Reports: Historic Kentucky bourbon distiller Four Roses for sale for $1B
One of Kentucky’s biggest bourbons is for sale.
According to the Financial Times, Japanese brewer Kirin has put Four Roses up for sale for $1 billion. Financial Times cited people familiar with the deal.
A Four Roses spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Industry publication Just Drinks reported that a spokesperson for Kirin Holdings said: “At this time, there is nothing we can confirm regarding the report, and we have no comment to offer.”
Reuters reported that the company has been working with advisers from the U.S. to find a potential buyer, with first-round bids expected next month.
Kirin Holdings owns a beverage and beer business as well as a pharmaceutical subsidiary; according to FT, the company is looking to pivot from the struggling spirits industry to its health care business.
Kentucky’s $9 billion bourbon industry has been hit hard by slumping demand at home and abroad for American whiskey, in part because of President Trump’s ongoing trade war with Canada, in particular. Major distillers have halted or slowed production, while some financially troubled, smaller distilleries have gone into bankruptcy or are in receivership.
Kirin bought Lawrenceburg-based Four Roses in 2002; the brand had been part of the Seagram portfolio that was sold and broken up in 2000.
The brand had become a bottom-shelf blended light whiskey when master distillery Jim Rutledge took it back to its roots as a straight bourbon.
The historic distillery, which underwent a $55 million expansion in 2015, traces to 1888.
Its bourbons are much-sought after by collectors. Famously, the bourbon is made from two different recipes, or mash bills, fermented using five proprietary yeast strains that produce 10 distinct spirits that can be mingled to achieve myriad flavor variation.
According to the Financial Times, the brand generates about $70 million in adjusted earnings per year.
