Four Roses Co-founder
Paul Jones Jr. trademarked the Four Roses name in 1888. The
story is that Paul Jones Jr. and his father, Paul Jones Sr., had
opened a grocery and warehouse in Atlanta and the younger Paul
became interested in distilling. At the time, he was also
courting a local lady, and asked for her hand in marriage. They
agreed that, at a grand ball they were to attend, if she were to
accept his proposal of marriage, she would wear a corsage of
four red roses. She wore the corsage and the two were married.
Knob Creek is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in
Clermont, Kentucky, US. It is named for the creek that ran
behind Abraham Lincoln’s childhood Kentucky home. The late
Booker Noe, Jim Beam’s sixth generation master distiller, chose
the name because he thought it reflected his values in making
whiskey.
The rye whiskey brand name Whistlepig comes from the
'single oddest piece of social interaction' that founder Raj
Bhakta had ever experienced. Bhakta was hiking outside of
Denver, Colorado, US. “Out of the blue popped a guy with a thick
French accent and a big shock of white hair,” says Raj. “He got
very close into my personal space and asked ‘Could it be? A
whistlepig?' I had no idea what he was talking about or what he
was looking at. When I didn’t understand, he snapped in my face
and repeated himself. When I still didn’t understand, he flicked
his wrist and took off.”
The Wild Turkey name dates back to the 1940s, “Thomas
McCarthy, an executive from Austin, Nichols the company that
made the whiskey at the time, took all the New York business
folks on a big turkey hunt every year.” The trip’s festivities
would include hunting and whiskey. That year, he pulled 101
proof bourbon for the guests. The next year, they asked him to
bring the same bourbon. He pulled a sample, and the brand’s name
was born.