BourbonEnthusiast.com

Al Young sent me this list of Master Distillers who have worked at Four Roses since 1946. They are:
C P Williams
Charlie Beam
Ova Haney
Jim Rutledge

was or was not Rufus M Rose the creater of Four Roses Whiskey

I have heard that the Rose family created the brand, but it really does not matter. If Paul Jones had not been involved with the brand, it probobly would have been just another small regional brand that nobody ever heard of today.

Carolyn,
There are (at least) TWO Four Roses whiskeys. One is the straight bourbon made only for export by Seagrams. That is the one most of us here speak of, since (1) it is a straight whiskey, and (2) it is available in very select areas in the United States (Kentucky and,.... well, Kentucky). The other Four Roses is a blended whiskey (and always was) that, after Prohibition, was made (at several locations) by Paul Jones' Frankfort Distillery company, located in Louisville. In the early '40s it was sold to Seagrams. About six years ago, Seagrams sold all its beverage spirits holdings, and the Kirin company of Japan (Four Roses BOURBON's major Asian distributor) purchased the brand and the distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY. They did not, however, purchase the blended Four Roses whiskey brand. THAT Four Roses was America's most popular whiskey, regardless of the fact that it may have been deemed unworthy by purists.

As for its connection (if any) with Rufus Roses and Company, of Atlanta, Georgia, the evidence is intriguing but not convincing.
One view can be read at http://www.ellenjaye.com/4roses.htm.

I don't know anything about Rufus Roses and Company, of Atlanta, Georgia. I always understood that Jones bought the brand from a family named Rose in Tennessee. One story about the name is that the original Mr. Rose had four daughters.

The Four Roses blended whiskey was made by Seagram's and later by Diageo at their Lawrenceburg, Indiana, plant. The Four Roses Distillery is implicated only in that the bourbon in the blend is theirs. Diageo still buys about half of that distillery's output for its bourbons and blended whiskeys.

My guess is that the contract between Diageo and Kirin stipulates that Diageo may continue to sell Four Roses blended whiskey in the markets where it sold when the contract was executed, but it cannot add new markets. That's just a guess, but it would be a normal kind of business arrangement.

At present, Four Roses bourbons are only sold in Kentucky. I don't know where the blend is or was being sold, but I'm pretty sure it's not Kentucky, so in theory there is no overlap.

I occasionally hear that the blend has been discontinued everywhere, then I get a conflicting report that it has been spotted somewhere. As we know, retail inventory can sit around for years, so we may never be rid of it.

It might be interesting to tell the story of how straights, which were always much less popular than blends, turned the tables and became the dominant type of U.S.-made whiskey.

cowdery wrote:I don't know anything about Rufus Roses and Company, of Atlanta, Georgia. I always understood that Jones bought the brand from a family named Rose in Tennessee. One story about the name is that the original Mr. Rose had four daughters.

Same story. Rufus Rose & Co. moved from Atlanta to Knoxville when Georgia went dry. It was (supposedly, but I have doubts) that Rose from which Jones bought the brand. There are other versions, though, including one that has Paul Jones working as a sales rep for Rufus Rose for years in Atlanta before he moved to Louisville and they later moved to Tennessee.