Four Roses Bourbon Collection
The Four Roses collection at Midnight Whiskey holds the distillery's annual Limited Edition Small Batch releases — currently the 2023 135th Anniversary, the 2024, and the 2025 — each a barrel-strength, non-chill-filtered blend built from the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky distillery's ten-recipe system, under a name Paul Jones Jr. trademarked in 1888.
The House
- Trademarked by Paul Jones Jr. in Louisville in 1888, with production claimed back to the 1860s — the year on every bottle.
- Survived Prohibition through the Frankfort Distilling Company, bought in 1922, which held a federal medicinal-whiskey permit.
- Ten recipes from one still house: the high-rye B mash bill (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley) and the E (75/20/5), each fermented on five proprietary yeast strains.
- Distilled at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky; matured and bottled at Cox's Creek in single-storey rack warehouses, which hold a narrower temperature band than Kentucky's tall houses.
- Every edition in the annual series is bottled at natural barrel strength and non-chill filtered — the stocked three run 108, 108.2 and 109 proof, with component ages spanning 12 to 25 years.
- Owned by Kirin since 2002 as Four Roses Distillery LLC; Brent Elliott has been Master Distiller since 2015.
Exiled and Returned
Four Roses has the strangest arc of any major bourbon name. Paul Jones Jr. trademarked it in 1888 and it was among the best-selling bourbons in America through the 1930s and 40s — which is why Seagram bought Frankfort Distilling in 1943, largely to own the name. Then Seagram withdrew the Kentucky straight bourbon from the United States in the late 1950s and put a blend in its place at home, while the real thing went abroad and became a top seller in Europe and Japan. For four decades the best bourbon wearing the label was easier to buy in Tokyo than in Kentucky. Kirin ended the exile: it bought the brand and its production facilities in February 2002, killed the blend, and brought the straight bourbon home. Jim Rutledge, Master Distiller from 1995, had spent years pushing for exactly that return; Brent Elliott, his successor since 2015, now assembles the annual releases this page collects.
The Annual Series
Four Roses is the Kentucky house that varies the recipe rather than the barrel: two mash bills crossed with five yeast strains give the distillery ten distinct bourbons, and once a year Elliott assembles a handful of them, at natural strength, into the edition collectors track. What makes the series unusual is its paper trail — the distillery publishes the recipe codes, the parcel percentages and the age of every component, so a shelf of these reads as a documented argument rather than a row of vintages. The three arguments here run in different directions. The 108-proof 135th Anniversary reached for the series' ceiling, carrying a 25-year-old parcel no edition has matched. The 12-to-20-year 2024 release is the working blend — three recipes graded across eight years of stock. The 13-and-19-year 2025 blend went narrow instead, three-quarters of it a single age, one old parcel doing the deepening. New editions join this page as they join the shelf; the rest of our Kentucky stock lives on the wider bourbon shelf at Midnight Whiskey.
Collector Note
The annual Four Roses is the most completely documented allocated release in American whiskey, and that documentation is what a vertical of them trades on: each bottle is a dated, fully specified argument, so year-to-year comparison is the collecting logic rather than raw scarcity. The 2023 anniversary carries the series' age record and the packaging refresh; the 2024 and 2025 show the same programme run wide and then narrow. Editions are allocated — the 2025 ran roughly 16,854 bottles through a distillery drawing and select retailers — and fill size matters when cataloguing: this series ships in both 750 ml American and 700 ml export bottles, and each product page states which one we stock.
Production Methodology
Four Roses distils at Lawrenceburg from two mash bills — the high-rye B at 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley, and the E at 75/20/5 — fermented with five proprietary yeast strains, each lettered for its character. The crossing yields ten recipes, named by a four-letter code that reads distillery, mash bill, straight whiskey, yeast. Maturation happens at Cox's Creek in single-storey rack warehouses, a narrower temperature band that lets stock reach the high teens and beyond without collapsing into oak. For each annual release, the Master Distiller selects parcels held back beyond ten years and assembles them at natural barrel strength, without chill filtration; the exact composition is published with each release and verified on each product page.
Authentication & Vault Preservation
Every Four Roses bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authorized, authentic retailer, vault-stored and insured, shipped with protective handling and age-verified 21-and-over signature on delivery, and authenticated by our concierge before it ships. For the details, see how bottles are verified before shipping, vault storage and the concierge, and sourcing questions, answered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch series?
It is Four Roses' annual flagship release: once a year, Master Distiller Brent Elliott assembles a small batch from the distillery's ten bourbon recipes and bottles it at natural barrel strength, non-chill filtered. The distillery publishes each edition's recipes, parcel percentages and component ages, so every year is fully documented. Midnight Whiskey currently stocks the 2023 135th Anniversary, the 2024, and the 2025 releases.
Where is Four Roses bourbon made?
Four Roses is distilled in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, with maturation and bottling at the company's Cox's Creek, Kentucky facility, where the barrels age in single-storey rack warehouses. The brand dates to 1888, when Paul Jones Jr. trademarked the name in Louisville, and it has been owned by Kirin since 2002, operating as Four Roses Distillery LLC.
The Four Roses collection at Midnight Whiskey holds the distillery's annual Limited Edition Small Batch releases — currently the 2023 135th Anniversary, the 2024, and the 2025 — each a barrel-strength, non-chill-filtered blend built from the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky distillery's ten-recipe system, under a name Paul Jones Jr. trademarked in 1888.
The House
- Trademarked by Paul Jones Jr. in Louisville in 1888, with production claimed back to the 1860s — the year on every bottle.
- Survived Prohibition through the Frankfort Distilling Company, bought in 1922, which held a federal medicinal-whiskey permit.
- Ten recipes from one still house: the high-rye B mash bill (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley) and the E (75/20/5), each fermented on five proprietary yeast strains.
- Distilled at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky; matured and bottled at Cox's Creek in single-storey rack warehouses, which hold a narrower temperature band than Kentucky's tall houses.
- Every edition in the annual series is bottled at natural barrel strength and non-chill filtered — the stocked three run 108, 108.2 and 109 proof, with component ages spanning 12 to 25 years.
- Owned by Kirin since 2002 as Four Roses Distillery LLC; Brent Elliott has been Master Distiller since 2015.
Exiled and Returned
Four Roses has the strangest arc of any major bourbon name. Paul Jones Jr. trademarked it in 1888 and it was among the best-selling bourbons in America through the 1930s and 40s — which is why Seagram bought Frankfort Distilling in 1943, largely to own the name. Then Seagram withdrew the Kentucky straight bourbon from the United States in the late 1950s and put a blend in its place at home, while the real thing went abroad and became a top seller in Europe and Japan. For four decades the best bourbon wearing the label was easier to buy in Tokyo than in Kentucky. Kirin ended the exile: it bought the brand and its production facilities in February 2002, killed the blend, and brought the straight bourbon home. Jim Rutledge, Master Distiller from 1995, had spent years pushing for exactly that return; Brent Elliott, his successor since 2015, now assembles the annual releases this page collects.
The Annual Series
Four Roses is the Kentucky house that varies the recipe rather than the barrel: two mash bills crossed with five yeast strains give the distillery ten distinct bourbons, and once a year Elliott assembles a handful of them, at natural strength, into the edition collectors track. What makes the series unusual is its paper trail — the distillery publishes the recipe codes, the parcel percentages and the age of every component, so a shelf of these reads as a documented argument rather than a row of vintages. The three arguments here run in different directions. The 108-proof 135th Anniversary reached for the series' ceiling, carrying a 25-year-old parcel no edition has matched. The 12-to-20-year 2024 release is the working blend — three recipes graded across eight years of stock. The 13-and-19-year 2025 blend went narrow instead, three-quarters of it a single age, one old parcel doing the deepening. New editions join this page as they join the shelf; the rest of our Kentucky stock lives on the wider bourbon shelf at Midnight Whiskey.
Collector Note
The annual Four Roses is the most completely documented allocated release in American whiskey, and that documentation is what a vertical of them trades on: each bottle is a dated, fully specified argument, so year-to-year comparison is the collecting logic rather than raw scarcity. The 2023 anniversary carries the series' age record and the packaging refresh; the 2024 and 2025 show the same programme run wide and then narrow. Editions are allocated — the 2025 ran roughly 16,854 bottles through a distillery drawing and select retailers — and fill size matters when cataloguing: this series ships in both 750 ml American and 700 ml export bottles, and each product page states which one we stock.
Production Methodology
Four Roses distils at Lawrenceburg from two mash bills — the high-rye B at 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley, and the E at 75/20/5 — fermented with five proprietary yeast strains, each lettered for its character. The crossing yields ten recipes, named by a four-letter code that reads distillery, mash bill, straight whiskey, yeast. Maturation happens at Cox's Creek in single-storey rack warehouses, a narrower temperature band that lets stock reach the high teens and beyond without collapsing into oak. For each annual release, the Master Distiller selects parcels held back beyond ten years and assembles them at natural barrel strength, without chill filtration; the exact composition is published with each release and verified on each product page.
Authentication & Vault Preservation
Every Four Roses bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authorized, authentic retailer, vault-stored and insured, shipped with protective handling and age-verified 21-and-over signature on delivery, and authenticated by our concierge before it ships. For the details, see how bottles are verified before shipping, vault storage and the concierge, and sourcing questions, answered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch series?
It is Four Roses' annual flagship release: once a year, Master Distiller Brent Elliott assembles a small batch from the distillery's ten bourbon recipes and bottles it at natural barrel strength, non-chill filtered. The distillery publishes each edition's recipes, parcel percentages and component ages, so every year is fully documented. Midnight Whiskey currently stocks the 2023 135th Anniversary, the 2024, and the 2025 releases.
Where is Four Roses bourbon made?
Four Roses is distilled in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, with maturation and bottling at the company's Cox's Creek, Kentucky facility, where the barrels age in single-storey rack warehouses. The brand dates to 1888, when Paul Jones Jr. trademarked the name in Louisville, and it has been owned by Kirin since 2002, operating as Four Roses Distillery LLC.