rye mash bill, perhaps because the K yeast supposedly highlights spice notes. The warm finish concludes with notes of cherry, rye spice, vanilla, and oak after the initial sweetness fades. Those notes of cherry and vanilla did not show up on the palate for me, so they added another layer to this bourbon. It's a surprisingly fruity and mildly drying finish, and it concludes with a ghostlike reminder of that pronounced chocolate note. Delicious.