Four Roses has one of the most beautiful distilleries in the industry and also gives one of my favorite tours. Click here to read about the normal public tour I took here last year. This time I was in for a special treat since LeNell Smothers of LeNell's had arranged a private tour with Master Distiller Jim Rutledge.

Jim started the tour with a brief history and overview of the distillery. Four Roses was founded in 1888 and was the top selling bourbon in the US during the 30's, 40's and 50's. The company then shifted sales to export only and became the top selling bourbon in Japan and Europe. Four Roses has recently become available again domestically, although only in Kentucky, with their standard yellow and single barrel labels. The single barrel product uses a mash bill of 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% barley malt with a light fruity yeast to balance the high rye. It is aged for 7 to 9 years. Four Roses boasts the highest rye content in the bourbon industry.

Here are the yeast tubs where yeast is grown and prepared for addition to the mash. Four Roses uses two mash bills and five strains of yeast to create up to ten different distillates. This allows them great flexibility in creating or maintaining any flavor profile they need.

These next pictures show the fermenting tanks. The first shot shows mash being added to a tank. The rest show fermentation at various stages. It is actually quite tasty at this point.

Here you can see the beer frothing in a view port on the column still. This (and the flowing spirit shown below) was interesting to see since the distillery was not operating the last time I visited.

The first picture shows spirit coming off the column still. The next three pictures show the tail box, where "new make" or "white dog" comes off the doubler and is tested. LeNell seems to be enjoying the fresh spirit.

Our final stop was the tasting lab. Jim allowed us to sample white dog and bourbon from a number of the ten possible recipes. The cabinet in the background contains top shelf bourbon from other distilleries to use as a comparison.

Four Roses is a great place to visit and Jim's personal attention made it that much better. After Jim had finished signing bottles for us I asked him for a local lunch recommendation. He suggested the "Family Affair Restaurant", several miles south on Hwy 127, as our best bet for some local home cooking. That must have stirred his appetite because he decided to join us for lunch.

Four Roses Distillery