Four Roses Founders
1.) Paul Jones, Jr.
2.) Charles L. Beam
3.) Jim Rutledge
4.) Al Young
5.) John Rhea
6.) Ova Haney
7.) Brent Elliott
Four Roses is the seventh most popular a brand of bourbon whiskey in the world and the second most popular brand in Japan behind only Jim Beam. The Four Roses Distillery is located in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky and produces 6 brands, labels and variations of Bourbon. Four Roses is owned by Kirin Brewing Company which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
The Four Roses Distillery's history starts with how the company found its name. The company's founder, Paul Jones, Jr. was born in 1840 in Lynchburg, Virginia in a very affluent family. In a romantic story for the ages, he really threw his heart out on a limb after he fell in love with a beautiful southern girl and later named his bourbon after something extraordinary that happen with her during their courtship.
. “The Romantic Founder”
Paul Jones, Jr.
Jones decided to move his company and distillery to "Whiskey Row" in Louisville, Kentucky in 1884 but could not find enough room to his liking. In 1889 he bought the J. G. Mattingly distillery for $125,000 at auction ($3,460,000.00 in today's dollars). Included in the purchase were a mill, a fermenting house, a boiler house, a distillery building and a cattle barn.
. Invented Eagle Rare
Charles L. Beam
Charles L. Beam (1922-2007), grand nephew of Jim Beam was hired as at Four Roses in 1962 and named only the fourth Master Distiller at Four Roses in 1968. Under Beam's tenure as Master Distiller, Four Roses introduced the Bourbon brands of Benchmark Bourbon in 1969 and Eagle Rare in 1975.
Brought Four Roses back to U.S.
Jim Rutledge
Jim Rutledge begged owner Kirin to "let us go back to bourbon and also bring Four Roses back home and start selling into the U.S. again" Kirin agreed, they started recalling and destroying all the bottles of bargain-basement blended whiskey. The distillery reintroduced a Four Roses Bourbon in 2002 and released its first Four Roses Single-barrel Bourbon in 2004 in Kentucky.
Al Young
Al joined Four Roses in 1967 working different jobs over the years in the distillery. In 1990, he became distillery manager and 2007 became the brand ambassador. As ambassador he would travel the world and spread the word about Four Roses. Al wrote a book on the history of Four Roses, “Four Roses: The Return of a Whiskey Legend” which came out in 2010. In 2015, Al was inducted into the Whiskey Magazine Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted as a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.
Whiskey Founder
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Whiskey Founder
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