Dried apricot | Honey | Herbal undertone

Honey | Caramel | Peach | Pie crust | Medium body | Mellow

Light baking spices | White pepper | Tropical fruit | Brown sugar

Building on its 138-year history, originally trademarked by Paul Jones Jr. in 1888, Four Roses recently changed hands from Kirin Holdings to Gallo in a deal that closed in April 2026 for $775 million.

Four Roses’ standard 100 proof single barrel has traditionally always been their OBSV recipe, which is one of ten recipes the distillery produces. However, at the end of 2024, the company announced that it would be releasing a new Single Barrel Collection to coincide with its 20th anniversary. Their intention is to expand on their current single barrel products. In addition to the standard OBSV, Four Roses also released OESO, OBSF, and OESK variations. Fast forward to 2026, and the company is highlighting three more recipes in addition to their standard offering: OESF, OESQ, and OBSK.  

These releases are differentiated by Four Roses’ two mashbills and five proprietary yeast strains that, when combined, create ten unique recipes with the components designated as follows:

Mashbills:

B: 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley
E: 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley

Yeast Strains:

V: Delicate fruit
K: Slight spice
O: Rich fruit
Q: Floral essence
F: Herbal notes

Four Roses Bourbon, which is the company’s flagship product, utilizes up to all ten of the recipes blended together in an effort to create consistency from batch to batch, with some components making up a large portion of the blend and others added in smaller percentages in an effort to add accents of flavor and create consistency. Until recently, these individual recipes could only be tasted via the distillery’s single barrel program or their 10 recipe sample kit. Starting in 2024, Four Roses rolled out dedicated releases of each of the recipes in single barrel format.

Four Roses is finally doing what fans wanted to see a decade ago. Fans have been hungry for these individual recipes on a more widespread scale, and 10 years ago, there was a lot less noise in the marketplace, so they would have made a bigger impact. Making up for lost time, they are finally releasing the core recipes in a more widespread format that fans can get their hands on.

And with that, OESF lives up to its reputation as a sweeter expression with herbal undertones, showcasing dried apricot, honey, brown sugar, and caramel against white pepper and baking spices. At 100 proof, it’s an easy sipper that leaves little to dislike, but it doesn’t swing for the fences either. This barrel stays inside the lines, maintaining a sweet, traditional bourbon core that only hints towards its wilder herbal side. Overall, it’s a solid offering at a fair price that will appeal to bourbon drinkers who want a slight, albeit tempered, deviation from Four Roses’ standard single barrel expression.