Wednesday, July 25, 2018

MGP Reduces Minimum Order for Custom Mash Bills


An aging warehouse at the MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (formerly owned by Seagrams).
MGP announced today that it has reduced its minimum order for spirits made from proprietary mash bills to 250 barrels from the previous 1,000-barrel requirement, said MGP Vice President of Alcohol Sales and Marketing David Dykstra.

In addition to lowering the minimum order, MGP will allow customers to 'pool' orders with other producers to fulfill the 250-barrel requirement.

MGP also offers a customized barrel entry proof, and the option to use either new or used barrels. Aging in an MGP rack house is also available.

“We’re full-service and fully committed to partnerships that benefit our customers of all sizes,” Dykstra said.

This change would seem to indicate that the contract distilling marketplace is becoming more competitive and MGP is no longer the only game in town.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope the intent of their new program is to allow the upstarts an avenue to acquire quality juice for their labels until they can age their own distillate. I don't see any cracks yet in the bourbon craze. They're buying just under 40,000 bottles instead of committing to 150,000+ which is a $$$world$$$ of difference.

Anonymous said...

"MGP will allow customers to 'pool' orders with other producers to fulfill the 250-barrel requirement"

So more nonsense of the exact same juice, in different bottles for different companies, for different prices.

...it's the 95% rye mashbill all over again

Ohio bourbon guy said...

And from a consumer standpoint, why do I want to throw my bourbon dollars at a " craft" distiller upstart company whose using MGP sourced hooch and charging way too much? Makes no sense to me. I have more respect for a young distiller who takes a risk and releases their own distillate even though it's only aged a couple years, as long as the price isn't outrageous.

Anonymous said...

12:53 - As a "True Craft Distiller" who has been slogging mash for 3 years now, I applaud you viewpoint. Our industry is awash in fake craft whiskey and clear spirits, and it just may actually bring the whole pyramid down. Big liquor is riding a wave of high prices never seen before, based entirely on the premis that there is value in "Small Batch Craft" while dumping millions of gallons of commodity product on a gullible consumer who actually believes the lies.

They continue to build excess capacity, oblivious to the fact that one single event like a disruptive marketing campaign by true craft distillers may obliterate their artificial margin, and bulk demand.

You keep believing, and we will keep pushing for that inevitable tipping point.

Erik Fish said...

"They continue to build excess capacity, oblivious to the fact that one single event like a disruptive marketing campaign by true craft distillers may obliterate their artificial margin, and bulk demand.

You keep believing, and we will keep pushing for that inevitable tipping point."

Your hope has one fatal flaw:

To adapt a quote from a different context, a large distiller like Beam spills more bourbon accidentally in a day than you've distilled in your three years.

You overlook the fact that the large distillers' "small batch" and "craft" line extensions are no more than premium appendices to the volume market.

Your (somewhat justified) rage at their appropriation of the craft label blinds you to the fact that the largest part of whiskey volume is sold as Beam White Label, Old No. 7, and such, not as pretend-craft bottlings, and it's sold to folks who, to use Ralfy's memorable phrase, just want to celebrate, commiserate, or get pissed, for little money, and could never care less about the most brilliant campaign by "true craft distillers".

You will never fill more than a niche. Sorry.

Chuck Cowdery said...

I allow anonymous posts and don't consider anonymity an automatic negative because I know that, in many cases, posters simply don't want to go through the trouble of 'registering' an identity with Google, but you would think that a 'True Craft Distiller' with such strong opinions would want to publicize his or her brand in this or any other forum. He or she naturally arouses suspicions by choosing not to do so.

Anonymous said...

Erik - as the True Craft distiller I will mention the 80/20 rule. In business aprox 80% of any effort results in 20% of your profits and conversely 20% begets 80%, et.al... As I it has been since the beginning of time across all industries.

You are correct that 80% ish, of Big Liquor is sales of cheap spirits to the sadly over-intoxicated sub section of society, therein generating a mere 20% ish of their profits. Where you go wrong is thinking about the other 20% of the production that captures 80% of their profits.

Big Glup would have you believe that they also produce 20% "super premium, magic spirits" that somehow deserve a 3x premium over the rest of their production. That is in fact almost comoelty false and they know it. It is again 80/20. 80% ish of the "premium product" is nothing but a pull from the aforementioned 80% commodity batch, relabeled to make it appear as Craft, only made possible because there are actual True Craft" distillers.

As I said before, the pyramid may very well collapse upon them because 80% of their profits are now flowing from the 20% "Fake Premium" pricing model.

Chuck - I realize the difficult position a post like this puts you in, and quite frankly don't expect to see it posted. However file it away because it will most certainly happen. Especially as Recreational Marijuana comes on line across the county in the next 18-24 Months. The current generations will soon tire of lies and shell games, especially in the face of significant alternative vices.

Chuck Cowdery said...

Mostly, I kill comments for being excessively rude or incoherent. I don't kill them for merely being wrong.