Four Roses

Four Roses is a bourbon distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The brand name dates back to the late nineteenth century, and the distillery building, in an unusual Spanish Mission style, dates from the early twentieth century. Since 2002 it has been owned by the Japanese drinks group Kirin.

For decades Four Roses was sold in the United States mainly as a blended whiskey, while the straight bourbon went to export markets such as Europe and Japan. Under Kirin the blended whiskey was dropped and Four Roses returned to the American market as a straight bourbon, rebuilding its reputation.

What sets Four Roses apart is its system of recipes. It distills two mash bills, one higher in rye and one higher in corn, and ferments each with five different proprietary yeast strains, giving ten separate bourbons. These are aged in single-storey warehouses, which help the barrels mature more evenly, and are then bottled singly or blended together.

The core ranges are the standard Four Roses Bourbon (also sold as a litre), Small Batch, which blends several recipes, and Single Barrel, bottled from one barrel of one recipe. Collectors follow the yearly limited Small Batch Barrel Strength releases, such as the 2018 edition for the brand's 130th anniversary, and occasional special bottlings such as Elliott's Select 2016, chosen by master distiller Brent Elliott. Four Roses is bottled by the distillery itself, though retailers and clubs often buy private single barrels selected from its recipes.