Some may associate a degree in chemistry with acids, bases and the scientific method. For Daviess County High School graduate Brent Elliott, a degree in chemistry from the University of Kentucky meant an opportunity to eventually become a master distiller for one of the fastest-growing bourbon brands in the state.
Elliott was part of a signing event in Louisville Thursday that introduced a limited edition Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon in a specially-designed bottle featuring the official 2019 Kentucky Derby Festival poster on the side.
“This event was intended to release this bottle and to showcase the bourbon and the artist behind the Kentucky Derby Festival,” Elliott said. “We were both there signing bottles and posters. We’ve been partnering with the Kentucky Derby Festival for over a decade now, so this event is traditionally well-attended.”
Representatives from the Derby Festival came into the Four Roses facility and hand-selected barrels to be released Thursday night as part of this introductory event. With a total of over 300 bottles, Elliott said the event was pretty much sold out.
After taking a job in Lawrenceburg in 2005 as a quality chemist, Elliott held various positions for Four Roses over a 10-year span which allowed him to grow with the company, eventually earning the position of master distiller.
“We had just recently come back to the U.S. in 2002,” Elliott said. “When I started we were pretty small, and over the last 12 years we have experienced significant growth. So I kind of just grew with the company until my predecessor, who had been with the company for 49 years, retired in 2015. In September of 2015, I was named Master Distiller.”
Elliott, who has served as a guest speaker and hosted tastings for the Owensboro Bourbon Society, said that, underneath the art of creating a quality bourbon, is a science many don’t understand.
“There is a lot of magic that happens on the microbiological level, then at the chemical level you have a lot of flavors,” Elliott said. “On the most fundamental level of bourbon and what creates the flavors, it ultimately comes down to microbiology and chemistry.”
Next month, the distillery will be releasing Four Roses Small Batch Select, which Elliott said will be the first edition to the bourbon line up that will be readily available in over twelve years.
Using six of 10 Four Roses bourbon recipes, and at a higher proof at 104 and non-chill-filtered, Elliott said Small Batch Select will offer a unique flavor profile in comparison to Four Roses’ previous releases.
“Bourbon as a category has always been understood by those of us in Kentucky,” Elliott said. “It’s really magical for us as a state and for the industry to have the rest of the world realize how special Bourbon is — and it’s great to be a part of that.”
