[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13633-13634]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JIM RUTLEDGE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to recognize and congratulate a 
distinguished Kentuckian who is closely associated with the 
Commonwealth's most famous product. Jim Rutledge, the master distiller 
of Four Roses Bourbon, has announced his retirement from that position 
effective September 1, 2015.
  Jim is in his 49th year working in the bourbon business, and has been 
the master distiller at Four Roses since 1995. As master distiller, Jim 
is in charge of perfecting each Four Roses bottle. He oversees every 
stage of the distillation process and oversees the character, quality 
and consistency of each barrel.
  Jim began his career in the distilled spirits industry with Seagram's 
Louisville Research & Development operation in 1966. He was transferred 
to the Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg, as the Kentucky area 
manager, in 1994 and then named master distiller in 1995. In 1998, Jim 
received Seagram's top award, the Mel Griffin Quality Award for North 
America, and in 2001, Jim was indicted into the inaugural class of the 
Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.
  In 2007, Jim received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malt 
Advocate Magazine, and in 2008, the leading liquor industry 
publication, Whisky Magazine, named him the Ambassador of the Year for 
American Whiskies as part of their annual Icons of Whisky Awards. Jim 
was also inducted into Whisky Magazine's Hall of Fame in 2013. He was 
only the second American inducted into this elite group.
  Jim was also active with the Kentucky Distillers Association board of 
directors for 13 years, and served as chairman of the internationally 
attended Kentucky Bourbon Festival for 7 of the 9 years he was on the 
board. The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is a
6-day event that takes place in Bardstown, KY.

[[Page 13634]]

  Jim graduated from the University of Louisville with a BSC in 
marketing and a minor in chemistry. Let me add that not only did Jim 
and I both attend the University of Louisville, we are also fraternity 
brothers.
  In retirement, Jim hopes to stay involved with bourbon and the 
distilled spirits industry. I suspect he will also get to spend more 
time with his wife Beverly Anne, as well as his children Dennis, 
Deborah, Cynthia, and Doralee, and his grandchildren.
  Jim will be missed as the face of Four Roses Bourbon but I know the 
entire distilled spirits industry in Kentucky joins me in recognizing 
his lifetime of accomplishment and wishing him the best in retirement. 
I want to wish congratulations again to Jim Rutledge for his many 
successes in the world of bourbon.

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