Four Roses Distillery marked the culmination of its $55 million expansion project with the official launch of Small Batch Select–the first permanent addition to the Distillery’s Bourbon lineup in 12 years. The Distillery’s expansion project began in 2015 and is doubling production capacity to accommodate for growing industry demand.
“It’s an exciting time at Four Roses and we are proud to celebrate the next step in our effort to provide even more Bourbon to our consumers while maintaining a commitment to produce the same premium quality that defines the brand,” said Four Roses Chief Operating Officer Ryan Ashley in a press release. “We welcome and encourage you to make the trip to our Distillery in Lawrenceburg to experience our continued growth first-hand.”
The expansion project invested $34 million into Four Roses’ Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ky. and $21 million at the Warehouse & Bottling Facility in Cox’s Creek, Ky. At the Distillery, Four Roses added two new buildings and equipment, including a new column and doubler still and more fermenters. With the duplicate column and doubler still, production capacity is scheduled to increase from 4 million to 8 million proof gallons, enough to fill more than 130,000 barrels a year. Louisville, Ky. based architecture firm Joseph & Joseph designed the original Distillery in 1910, and modeled the new buildings after the existing Spanish mission-style structures unique to Four Roses.
At the Warehouse & Bottling Facility, Four Roses built a new bottling facility, containing two bottling lines, including one specifically designed for Single Barrel and a high-speed bottling line, bottling support areas and office space. Warehouse X, the first of several new Four Roses warehouses to be built in the coming years, was completed in November 2018.
The award-winning Bourbon company has experienced exponential growth since its return to the United States in 2002. The project has created numerous new jobs, and Four Roses plans to continue to add new jobs in the near future.
Debut of new Bourbon underway
Non-chill filtered and bottled at a 104 proof, Small Batch Select will join Four Roses Single Barrel, Four Roses Small Batch and Four Roses Bourbon. It will first be available in limited quantities at the Four Roses Distillery and Warehouse & Bottling Facility Visitor Centers on Wednesday, April 17 beginning at 9 a.m.
Small Batch Select will roll out to additional select retailers in Kentucky, New York, California, Texas and Georgia in the weeks following, and will be available in additional locations in the future.
Four Roses is the only Bourbon distillery that combines two mashbills with five proprietary yeast strains to produce 10 distinct Bourbon recipes, each with its own unique characteristics.
“Small Batch Select includes six of our recipes and offers truly unique flavor characteristics from our current lineup of Bourbons,” said Four Roses Master Distiller Brent Elliott. “It’s all new, but at the same time, it’s an extension of what we do, and what we do well.”
Master Distiller Brent Elliott hand-selected and mingled six of Four Roses’ 10 Bourbon recipes, each aged a minimum of 6 years, to create Small Batch Select. This bottle will feature OBSV, OBSK, OBSF, OESV, OESK and OESF.
“Beyond the unique flavor profile, we wanted to give something to the consumer that they’re really looking for–a non-chill filtered, higher strength Bourbon–and that’s what they will experience with Four Roses Small Batch Select,” said Elliott.
Four Roses Small Batch Select balances notes of candied fruit with warmth and spice for a nuanced, mouth-coating flavor enjoyable to both casual drinkers and connoisseurs.
For more information on Small Batch Select, visit fourrosesbourbon.com/bourbon/small-batch-select/ .
