Al Young

“50+ Years as Four Roses’ Biggest Fan”

Al Young was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in June of 1942. Al joined Four Roses in 1967, working different jobs over the years in the distillery. In 1990, he became the Distillery Manager, and in 2007, he became the Brand Ambassador. As Ambassador, he travelled the world and spread the word about Four Roses Bourbon. In 2010, Al wrote a book on the history of Four Roses, “Four Roses: The Return of a Whiskey Legend”. One year later, he became somewhat of a ‘legend’ himself, as he was nominated as a 2011 member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.

When Al joined Seagram’s in 1967, he was working at Louisville’s Actors Theatre company and was about to marry his wife, Gretchen. When he was hired, he thanked them and said he needed time off for his wedding and honeymoon. They allowed him to take his requested time off, so he concluded that Seagram’s must be a decent place to work. One of his earliest jobs at Seagram’s was working in the sensory lab, where he became a lab assistant in charge of setting up samples for the nosing and blending team. As luck would have it, some time later, Jim Rutledge and Al Young both found themselves in Lawrenceburg at the Four Roses Distillery, with Jim as the Master Distiller and Al as the Distillery Manager. This dynamic duo of Jim and Al together led Four Roses back to prominence after years of decline under Seagram’s, which had all but dropped the brand in the U.S. The pair would travel the country, urging consumers to try their bourbon, with Jim explaining the nuances of how it was made while Al told the historical story of Four Roses.

In his book, Al covered not only the brand’s rise to prominence in its pre-Prohibition days, but its decline under decades of Seagram’s ownership as the Bronfman family switched Four Roses from a classic Bourbon into a cheap bottom-shelf blended whiskey that was not even sold in the United States.

In 2007, Four Roses marked a major milestone with the reintroduction of its bourbon to all 50 states, after being largely absent from the U.S. market for decades. Al had become the face of Four Roses during its renaissance, tirelessly educating consumers, bartenders, and distributors about the brand’s unique history and its ten distinct bourbon recipes. This moment was especially meaningful for Al because he had witnessed the brand’s decline in the domestic market and was now helping to re-establish it as a premium player in the American bourbon resurgence.

Another standout moment in Al Young’s career came in 2017, when Four Roses honored his 50th anniversary with the company by releasing a limited-edition bourbon bearing his name: the Al Young 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Small Batch. The release featured a blend of recipes spanning decades, some as old as 23 years. The release was both a collector’s item and a heartfelt tribute to his deep connection with the distillery’s heritage. Al, a self-taught historian of Four Roses, was deeply touched by the recognition and continued to serve as the brand’s ambassador and living archive right up until his passing. The very special release also revived the 1967 vintage bottle design and label that he had preserved from the Four Roses archive.

Al was married to Gretchen for 52 years, and also worked at Four Roses for 52 years before he passed away on Christmas Day of 2019. Al and Gretchen had three children, Marc, Heather, and Christine

Contributed by: Stuart McEnerney, Hartford, Connecticut

with support from Daniel Snyder, Champaign, Illinois