Four Roses Distillery sits on the banks of the Salt River in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, operating from a Spanish Mission-style building that’s been making bourbon since 1910. The distillery was founded by Paul Jones Jr., who named it after his beloved’s acceptance of his marriage proposal—she wore a corsage of four red roses to the grand ball, signaling her yes. After nearly disappearing from American shelves for decades when Seagram focused on overseas markets, master distiller Jim Rutledge and the team at Kirin-owned Four Roses brought it back to prominence in the early 2000s. What makes Four Roses fascinating is their approach to complexity through simplicity. They use two different mash bills and five proprietary yeast strains, creating ten distinct bourbon recipes that master distiller Brent Elliott blends into their final products. This systematic approach gives them more control over flavor profiles than most distilleries, and Elliott—who worked under Rutledge before taking over in 2015—has continued pushing the boundaries with limited releases that showcase individual recipes. The operation runs on a scale that’s both industrial and artisanal, producing around 4 million gallons annually while maintaining the kind of quality control that wins international awards. Visitors get to see this precision in action during tours that walk through the entire process, from the massive cypress wood fermentation tanks to the bottling line. The tasting room overlooks the production floor, so you’re sipping bourbon while watching it being made just yards away. It’s not the most intimate craft distillery experience, but it’s genuinely educational if you want to understand how great bourbon gets made at scale.