Four Roses – The Ten Recipe Tasting Experience.

2 Mash bills:
Low Rye E mash bill – 75% Corn/20% Rye/5% Malted Barley.
High Rye B mash bill – 60% Corn/35% Rye/5% Malted Barley.

Price: $130.00.

Tasting notes for OBSV

Taken: In an Aged & Ore half ounce tasting glass.

Nose

Very nice rye and herbal notes upfront. A touch of dill, clove, and green tea notes come to mind. Caramel with some apricot, pear, vanilla, and a touch of lemon citrus. There are also some nice floral notes and pecan. This is a very good and balanced example of an OBSV.

Palate

The nose moves onto the palate nicely with the same elevated rye and herbal notes but with more green tea and stone fruit. The oak is especially tasty, and the mouthfeel is very good. This profile is what you would expect from the nose being heavily influenced by rye spice and herbal notes but with the addition of some very good fruit and oak. The result is a very tasty balance with some complexity

Finish

Allspice lingers all over the palate with dill, green tea, and vanilla coming back around with a very nice balance of oak. The finish is pretty good and lasts longer than I expected.

Comments

The first Chapter of the tasting experience starts with OBSV. The OBSV recipe is what’s in the standard flagship Four Roses Single Barrel which is always bottled at 100 proof, aged 7 to 9 years, and one of the 6 recipes in Small Batch Select. I’ve always enjoyed the Four Roses standard 100 proof Single Barrel and I have a 10 year, 108 proof OBSV single barrel private selection. The OBSV sample that Four Roses chose for this tasting is a very good example of an OBSV. I found myself refilling my tasting glass until the sample was almost gone. It makes sense that Four Roses picked some very good barrels for this tasting experience.

I think this tasting experience is a great idea and very well done. I’m looking forward to trying them all over the next few weeks to compare and write notes. Plus, I get to sample recipes (like OESO) that I haven’t had the chance to try before. I appreciate that Four Roses chose to bottle these at 104 proof (same as Small Batch Select) and are aged from 8 to 10 years. Rather than opting to use younger barrels and going lower on the proof.

I’m going to have a lot of fun with this kit and to me its money well spent. If this is a success, I hope Four Roses will make The Ten Recipe Tasting Experience an annual release.