What’s inside the new Four Roses visitors center that will double its tourist capacity

Already a major stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Four Roses Distillery is ready for the next wave of visitors.

The Lawrenceburg distillery on Tuesday opened a new and bigger visitors center to go with its expanded distillery and new bottling lines and warehouses in Cox’s Creek.

“This new visitor’s center is another exciting accomplishment for Four Roses, the Anderson County community and Kentucky’s $8.9 billion tourism industry,” said Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday.

“Guests will be able to experience our world-famous, signature spirit with this historic distiller, a founding member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. I want to thank the Four Roses team for their investment in this community and commitment to the Kentuckians and visitors from around the world who will walk through the doors here.”

The 14,446-square-foot visitor center was designed by Louisville architecture firm Joseph & Joseph + Bravura, the same firm that designed the 1910 distillery, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. And the new building blends right in with the existing Spanish mission-style buildings Four Roses is known for.

With the bigger space, the distillery will be able to double visitor capacity. In 2019, the last year of fully open tourism, Four Roses welcomed almost 85,000 guests. Currently reservations are required for distillery tours, which can be booked at fourroses.bourbon.com/visit.

The new space includes a large outdoor covered patio and cocktail area as well as a bar inside, Bar 1888, named for the year the Four Roses name was trademarked. The bar will offer bourbons, including selections from the Limited Edition Small Batch series as well as specialty cocktails.

There are four tasting rooms as well as enhanced tasting experiences, such as the chance to sample all 10 of Four Roses’ Kentucky bourbon recipes.

Besides the expanded gift shop, the center also will include the Al Young Archive Collection, named for the late brand ambassador. This interactive display will showcase items from the 133-year history of the brand.

The bourbon, which is owned by Suntory of Japan, has seen exponential growth since it returned to the U.S. market in 2002. Four Roses Distillery opened its first visitors center in 2004 and then opened a larger remodeled one in 2012.

Four Roses was named World’s Best Bourbon in the 2019 World Whiskies Awards and master distiller Brent Elliott was named the Icons of Whisky America 2020 Master Distiller/Blender of the Year.