Report: Four Roses Is For Sale

Do you enjoy the bourbon made by Four Roses? Do you have a billion dollars lying around? If you answered both of these questions in the affirmative, well, you might just be in the running to be the distillery’s next owner. According to reporting from Ivan Levingston, Oliver Barnes and Harry Dempsey at the Financial Times, Four Roses’ parent company Kirin is seeking a buyer for the U.S.-based distillery, and has set the price at one billion dollars.

As the Financial Times reports, Kirin’s plans are part of a larger shift within the company to focus more on investing in wellness and nutrition companies. Last year, when Kirin purchased Fancl — a company known for its vitamins and skincare products — Reuters’s reporting on the deal situated the acquisition as part of a larger strategy. The Financial Times, meanwhile, noted that pharmaceutical revenue made up a larger share of Kirin’s income in 2024 than it did in 2020.

For now, Kirin itself has refrained from comment on the potential sale. The Times shared that neither Kirin nor the investment bank UBS commented on the matter.

As Nicola Carruthers at The Spirits Business pointed out, Four Roses is not Kirin’s only foothold in the spirits category. Among Four Roses’ corporate siblings — for now, anyway — are Fuji Whiskey and Yatsushiro Distillery, which produces gin and sochu. Last year, Kirin expanded the international markets in which the latter’s spirits are sold.

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The reporting thus far on a possible Four Roses sale does suggest one other possible outcome. The Financial Times cites “two people familiar with the matter” as suggesting that the sale could involve the launch of “a joint venture” rather than an outright sale of the distillery. According to the report, initial bids could arrive as early as November.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…