Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon OESK

Not everyone agrees on the beginnings of Four Roses but it came about in the 1860s. In the early 1880s Paul Jones Jr., the owner of the brand, moved the business to Louisville, Kentucky, and trademarked Four Roses in 1888. As legend goes, Paul Jones wore a corsage of four roses when he proposed to his wife. When Jones passed away, his nephew Lawrence Lavelle Jones took over, and eventually in 1941 the Canadian drinks giant of the time, Seagrams bought the distillery Frankfort Distilling which was making the brand Four Roses by this time. This was a different time for the brand as Seagrams focused on blended whiskey within the US market and Four Roses was no different. They were blending neutral grain spirit into the releases, which didn’t always have the best reputation. At the same time, a higher quality release was being exported to Europe and the Asian markets.

Now, The Japanese company Kirin Brewing owns the Four Roses Distillery and brand and has returned to its original reputation. They have been led into their heyday by head distillery Jim Rutledge and now Brent Elliot has taken over. In April 2019 they did over a 50 million dollar expansion of the distillery doubling capacity.