Jump to content

Four Roses Trip


mozilla
This topic has been inactive for at least 365 days, and is now closed. Please feel free to start a new thread on the subject! 

Recommended Posts

The newest girl is Diane. She is a very sassy young thang.

Yes Jeff, I remember now. She was there last time we visited. She's a real cutie (but married).

Joe :usflag:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Not to nitpick, but his name is Jota, and he is indeed a very nice and interesting person to talk to. I have been introduced to the others, but their names escape me at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to nitpick, but his name is Jota, and he is indeed a very nice and interesting person to talk to. I have been introduced to the others, but their names escape me at the moment.

I believe you are correct, Jeff. I went back and checked the Happy Holiday card that they sent members....and it does look like a T in his signature. Wouldn't be the first time I have mistook someones name. My bad on that one :iagreejeff:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff Mo. should stop throwing stones at the Old Joe Distillery.

The name of the imaginary gift shop employee is Aristophenistophrene.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff Mo. should stop throwing stones at the Old Joe Distillery.

I was just tryin' to show off for the ladies in the Gift Shop. I didn't know some of the buildings were that dilapidated....only two of them fell down. :bis:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those warehouses across the street were part of Old Joe, weren't they?

I was impressed that Yumiko Roller knew my name the second event I attended. She was checking off the attendance sheet and handing out name tags without asking anyone who they were.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. Those warehouses are owned by Wild Turkey. They may once have been part of Old Joe. I don't know. Yumiko is a sweet person. I miss her not being in the gift shop any more.

Joe :usflag:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was told that they were once owned by Seagrams...and FR wishes that they owned them now. I would guess that they were attatched to the old distillery at one time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although there were two distilleries there, I tend to consider them together. For one thing, they often had common ownership or interchangeable ownership, as they kind of switched back and forth. There were usually members of the Hawkins family involved and some Ripys too.

As for the warehouses, they do go with the "other" (i.e., Old Joe) distillery, not with what is now Four Roses. I don't believe Seagram's ever owned them, nor do I know exactly how they came to be owned by Pernod/WT. They may have been owned by the Ripys who owned what is now WT. Wild Turkey was, for many years, a buyer of bulk whiskey and not a distiller. I think it was 1972 when they bought the distillery. The same Ripys may have owned those warehouses at the time and sold them along with the distillery. WT also has a group of warehouses at Camp Nelson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for the warehouses, they do go with the "other" (i.e., Old Joe) distillery, not with what is now Four Roses. I don't believe Seagram's ever owned them, nor do I know exactly how they came to be owned by Pernod/WT.

I was given this information by Al Young of Four Roses...unless I misunderstood him, I am inclined to believe him. He has been in this distillery group for a number of years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was given this information by Al Young of Four Roses...unless I misunderstood him, I am inclined to believe him. He has been in this distillery group for a number of years.

If Al said it, I'd believe it.

Joe :usflag:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no reason to doubt Al, but I know Old Joe was still operating in the 50s and maybe even into the 60s. According to Sam Cecil's book, Seagram's leased those warehouses for a time but never owned them. Part of why I don't see Seagram's using them is that Seagram's deliberately chose a site, at Cox's Creek (Lotus), for aging that wasn't at any of their distilleries (when they had 5) and also very deliberately built a different kind of warehouse, i.e., flathouses.

It is hard to separate the history of those two distilleries, since the ownership was often intertwined, and lots of written accounts confuse them. But one has to wonder where J.T.S. Brown was doing their warehousing when they owned what is now Four Roses before Seagram's bought it in 1946.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chuck,

As I'm sure you know...Al is a man of very few words. It is completlely possible that you are correct and they were just the person leasing them.

It is a very good question as to what warehouses were used there previously. Seems like I asked Al....but, can not remember his answere. I think that they were torn down at one point.

Now, was it Seagrams that built the warehouse complex at Lotus? I know an individual built it, but am not sure as to whether it was on contract for Seagrams.

Also, I know that some of the warehouses at Lotus have been razed since its inception. IIRC, it is two warehouses...one from fire and the other was leaning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I was surprised when Eddie Russel told me there are five warehouses there across from Four Roses. You can't really see them that well from that side of the road. Still, with two distilleries operating there at one time, you would think there had to have been more, or one or the other of the two operations was aging most of its whiskey someplace else. Seagram's had Lotus but they also had a bunch of big, brick warehouses in Lively Shively. They owned McKenna and there were warehouses there. They only got around to tearing them down in about 1991. Presumably, some of the other Seagram's distilleries also had warehouses. I'd be curious to know more about the history of Lotus, since so far as I know there never was a distillery there. Although there were several in that basic vicinity, such as Clermont and Deatsville, all of those had their own warehouses. So I wonder, who built Lotus and why? My assumption has been that it was Seagram's, and Lotus is consistent with what they were doing, which was creating ten different bourbons at five different distilleries, but trying to minimize variation in aging.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

From the web site:

http://www.fourroses.us/about_us

"

In 1943, Seagram purchased the Frankfort Distilling Co. primarily to acquire the most noted and recognized name in the business at that time – Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Even though Four Roses was the top selling Bourbon in the U.S. in the 30s, 40s and 50s, Seagram made the decision to discontinue the sale of Kentucky Straight Bourbon here, and Four Roses was moved to the rapidly growing European and Asian markets where it quickly became the top selling Bourbon.

"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.