Review #730 - Four Roses 10 Year OESQ Single Barrel Barrel Strength - Kentucky Distillers Pick

Four Roses describes the flavor profile of their OESQ bourbon recipe as 'Floral, Banana, Refreshing, Medium Body.' This recipe uses the 'E' mashbill, which is the distillery's lower-rye version, consisting of 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% malted barley. The 'Q' yeast strain involved in this recipe is said to add a floral essence to the bourbon, and it's one of the less commonly seen yeast components in these recipes.

This specific 'Kentucky Distillers' pick was aged for 10 years and 10 months, and it spent that time on the 4th tier of Four Roses rickhouse 'JE.' The bottling strength is solid for this 4th tier: 60.4% ABV, or 120.8 proof, in this case.

Four Roses 10 Year OESQ Single Barrel Barrel Strength - Kentucky Distillers Pick

USA - Bourbon

Price: USD 105 (2025)

Age Statement: 10 Years

Strength: 60.4% ABV

Details: OESQ recipe, warehouse JE, barrel 66-4T

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 3 months; bottles at 100%, 80%, and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Perfumed oak, strong vanilla, but also a darker, deeper side: tobacco, molasses, leaning a bit sweet. We get hints of banana and demerara sugar as well; a classic well-aged bourbon nose.

Palate: The mouthfeel is thick; it's quite oaky and chewy, but that strong oak doesn't dry the bourbon out. Instead, we get brown sugar, soft tart cherry, more demerara sugar, and a bit of candied orange rind. Hints of licorice, perfume, plum, and darker cocktail cherries arrive in time.

Finish: Leathery oak, barbecued wood, quite mature and a bit tannic. Molasses and bready cake add sweetness, and we still get a subtle orange rind, a bit of grape. Sassafras and vanilla linger in the finish, which has a nice oily texture; it's a long finish.

Final Note: As this bottle has opened up over the past several months, we've found a surprising amount of dark fruit notes, which aren't necessarily one of the hallmarks of this Four Roses recipe. That said, there's still plenty of floral or perfume side to this bourbon, and we even got that bit of banana that the distillery suggested on this recipe, though that isn't a fruit we would generally associate with their bourbon. This is a delicious bottle, though, one we're lucky to have. Four Roses single barrels at barrel strength have been consistently great in our experience; this example is no exception.

In terms of value, we think this is an above-average bottle despite the price around $100. Actually, we would say that Four Roses Single Barrel Barrel Strength bourbons are about the best way you spend $100 for a consistently good bourbon, one that punches above the weight of its price point.

Our Rating: 8.2 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 7.01

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.