mozilla Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Made it out to Kentucky for a little bourbon learnin'. Four Roses provided a wonderful setting and excellent bourbon. I hope they make it to Austin soon! Here are some of the pics. The OESQ on the barrel head is the recipe (mash bill and yeast) in that particular batch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted June 21, 2007 Author Share Posted June 21, 2007 Had some time to add the rest of the story. This is the warehouse and bottling facility I visited early one morning. It's located near Beam north of Bardstown about 15 minutes. A very peaceful place with cows and a private fishing pond. The bottling line is very small, only 10 people or so can fit around it. Some pictures were taken as a panoramic, if you can line them up correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigthom Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Did you just drop in at the warehouses or did you make an appointment? I often go to bardstown for work and have driven by there a few times.And is anyone else planning to attend the Four Roses luncheon in Louisville next month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 You can just drop in on weekdays, though I don't recall the hours. You don't need an appointment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 I like the main distillery tour because very few people visit there compared to all the other distilleries. It is common to get a personal tour because you are the only visitor.I suggest calling the warehouse facility before going. They state certain hours for visitors, but I bet very few people ever visit, so I don't believe the staff there worry about having someone around all the time for tourists. The last time I was in Bardstown I called ahead to make sure and found out there would be no one around at all that day.Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 I first signed up for the Mellow Moments Club, then called ahead and set an appt. Not sure if all that is necessary, though it does give you a discount at the gift shop. Give Julie a call in the gift shop. She is super sweet and not too hard on the eyes either. If they are distilling you might score a tour with Al the distillery mngr. Al is very knowledgable and proud of his product, which makes for a great tour.Jeff M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camduncan Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Just revisited this post, and it certainly makes me want to tour Four Roses when I am in KY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Very nice, look forward to visiting there.Squire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 the picture that I look at most often...is the one of the Sensory Lab liquor cabinet. That thing was a gold mine of treasures. There were products from every distillery in recent memory....at least 5 van winkles, gold wax makers, a number of different ryes, four grain woodford, rock hill farms and all other bt stuff, ud old charter and i w harper in a few different packages, every turkey known to man, as well as hh labels galore. I wish I had the job that kept me gaurding that every day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
closetbourbonlvr Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Went to FR this Monday. They treated us like kings. Course could have been the treatment for anyone but they took us through and did some things that I have not had done at other places. One I noted as cool was he let us taste the sweet sweet white dog coming off the final distillation. MM MMM Good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rughi Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 ...One I noted as cool was he let us taste the sweet sweet white dog coming off the final distillation. MM MMM Good.You are so right."Common knowledge" by those who don't have personal knowledge is that white dog is rough, raspy, fiery rotgut. It's amazing how sweet and delicious it can be - even more so when one tastes the fire of a young spirit that has been in the wood long enough that the simple grain sweetness has largely been stripped away and the barrel vanillins have not yet come into their own.Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 I too, coincidentally went to FR this last Friday, and I, too highly recommend the tour of the distillery. It's in an idyllic setting and was a very informative tour. Our guide was Terry and he was good to answer a lot of questions and take time to point out interesting things. There were only 4 of us on the tour so it was easy to linger or ask questions. Like closetbourbonlvr, I enjoyed trying the distillate coming straight out of the still, that was an interesting experience to have the white liquor. Best of all, there was no charge yet they gave you a tasting of 3 of their labels; the yellow label, the small batch and the single barrel.I've only been to WT, WR and now FR and by far the FR was the best tour.On the way out I stopped to pet a huge Great Dane on the property (a dog, not a person) and there were a couple of guys who worked in the control room. They were super-friendly and answered a lot of questions... I'm sure that they would have shown me around the control room had I asked.Can't wait to go to the storage facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 You are so right."Common knowledge" by those who don't have personal knowledge is that white dog is rough, raspy, fiery rotgut. It's amazing how sweet and delicious it can be - even more so when one tastes the fire of a young spirit that has been in the wood long enough that the simple grain sweetness has largely been stripped away and the barrel vanillins have not yet come into their own.RogerYeah, I was surprised at how drinkable the white dog was. I thought that it would taste like rubbing alcohol and take the breath away. Not at all, it was very sweet and smooth. The first run (the beer, if I remember right) was more drinkable than the white dog which was higher proof, but truth be told, I wouldn't have minded a bottle of either one of them!Very cool of them to let us taste it. At WR you couldn't even get close to the lock box where the distillate came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr8erdane Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 You sure? Person Dane's like to have our ears scratched sometimes as well....now if I could only (edited) my (further edited)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigthom Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 It's not really a Four Roses trip, but I drove by the Rufus M. Rose house in Atlanta over the holidays.I'd drive past it many times in the past but never noticed it. The house is across the street from Crawford Long Hospital on Peachtree Street and is the only house anywhere near there.I couldn't stop due to traffic, so I don't have any pictures. The house is in bad shape. The windows are either boarded up or soaped over. It needs a lot of repair and a good paint job. If it's not vacant then I'm shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Four Roses, at least in its public utterances, no longer acknowledges the Rose family's creation of the brand nor the original story about the name, that the "Four Roses" were the four daughters of the brand's founder. An alternative explanation (and info about the house) is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
closetbourbonlvr Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Four Roses, at least in its public utterances, no longer acknowledges the Rose family's creation of the brand nor the original story about the name, that the "Four Roses" were the four daughters of the brand's founder. An alternative explanation (and info about the house) is here.I mentioned that and the tour guide didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Oh well I guess the story of the marriage proposal is more romantic. Me I like the truth whether its fun or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigthom Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 That page is at least ten years out of date. The museum has been gone at least that long, and there was another business there for a few years. It's supposedly now a "private residence", but if anyone is living there they aren't living well.You almost mentioned Rufus Rose in your book, Chuck, I recall. You said they acquired the Four Roses brand from a distillery in Tennessee, which I assume was Rufus Rose after Georgia went dry (which was, unfortunately, not long before Tennessee did). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I looked to see how close I got. Pretty close.I suspect (since this happened many, many times) that Paul Jones was buying whiskey from the Roses, perhaps was in business with them from the beginning, as he also began in Atlanta. Perhaps he was distributing their Four Roses blend. Then after Tennessee closed them down, the Roses got out while the getting was good, and sold everything to Jones.At some point, perhaps right after Prohibition, the Jones Company (dba The Frankfort Distillery Co.) decided to write the Rose family out of the history to prevent any rights issues. Perhaps it was indisputable that Jones owned the Four Roses brand, but he might not have any rights to the personality of Rufus Rose as the brand's founder. Perhaps they had some residual business or even personal issues with members of the Rose family. Not an issue? I have heard reports that living descendants of Basil Hayden grumble about Beam using his name without talking to them, likewise living descendants of Elijah Craig, even Sam Houston, whose famous ancestor's name is slapped on products with nary a fair-thee-well (or farthing) to the living descendants.Edward Hayden of Pasadena, Texa, is a descendant of Basil Hayden, though I have no reason to count him among the grumblers. His take on the Old Grand-Dad story is here. Contrary to what that says, the grumblers tell me there is no evidence that anyone in the Hayden line prior to Raymond B. did any distilling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourbonchef1189 Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 My wife and I took the tour last April, The female tour guide did a pretty good job. As we were leaving the guide pointed out the three managers from Japan.I spoke to them and they nice and polite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 4, 2008 Author Share Posted July 4, 2008 The Guy on the right in the picture is named Jono....He is a real nice fellow who has always made a point to say hello to me, by name, when I tour there. Just the way they do business at FR, they treat you with respect and are always very excited to meet their fans. They go well above and beyond the call of duty in the customer service relm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 The wife & I visited there on July 2. We didn't take the tour, since we were short & time and the place was on summer shutdown. But the buildings and grounds alone are worth the trip out there.The two ladies at the gift shop (don't remember their names, one was older w/glasses and one was younger with dark hair) were very good and patient with me when I asked about the location of the ruined Old Joe Peyton distillery that I had read about in The Book of Classic American Whiskeys. They said Al Young (who showed the authors of that book) would have eagerly showed me, but he was at lunch. We probably didn't have time to go tromping thru the woods anyway, but they were very kind to this keyed up bourbon nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camduncan Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 My Wife and I, along with our personal day-tour guide (thanks Dane ) toured FR when we were in KY for the Sampler. The tour was very informative, and the guide was super-friendly. There was also a dark haired young lady being trained as a tour guide who was with us as well, so occasionally we got a bit of extra information as our guide explained parts of the process to her. The gift shop lady was a bit rattled the day we were there. The computers were playing up, and it took about 25 minutes to ring up the half dozen things I wanted to purchase. This wasn't a good thing, because I kept seeing more things I wanted to buy and adding to my pile of goodies :cool: :skep: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourbonJoe Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 The two ladies at the gift shop (don't remember their names, one was older w/glasses and one was younger with dark hair) were very good and patient with me when I asked about the location of the ruined Old Joe Peyton distillery that I had read about in The Book of Classic American Whiskeys. They said Al Young (who showed the authors of that book) would have eagerly showed me, but he was at lunch. We probably didn't have time to go tromping thru the woods anyway, but they were very kind to this keyed up bourbon nerd.The dark haired gal in the gift shop is Julie. If you literally went down the street and around the bend you'd be at the Old Joe distillery. You were so close.Joe :usflag: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 5, 2008 Author Share Posted July 5, 2008 The dark haired gal in the gift shop is Julie. If you literally went down the street and around the bend you'd be at the Old Joe distillery. You were so close.Joe :usflag:Actually, Julie has moved up into the main offices and is doing some other duties within the company.The newest girl is Diane. She is a very sassy young thang. I don't know if she is experienced enough to lead tour groups, but is very sweet and helpful to visitors. Four Roses doesn't seem to have problems staffing young attractive females....don't forget about Yomiko...she works upstairs as well.Yes, the other distillery is just a bit west and across the creek from FR. Could probably hit it with a rock from the FR parking lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts