FOUR ROSES DISTILLERY, LAWRENCEBURG, KENTUCKY

After yesterday's horrible pouring down rain, we scrambled with a another time change and hit the Blue Grass Parkway toward Lawrenceburg for a visit to Four Roses Distillery. I've seen plenty of beer breweries, but never a distillery. Bonds Mill Rd. is narrow, kind of rolling hills and homes, could this be the right place? A big yellow, Spanish Mission Style building suddenly loomed up before us. The gates are narrow; you can't see if there is room for a motor home. Carefully, carefully we rolled...


We wound around a narrow driveway and ended up at the back of the place next to an ancient still on our left.

The steaming smoke stacks of a distillery at work on the right.


And the visitors center in front of us. A distinct smell of sweet corn hung in the air.


Inside the visitors center everything is roses. Much to look at and enjoy or buy while waiting for your tour.


Wouldn't this make a good toilet seat?  It answers the question, what is the difference between bourbon and whiskey?  Same thing. I'd love to have that as a toilet seat.


Four Roses isn't the oldest distillery in the state, but one of the oldest. It was started in 1888 by Old Joe. Everyone loved his brew and when he sold his place, he sold the recipe. It remains the same, we are told.


Several owners bought and ran the distillery after Old Joe. It was owned by Seagrams for many years. This is their top of the line product, single barrel straight bourbon, that has always been produced to the original recipe and enjoys a huge following in Europe and Japan. It is rumored the name Four Roses came from one early owner who fell for a beautiful woman. He asked for her hand in marriage. She said she'd give him her answer at an upcoming ball. If she was wearing a red rose, the answer was yes. At the ball she was wearing a corsage of four red roses. When Seagrams went bankrupt, the new owners began marketing their most successful product, the single barrel above, and selling it in America. It isn't yet available in every state.


The yellow label is what you drink Monday through Friday. They don't use the b---- word. It is an intermingled recipe. The books have some neat recipes.


The distillery has won an award for best distillery for 2011 and 2012. The above is not the award. Didn't learn what sour mash was. Forgot to ask. But I did remember that by law, bourbon has to be 51% corn mash. (She said Four Roses uses more.)  The corn comes from Indiana. Rye from Denmark and barley from Ireland.  Secret recipe #1.


The distillery tour started on the ground floor and ended there for me because of the stairs.  I had to leave and waited for the tour to enter the tasting room at the end.


Our tour guide above was fun. She had a great toast for us that I can't remember. The booze is delish if you like booze. Jim declined to taste. He only likes his Canadian Mist with ice and water. I enjoyed it because I like scotch, but it would have been better with a couple of ice cubes and a splash of water and a little cracker and cheese. (She gave me an empty bottle with the embossed roses on it for my bottle fence.)


While Jim was on the tour, I took some pictures outside. Beautiful grounds.


A second still on the grounds, a fountain in front of the building. It was a fun tour.