Friday, October 3, 2014

Templeton Tale Gets Curiouser and Curiouser


Templeton Rye's current tale of woe is interesting in its own right but also for what it may portend, because Templeton is far from alone in its misleading marketing practices. Products like Tin Cup, Widow Jane, Texas 1835, and many others could be looking at the same kinds of trouble, including lawsuits like the one filed against Templeton and the now two filed against Tito's Vodka.

Vern Underwood is the CEO of Templeton and also Chairman of the Board for Young's Market Company, a big wine and spirits distributor. Yesterday he issued the following public response to the lawsuit.
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"As many of you have heard, Templeton Rye Sprits has been sued in Chicago recently alleging deceptive marketing practices.

"The most damaging and patently false statement made in that lawsuit was that stock rye whiskey purchased from MGP is simply poured into bottles and labeled 'Templeton Rye.' That statement is simply not true.

"The fact is Templeton purchases rye whiskey from MGP. Templeton has never hidden that fact from consumers. However, Templeton also purchases a flavoring formula from Clarendon Engineering in Louisville, Kentucky. That proprietary formula was created specifically for Templeton by Clarendon to match the flavor profile of the prohibition-era recipe rye whiskey produced by the ancestors of one of the founders of Templeton. That formula is blended with the rye whiskey distilled by MGP in a small vessel in Templeton, then bottled and labeled in Templeton.

"It is this blending of the whiskey and the formula which results in the production of Templeton Rye Whiskey. Templeton does not purchase 'Templeton Rye' from MGP as alleged in the complaint. Templeton makes (or produces, if you like) Templeton Rye in Iowa using an ingredient supplied by MGP.

"It is the formula created for Templeton that gives Templeton Rye Whiskey its unique flavor and distinctive taste. It is a product unlike any other on the market. The product in a bottle of Templeton Rye is made in Templeton, Iowa. The Company has never said it was distilled in Iowa.

"The Company will vigorously defend itself against these false and misleading allegations and we are confident that we will prevail in the end."
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First of all, Templeton absolutely did hide the fact that MGP was its distillery and did so for the first several years of the brand's existence, because I asked Templeton president Scott Bush who distilled it and he refused to tell me. As for this proprietary flavoring, that was never revealed until the Des Moines Register article two months ago.

Can you add flavoring to rye whiskey and still call it rye whiskey? Apparently, yes, but said flavoring may be no more that 2 1/2 percent of the product's volume. More importantly, the added flavoring must be "an essential component part of the particular class or type of distilled spirits to which added" or "customarily employed therein in accordance with established trade usage." Can Templeton meet that standard? It seems like that would be tough since, until a few years ago, only four American distilleries made rye whiskey and they all made straight rye, in which additives are not permitted, so flavoring wasn't "essential" or "customarily employed" in any of those products.

There also seems to be a direct contradiction in their argument. If their flavoring is proprietary, i.e., used only by them, making Templeton Rye "unlike any other on the market," how can it also be "an essential component part" of all rye whiskey, or "customarily employed therein"? You can't have it both ways.

Finally, there is this claim that the flavoring from Clarendon is used to "match the flavor profile of the prohibition-era recipe rye whiskey produced by the ancestors of one of the founders of Templeton." That would be Alphonse Kerkhoff. Back in 2006, when the company was just getting going and filing its first labels with the TTB, one of its COLAs was for something called "Templeton Rye Kerkhoff Recipe." It was classified as a "Specialty Distilled Spirit," TTB's catchall for products that don't qualify for any other classification. The label further stated that the product was to be "bottled in Templeton" (i.e., not distilled there) and would consist of "Spirits Distilled from Cane (90%) and Rye (10%)."

That is a typical moonshine recipe. Real moonshiners*, then and now, ferment table sugar but throw in some grain for flavor. Since no enzymes are used, the grain starch isn't converted into sugar so the grain isn't contributing any alcohol, but it may add a little flavor. It looks like what Templeton planned to do was mix neutral spirit made from cane (i.e., white rum) with a little bit of rye distillate. I don't know if that product was ever produced or what it's relevance might be to this proprietary flavoring, but that's the only "Kerkhoff Recipe" that's on the record.

If you've read this far, you are one of those people who, like me, is way more into this stuff than the average drinker. What is the average drinker and regular buyer of Templeton taking away from all this? Only time -- meaning sales figures -- will tell.


* To learn the true story of moonshine and its makers, read Chasing the White Dog by Max Watman.

25 comments:

Mike Thigpen said...

I am beginning to think you need chest high waders to wade into this craft industry crap.

Michael Shoshani said...

I just happened to look and notice that I have a bottle of Knob Creek Rye Whiskey. Not Knob Creek Straight Rye Whiskey or even Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey.

JB being JB and Fred Noe being Fred Noe, I have no reason to doubt that the bottle contains straight rye with no flavoring. (Mixture of four and nine year old rye, same mashbill as JB and OO if I recall.) But now...now I'm going through the labels on my bottles and looking carefully.

Josh said...

I've been wondering if they add a flavoring to their whisky ever since I saw this interview where he alludes to it, but doesn't state it bit.ly/1rR2qAh.

The fact that they add flavoring to their stock MGP rye and THEN layered the bullshit tale about Al Capone and all of that garbage on top makes me respect them even less. The more we learn, the further away they come from being a quality brand with sense of integrity at all.

Patrick said...

I think that other spirit they filed a COLA with the TTB for was the one-off they did to celebrate the sesquicentennial. I have a couple of bottles at the store, and I will check tomorrow to report back, but I recall it being a sugar cane/rye distillate.

Anonymous said...

Please don't confuse these bio-whiskey commercial bottling companies with craft. That is a real disservice to people who actually distill craft spirits.

Anonymous said...

For investigation purposes, I sampled Templeton Rye for the first time last week at World of Whiskies in Austin, TX. It was very unique. Unlike any rye or bourbon I've ever tasted before, and therefore, in my expert opinion, way more than 2.5% of flavorings going on. Even if by TTB regulations, Counterfeit.

Anonymous said...

Separating the wheat from the chaff is exactly what Chuck has been doing. (Like the whiskey pun?)
Crown Pt. Marc

Patrick said...

It turns out that COLA must be for a separate, third entry. The "Quasquicentennial Batch" product that they released is 75% cane, 20% grain & 5% rye. Released 5/1/2007.

Here's an image of the label:
http://campl.us/efjmsKD8LVA

Anonymous said...

While I think this is a witch hunt, the facts speak for themselves and the story from the boys in Iowa get weirder by the day.

Crazy thing here is that the Old Seagram's whiskey is great stuff, why add flavor?
That said, from an SUBJECTIVE view- there is worse whiskey on the market for more money... what are the real damages of those who bought it and feel mislead?

Anonymous said...

look at products like Angels envy that has a COLA as a Whiskey Speciality but advertises as a bourbon. Now that is fraud

merd said...

A couple years ago when traveling across Iowa, I was planning a sidestep from the direct course to see if I could get a distillery tour in on the trip. Turns out at the time you needed to pre-register for those tours. Always wondered why. Couldn't see the middle of nowhere having that much tourism to where it was necessary... I imagine they probably only conducted tours on "non distilling days when all the fermenters were down for cleaning and maintenance".

Regardless of the facts that may or may not come to surface, my drinking constituent and I have put down a number of whiskeys top to bottom shelf. Some in mix, some solo. We've done a Templeton solo drinking night where a fair amount of the bottle disappeared. We both felt like garbage the next day and both of us have had considerable amounts more with other sessions and single brand sittings... We had decided that Templeton was not a good all night session or quantity whiskey. Now I can only help but wonder if it's the additives and impurities.

Chuck Cowdery said...

One thing to take away from this whole discussion, applicable to all of us, is that when you are found to be untrustworthy, people won't trust you, and not just about that one thing. About everything.

VT Mike said...

Well said Chuck. That's how I feel about Breckenridge, they've lied so much up to this point, how could someone trust anything they say in the future?

Anonymous said...

I just watched a youtube video called The History of Templeton Rye. At the 2:50 mark the narrator admits Templeton is not good at following the rules. How funny is that!

Anonymous said...

And sheesh, what about all these Canadian Rye Whiskies? Collingwood 21, Whistle Pig, Jefferson's, Masterson's, Lot 40, Pikes... etc. They aren't "Straight Rye" either. And Canadian regs are even shiftier than ours. All kinds of wiggle room for GNS, coloring/flavoring, blending, etc.

Jared J said...

Thats Canadian Whiskey Anonymous. Their regulations are their regulations. And its one of the main reasons why my house had 100+bottles of bourbon and rye in my bar area, and 0 zero zero bottles of canadian whiskey.

Gary Gillman said...

Wait a minute, IIRC, Collingwood 21, Lot 40, Pikes Creek, don't claim to be "straight rye".

As for the others, where sold in the U.S., any claim of straight rye would have to be proven where someone asked who was entitled to know. Pretty big chance to take if the evidence isn't there. I take people at their word unless given reason otherwise.

Gary

Mark Shilling said...

Not to change the subject or anything, but am I the only one who thinks a grotesquely overlooked 'curiosity' in this post is the statement:

"Vern Underwood is the CEO of Templeton and also Chairman of the Board for Young's Market Company, a big wine and spirits distributor."?

scally said...

I just saw the Youtube video of Keith at Templeton with a lot of weird explanations of what the deal is at Templeton.


Needless to say, it wasn't exactly reassuring, nor did it settle anything, as far as i am concerned.

Chuck Cowdery said...

Mark, Exactly, because it's not supposed to be legal for one to be both a producer and a distributor, but apparently the legal dodge is pretty easy because it is, in fact, done all the time.

Sam Komlenic said...

Mark Shilling, you can go back to Chuck's post of August 29, where he's all about Underwood's dual role.

Anonymous said...

I found my way here after listening to the Whiskycast episode featuring the Templeton company response to Mr. Cowdery's on-air savaging.

The impression of resentful, nervous shiftiness was truly remarkable. You could almost hear the two representatives glancing furtively at each other - silently calculating what they could get away with.

singlemaltpls said...

Hi Chuck, being new to bourbon, I always wondered how Templeton became famous in the first place? Locally (Philippines), the expats become so giddy when they see a bar that has Templeton. But when I asked how they like Rendezvous, Bulleit Rye and Rittenhouse they don't act as giddy.

AndrewBsupafly said...

This is all quite interesting being as I'm from Colorado working for a large liquor store as a liquor buyer. I find this all so odd as sourcing whiskey isn't anything new to the market, the deception is. So at what point did people become ashamed to be sourcing the juice? Simply changing the term "distilled in" to "Produced in" could have saved these guys a lot of hassle and defacement. It's still misleading, but at least the people concerned about this distinction would have the applicable info. Who for that matter, outside of Iowa, would have even cared? "Colorado Crown", found in many states and named respectively, is a perfect example that most consumers don't read the small print even when its provided...

Scott Spolverino said...

They made the mistake of not opening their mouth to begin with and now that they finally opened it they can't stop it from talking themselves deeper in the hole.

Had they been honest from the get-go, they wouldn't be in this situation. So, life lessons for all, I suppose.