Four Roses is the only distillery in the world that runs two mashbills and five proprietary yeasts to make ten distinct bourbon recipes, each denoted by a four-letter code. The second and fourth letters matter most: the second tells you the mashbill (B = high-rye at 35% rye, E = lower-rye at 20%), and the fourth tells you the yeast strain. V yeast is the delicate fruit strain — the house's softest, most elegant voice.
OBSV, then, is the B-mash (high-rye) married to the V yeast: a combination that sounds contradictory but produces one of the most poised bourbons Kentucky makes. The rye gives backbone and spice, the V yeast lays delicate red-apple and pear over the top, and at barrel strength from a single cask at the Cox's Creek warehouses the result is concentrated without ever feeling heavy.
Master Distiller Brent Elliott, who took over from the legendary Jim Rutledge in 2015, has maintained OBSV's reputation as one of the gentlest of the barrel-strength single barrels. It rewards patience: sip it neat, then add a few drops of water and watch the florals unfold. Each barrel is different — that's the point of the programme — but the OBSV signature of red fruit and cream is unmistakable.
Private selections of OBSV from retailers and bars have become prized among Four Roses obsessives, and for good reason. This is bourbon as watercolour rather than oil painting: detailed, luminous, and quietly confident.
