This story is part of the GP100, our annual roundup of the best products of the year. To see the full list of winners, grab the latest issue of Gear Patrol Magazine.
Lost in the explosive rise of bourbon in America is a decades-long whiskey comeback story, a comeback that, until recently, would’ve been easy to miss. Four Roses was introduced in 1888 and, by the 1930s, had become America’s top-selling bourbon. But after the distillery was purchased by Seagram in 1943, the brand began moving the sale of its Kentucky straight bourbon to European and Japanese markets, leaving America with the lesser Four Roses whiskey. For Americans, Four Roses went into hibernation.
Then in 2002, Kirin Brewery took over the brand and jettisoned Seagram’s blended mistake for Four Roses Yellow (now simply “Four Roses”). Two years later, under newly-appointed Master Distiller Jim Rutledge, Four Roses Single Barrel hit shelves; then came Four Roses Small Batch and, for the next decade, the three expressions amassed a cult following. They were the bourbons that any serious drinker would inevitably stumble upon, and then immediately fall in love with.
The recent lull was interrupted this spring when the distillery announced the first update to its mainline bourbon collection in 13 years: Four Roses Small Batch Select.
Further Reading
• The Best Whiskeys to Gift This Year
• Four Roses Small Batch Select Released
While other distilleries were buying national ad spots and importing massive sherry casks from Spain, Brent Elliot, the current Master Distiller, spent over a year blending Four Roses recipes, seeking out the perfect ratio for the new Four Roses bottle. “Fortunately,” said Elliot, “we use ten different recipes.”
