Four Roses Master Distiller Jim Rutledge gave a lunch talk about Four Roses at Delmonico Steakhouse March 18, 2011. Definitely the Southern Gentleman, Mr. Rutledge spoke at length about Four Roses’ history and process. Passionate about the subject, he noted a marked increase in the Bourbon market demand, as well as utilization of new technology. A self-described traditionalist, Rutledge has worked tirelessly for over 45 years to produce product where quality is standardized by measures taken throughout the manufacturing process. The following is paraphrased from his lecture. Enjoy!

Four Roses brand name, legend has it, was when Founder Paul Jones decided to ask for a ladie’s hand in marriage; if she accepted she would wear a corsage of four roses.  Back in the Victorian era there was the ‘Language of the Flowers”; colors and numbers meant something.  Red meant love and passion. One rose would be a contract or proposal, two roses meant the message was received, three meant ‘no’, and four meant that the contract was accepted. Evidently the proposal was accepted.

The initial location of Four Roses was in Georgia. Georgia enacted a statewide prohibition in 1883 and Jones moved the business to Whiskey Row in Louisville, Kentucky.  Four Roses was one of six bourbons legally sold during the Prohibition Era, where a person who was sick could purchase one pint of bourbon every 10 days for medicinal purposes.

When prohibition was repealed in 1933, Four Roses became the best selling boubon in the United States until the mid-1950s.  Seagrams, being a Canadian company, had been stockpiling whiskey for 6 years.  Seagrams became a giant immediately after prohibition yet Four Roses was the most recognizable brand and best-selling brand of bourbon in the US. In 1943, Seagrams purchased Frankfort Distilling (owners of Four Roses, as well as other bourbon, gin and vodka labels).  In 1945, Seagrams produced a blended whisky called “Four Roses Premium.”  “It was a good blended whiskey when it started, selling more than 250,000 cases by the end of the 1950s domestically,” according to Rutledge.”  Seagrams made a decision to focus on the blended whisky and to remove Four Roses bourbon from the domestic markets completely and focus on blended whisky and sell in international markets only. From 1960, Four Roses Bourbon had disappeared from the US, but became (and still is) the #1 bourbon in most of the western European countries, as well as Japan.  Four Roses Blended Whiskey eventually became a notorious bottom shelf whiskey- that destroyed the name of Four Roses.  Seagrams had a history of building a brand to peak of performance and then pulling support and let the brand die away. Four Roses Blended ended up with 66% grain neutral spirits.  “We were one of 225 Seagrams brands- they told me that just because you are so passionate.  Seagrams  is not going to spend the money to build the brand and re-establish Four Roses.  When Seagrams went out of the business in 2001, the silver lining behind that dark cloud is that we are now having a conversation about Four Roses Bourbon.”

In 2002, Kirin Brewing Company purchased Four Roses Bourbon, and work began on re-introduction of the brand into the United States.

“In the US we knew that we needed to do something different. We introduced a Single Barrel Bourbon in September 2004.  We entered it into Whisky Magazine. Right out of the gate we won the Best American Whiskey under 10 years old.  It took us two years to become the number one single barrel bourbon in Kentucky.  We knew we were on our way.”

“In 2006, we introduced our Small Batch Bourbon.  We always introduce things in September because it is the Kentucky Bourbon Festival . “

In front of us was a small placemat with four glasses. The placemat was marked clockwise: Four Roses Yellow, Four Roses Small Batch, Four Roses Single Barrel, and Limited Edition Single Barrel.

Mashbills	OE	OB
Corn	75%	60%
Rye	20%	35%
Malted Barley	5%	5%

Yeast Codes
V	Light & Delicate Fruity Flavor
K	Slightly Spicy Character
O	Rich and Full-Bodied Fruitiness
Q	Floral Essence
F	Herbal Essence

We use two grain recipes with 2 mashbills (a mashbill is the ‘recipe’ of grain types and proportions used.)  All bourbons use a small flavor grain. We use more small flavor grain than other bourbons in our mashbills.  Small flavor grains include rye (spicy) or wheat (sweet).  We use 60% corn 35% rye and 5% malted barley (in OB). We are the only distillery that has more than one proprietary yeast; we have five, producing five unique flavors.  This results are 10 distinctive bourbon recipes, each of which is distilled and aged separately.  No two barrels are ever alike; every barrel has its own individual flavor. The theory behind the 10 recipes is to enable consistency.  When we get to make a bottling run we will obtain samples and tweak the formula to achieve consistency. Even then it can’t be done.  We’re getting closer than anybody else. Every time you see a Four Roses label on a bottle it will be different; it will be different by formula design.

Our Yellow Label averages about 6.5 years aging, our Small Batch about 7.5 years, and our Single Barrel about 9 years.  Most people consider age as something really good. The older the better. This is not really true with bourbon.  When you fill a barrel with bourbon, it will start picking up color.  100% of the color comes from the char of the brand new white oak barrels that we all use.  No caramel. Bourbon will peak in maturity between 6 and 8 years old.  You will get some really good exceptions but peak is 6 to 8 years old.  About 66% of the flavor of the bourbon comes from natural sugars in the wood.

Scotch would need to be aged 22.4 years to obtain the maturity of a six year old bourbon.  The perception is that old is good.  When you make bourbon you fill a barrel full. Each year we have about 4.4% depletion through evaporation and leakage.  After something is aged a long time, you might have 10% left.  You have to recover more costs that have occurred during the aging process.

We are the only distillery with single story warehouses. We have 20; each with about one acre of square footage. We have over 375,000 barrels in inventory.  We have a six-barrel high racking and we will see significant differences within the rack.  In the traditional multi-story warehouse, the barrels are stacked three tiers high in each story.  In a multi-story warehouse in the hot summer months you will have a +/- 35 degree temperature difference between the bottom and the top floor.  We’ve reduced that down to 6-8 degrees difference.

Our goal is to always be mellow and smooth. We have been using the same grain source for 51 years.  Smoothness and mellowness starts with the raw materials. We will pay a premium to get the best of the crops and to get the best raw materials. We have GMO free corn, but I don’t know how long we can continue that. (GMO, or genetically modified, corn has been of note due to the transfer of genes through the pollination process, resulting in many GMO marker genes in crops that were previously non-GMO).

The Bourbons:

Yellow Label
40% alcohol by volume. $22-$24 per bottle.
2007 Silver Award – Whiskies of the World – International Spirits Challenge
2010 World Whisky Award Winner – Best Bourbon 7 years and under
Taste: floral with a bit of fruit.  good for everyday relaxed drinking and mixing.

Small Batch 45% alcohol by volume. $36 per bottle
2007 Five Star rating – F. Paul Pacult’s, SPIRIT JOURNAL
2007 Silver Award – Whiskies of the World – International Spirits    Challenge
2007 Judges’ Best Award – Taste of the BluegrassA blend of four bourbon batches producing a more intense experience than the yellow label. The caramel is especially enticing, and there is a nice, long finish on the palate.

Single Barrel
50% alcohol by volume. $42.
2005 Gold Medal – Best American Whiskey Under 10 Years Old –  WHISKY MAGAZINE Best of the Best Awards
2006 Judges’ Best Award – Taste of the Bluegrass
2007 Best Bourbon Whiskey: No age – WHISKY MAGAZINE World Whiskies Award
2007 Five Star Rating – F. Paul Pacult’s, SPIRIT JOURNAL
2007 Gold Award – Whiskies of the World – International spirits Challenge
2008 Best Bourbon Whiskey: No age – WHISKY MAGAZINE World Whiskies Award

Honestly one of the finest (and most unique) bourbons I have tasted. Being from a single barrel, each of which producing about 200 some bottles, odds are each bottle you purchase will have slightly different characteristics. I had this at the Griffin here in Vegas a few months before the meeting at Emeril’s.  I was expecting the dreaded old Four Roses (mentioned above). What I found was a powerhouse of flavor- cherries,  and super strong and long vanilla caramel finish. There is a bit of spiciness initially that morphs into complex flavors.  I might be a heretic, but this makes one of the finest manhattans I will ever have. Great to drink neat.  For the price it really can’t be beat. Just buy a bottle, OK?  You’ll thank me later. I was thrilled and honored to shake Mr. Rutledge’s hand after I drank this stuff.

Limited Edition Single Barrel
50% + alcohol by volume (varies). ~$88
We tried sample bottles, so I am uncertain of what the finished bottled product will look like.

The alcohol was a bit noticable, despite being only slightly over 100 proof.  What I now know is the Four Roses flavor comes shining through, with a lot of the caramel finish that I love so much.  This bottle had a bit more spice than I was expecting.  Perhaps a bit of chocolate as well. I think this would be and excellent addition for my home, but I am so enamored with the single barrel that I would find it difficult to justify the additional cost. However, if you are a bourbon lover, this is a damn good bourbon and a great addition to the top shelf.

The meal:

This was one of my first experiences at an Emeril’s location.

The menu consisted of 3 courses:

First: Baby Greens and Teardrop Tomatoes

Second: Hilda’s Pot Roast with Stewed Vegetables and Fresh Herbs (and Roasted Garlic)
-or-

Emeril’s New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp

Third: Four Roses Bourbon Brioche Bread Pudding with Brown Butter Pecan Ice Crea mand Candied Pecans

Service was excellent, and the food was wonderful.  Some would probably kill for that bread pudding.

Delmonico Steakhouse
The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109-8941
(702) 414-3737

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