The origins of the Four Roses brand are historically hazy, with some speculating that it has been sold since the 1860s. The brand name itself was trademarked in 1888 by the Paul Jones company. At the onset of Prohibition, Paul Jones purchased the Frankfort Distillery, reorganising their company as part of it in order to use its medicinal license to continue to bottle Four Roses bourbon. The Four Roses distillery we know today was built in Lawrenceburg in 1910 by JTS Brown & Sons. Known back then as the Old Prentice, it is one of the Kentucky distilleries on the National Register of Historic Buildings for its distinctive Spanish mission style architecture. It was re-opened in 1933 after the repeal of Prohibition, Seagram purchased the Frankfort Distillery in 1943, and the Old Prentice distillery three years later, moving the production on the Four Roses brand there, renaming the plant after it in the process. When Seagram was wound up in the early 2000s, the distillery and its brands were bought by Japanese firm, Kirin, who continue to produce Four Roses to great acclaim.

This is a 1990s bottling of Four Roses Kentucky straight bourbon.

At this time, Seagram preferred to promote their Seven Crown as the whiskey brand of choice in the US, limiting Four Roses as a straight bourbon to the export market. US customers had to make do with a blended "light" whiskey variant until the brand was acquired by Kirin in 2002, who re-introduced the straight bourbon to its native market.