Four Roses facts for kids
Four Roses
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| Type | A type of Kentucky straight bourbon |
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| Manufacturer | Kirin Brewery Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1888 |
Four Roses is a well-known brand of a special type of American whiskey called Kentucky straight bourbon. It is made by the Kirin Brewery Company from Japan. The main distillery, where the bourbon is made, is located in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. It was built in 1910 and has a beautiful Spanish Mission-style design. This building is so important that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The company also has a large warehouse in Cox's Creek, Kentucky, where the bourbon is aged and bottled. Over the years, the brand and its products have changed quite a bit, especially since a new company bought it in the early 2000s.
Contents
History of Four Roses
There are different stories about how the Four Roses brand got its name. Some people believe it was named by Rufus Mathewson Rose, possibly in honor of him, his brother Origen, and their two sons. However, the current owner, Kirin Brewery, tells a different story. They say that Paul Jones Jr. was the founder of the brand.
How the Brand Started
According to the Kirin Brewery, Paul Jones Jr. officially registered the brand name "Four Roses" in 1888. He claimed that this special bourbon had been made and sold even earlier, starting around the 1860s. The distillery building in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, was constructed in 1910. It features a unique Spanish Mission-style design and is recognized as a historic place. This distillery was first known as the Old Prentice distillery and was owned by J.T.S. Brown. The famous Joseph & Joseph Architects, who have designed many distilleries for over a century, created its plans.
Changes in Ownership
The Four Roses brand was bought by a company called Seagram in 1943. Around the late 1950s, Seagram stopped selling Four Roses straight bourbon in the United States. Instead, they focused on selling a different type of whiskey called blended whiskey. However, they did introduce other straight bourbon brands in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, Four Roses Kentucky straight bourbon was mainly sold in Europe and Asia, where the market was growing quickly.
In the United States, the name Four Roses was used for a blended whiskey that was not as popular. Four Roses straight bourbon was not available in the U.S. market again until late 1994, which was almost 40 years later!
The ownership of the Four Roses brand changed hands several times. In 1999, it went from Seagram to Vivendi/Universal. Then, in 2001, it was owned by Pernod Ricard and Diageo. Finally, in 2002, The Kirin Brewery bought the brand. Kirin decided to stop selling the blended whiskey and focus only on making Four Roses Kentucky straight bourbon.
Master Distillers and Expansion
The person in charge of making the bourbon is called the master distiller. From 1995 to 2015, the master distiller for Four Roses was Jim Rutledge. He had started working for Seagram back in 1966. Before him, Ova Haney was the master distiller.
Since Jim Rutledge retired in 2015, Brent Elliott has been the master distiller. Brent worked with Jim for 10 years before taking over. He is from Owensboro, Kentucky, and has a degree in chemistry from the University of Kentucky.
In April 2019, the Four Roses distillery finished a big expansion project that cost $55 million. This project happened at the same time they launched a new product called Small Batch Select. This was the first new permanent bourbon product added to their lineup in 12 years. The expansion project started in 2015 and helped the distillery double how much bourbon it could make.
The expansion included investing $34 million into the distillery in Lawrenceburg and $21 million at the warehouse and bottling facility in Cox's Creek. At the distillery, Four Roses added two new buildings and new equipment, including a new column and doubler still, and more fermenters.
With the new equipment, the distillery can now produce much more bourbon, enough to fill over 130,000 barrels each year. The original distillery was designed by Joseph & Joseph Architects in 1910. They also designed the new buildings to look just like the existing Spanish mission-style structures.
Images for kids
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Different types of Four Roses products
See also
In Spanish: Four Roses para niños
