The brand name Four Roses was trademarked in 1888 by Paul Jones Jr. who claimed it had been produced and sold as early as the 1860s.
The origin of the name is a subject of much debate with several diverse stories in circulation. The current distillery was built in Lawrenceburg in 1910 and was called the Old Prentice Distillery. The brand, purchased in 1943 by Seagrams, disappeared off American shelves in the late 1950s and remained absent for nearly 50 year. In 2002, the distillery was purchased by the Kirin company - who focussed on reviving the brand. It is now considered one of the Major Four distillers of bourbon in Kentucky.