We’re Recapping ELEVATE 2023: Four Roses Distillery Tour Does Not Disappoint 

One of the highlights of the Chilled 100 ELEVATE are the tours to the distilleries.

Boarding buses offer an opportunity to have conversations with other attendees. At the same time, you travel through the Kentucky countryside and can see the rolling hills. This year, we had the added pleasure of seeing the fall leaves showing their brilliance under the Kentucky sunlight.

We arrived at Four Roses Complex in Lawrenceburg and were graciously greeted by the staff, who ushered us into their relatively new educational and retail space. Waiting on the large bar were espresso cocktails. With cocktails in hand, we browsed a bit in the retail department of the building.

Then, we were divided into two groups. Group 1 immediately went on the distillery tour, while Group 2 entered the educational room where bourbon tasting was set up.

Group 1

Headphones are provided for every individual to enhance the ability to hear your guide above the roar of the machinery in the distillery. Walking down the hill to the distillery, we passed the original buildings. The buildings are on the National Registry of Historic Places for its yellow Spanish Mission architecture, an unusual site in this part of the country.

Continuing down the path, we walked outside the building where the mash is delivered and where waste from the brewing is saved until farmers come to claim it for their fields. Sustainability remains a guiding force in the brewing process.

The yeast, the most valuable and guarded component of bourbon processing, bubbles in various stages in large open tanks within the building. The process always begins with a descendant of the original yeast. You can smell it, taste it, and take photos and videos. Water is still obtained from the original source, the Salt River.

All the while, your guide shares the stages necessary to produce award-winning bourbon. Once you complete the approximately 45-minute tour, you head up to the main building for tasting.

Group 2

The large room had four bourbon samples on each labeled placement and a package of oyster crackers. We found our place and listened to the company’s history.

Factoids:

• Four Roses was named because Paul Jones Jr. proposed with a four-rose corsage in about the 1850s.
• After Prohibition, Seagram’s bought 4 Roses.
• Europe is their biggest market.
• They have 25 warehouses, which are long and wide, so barrels do not have to be stacked high. This building construction helps eliminate temperature fluctuation from the ground to the top barrel.
• Barrels are charred for 45 seconds only before the aging process begins.

Tasting Included:

• Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon – 104 Proof/Aged 6-7 years.
• Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon – 100 Proof/Aged 7-9 years.
• Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon—90 Proof/aged 6-7 years.
• Four Roses Bourbon—80 Proof/Aged Minimum of 5 years.

The distillery tour, the bourbon tasting, and learning about the history led to one thing left to do: shop. We headed into the expansive and well-appointed displays with everything from Four Roses Bourbon to glassware to sip from.

With our purchases in hand, we headed to the buses. The staff with a special gift was waiting for us at the door. The gift was a bartender’s backpack, rugged, well-padded by the Cocktail Kingdom, adorned with the Four Roses logo.

Back on the bus, it was nap time. We knew in the afternoon; we would have the opportunity to attend more outstanding seminars organized by the conference planners at the Brown Hotel.