Chuck's Handmade Newsletter Is All New

Perhaps some of the half-million people who viewed my Tito's post (no kidding!) would like to be exposed to my radiance more frequently. That's where The Bourbon Country Reader comes in, and what do you know, there is a new issue dropping right now.

It really is handmade, too. See the hand? That's my hand. I stuff every envelope then feed it, lovingly, into the postage meter. I also hand-carry them across the street to the mailbox at the corner of Irving Park Road and Pine Grove Avenue, which I open by hand and into which I deposit the envelopes by the handful.

In this issue, we talk to Nick Nagele of Whiskey Acres Distillery, just outside of Chicago in DeKalb, where they are growing corn and making whiskey, including bourbon from single varietal corn.

Is it socially acceptable in 2017 to drink Rebel Yell Bourbon? We dive deep into the brand's history. The story may surprise you.

Distill Ventures is a tiny. itty-bitty division of drinks giant Diageo and they want to help you realize your craft spirits dream. We talk to the managing director for North America, Gonzalo de la Pezuela.

Ready to build that distillery? There is just one name you need to know: Bardstown's Buzick Construction. They can build the whole thing but they specialize in whiskey maturation warehouses.

It's all there in the new issue of Chuck's Handmade Newsletter, also known as The Bourbon Country Reader.

Current subscribers should receive their copies in the next few days. New subscribers can get on the bandwagon by clicking here.

Founded in 1994, The Bourbon Country Reader is the oldest publication devoted entirely to American whiskey. It is a charming mix of news, history, analysis, and product reviews. Do you worry that advertising spending influences coverage in other publications? No chance of that here since The Bourbon Country Reader is 100 percent reader-supported. It accepts no advertising.

To experience The Bourbon Country Reader for yourself, you need to subscribe. Honoring tradition, The Bourbon Country Reader still comes to you exclusively on paper, in an envelope, via the USPS.

A subscription to The Bourbon Country Reader is still just $20 per year for addresses in the USA, $25 for everyone else. The Bourbon Country Reader is published six times a year, more-or-less, but your subscription always includes six issues no matter how long it takes.

Click here to subscribe with PayPal or any major credit card, or for more information. Click here for a free sample issue (in PDF format). Click here to open or download the free PDF document, "The Bourbon Country Reader Issue Contents in Chronological Order." (It's like an index.)

If you want to catch up on what you've missed, bound back issue volumes are available for $20 each, or three for $50. That's here too.

If you prefer to pay by check, make it payable to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, and mail it to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, 3712 N. Broadway, PMB 298, Chicago, IL 60613-4198. Checks drawn on U.S. banks only, please.

Go ahead and subscribe. It's craft!

Also, You Can't Make Vodka in a Pot Still

I apparently struck a nerve with yesterday's Tito's post. In barely 24 hours it has received 135,000 pageviews. That is so much more than what my posts usually get, I am blown away. Now I know how Katy Perry feels.

The post has received many comments, both here and on Facebook, and I've received quite a few emails about it, including from industry folks. Several have pointed out the difficulty of distilling vodka in a pot still, especially a true alembic without the benefit of a rectification column. If you talk about 'old-fashioned pot stills,' as Tito's does, then you're talking about alembics like the ones pictured above.

The problem is that to strip 95 percent of the water from a fermented mash that is 8 to 10 percent alcohol, you need multiple passes through a pot still. That simply means you run it, then take the condensed distillate and run it through again. It takes eight to ten passes through a pot still to achieve the 95 percent alcohol concentration necessary for a spirit to be called vodka. That's just chemistry, there is no way around it.

If you would like a distiller to explain it in greater detail, click here.

Now on to economics. If you did run a spirit through a pot still ten times and achieved the 95 percent alcohol concentration, you couldn't charge $20 a bottle for it. There is too much time and labor involved. Don't say, "well maybe Tito has figured out a way." No, he hasn't, it can't be done and it is not being done, by Tito or anyone else.

Tito's isn't alone in this. Far from it. Many of the products marketed as 'legal moonshine' are the same deal. Some 'legal moonshine' is corn whiskey, some is 'sugar shine,' some is a mixture of the two. Many, including most of the flavored products, are our old friend grain neutral spirit (GNS), i.e., vodka. Since 'legal moonshine' isn't a recognized type of distilled spirit, the small print must tell you what it really is, although some use the catch-all 'distilled spirit specialty' classification, which doesn't really tell you anything. In many cases, though, the words 'grain neutral spirit' or 'neutral grain spirit' are right there on the label. You just have to look for it.

The Truth About Tito's and All Vodka

As reported this week in Ad Age and many other places, Tito's vodka is now the top-selling distilled spirits brand in the United States, a position previously held by Smirnoff vodka for seemingly forever. Ad Age calls it "Tito's Handmade Vodka, a pioneer of the so-called craft spirits movement."

The 'so-called' is the only clue to what is really going on here. Tito's current advertising calls the brand 'America's Original Craft Vodka.' The product's success has made owner Tito Beveridge (pictured, above) a billionaire. It brings to mind another quotation, from H. L. Mencken, who wrote, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

Tito has cleverly exploited a few simple facts. First, Texans and many non-Texans love anything from Texas. Austin, the capital of Texas, is beloved as a haven of eccentricity and live music. Tito plays up the brand's Austin, Texas pedigree.

Second, words such as 'handmade' and 'craft' don't mean what you think they mean. In fact, according to most court rulings on the matter, they don't mean anything. They are considered permissible advertising 'puffery,' subjective not objective, not measurable or provable, "which no reasonable person would presume to be literally true."

The front page of the Tito's web site says this: "Texas and vodka. When you put the two together you get something oh so wonderful. We make it in batches, use old-fashioned pot stills, and taste-test every batch to make sure you get only the best."

Forbes wrote this about Tito's back in 2013. "Sometimes reality bites. That's proving to be a challenge for Fifth Generation, maker of Tito's Handmade Vodka. More precisely: how to maintain the fiction of being a small-batch brand that's actually expanding rapidly in the $5.5-billion-a-year U.S. market for the colorless liquor. Tito's has exploded from a 16-gallon pot still in 1997 to a 26-acre operation that produced 850,000 cases last year, up 46% from 2011, pulling in an estimated $85 million in revenue." In 2017, you may adjust all of those numbers substantially upward, $190 million in annual revenue according to market research firm IRI.

Vodka drinkers, of course, are accustomed to fantasy. Vodka is, by definition; colorless, odorless and tasteless. Virtually all of the vodka made in the U.S., including Tito's and Smirnoff, starts as grain neutral spirit (GNS) manufactured by one of the major producers: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Midwest Grain Products (MGP), or Grain Processing Corporation (GPC), whose headquarters and principal distilleries are in Illinois, Kansas and Iowa respectively. (i.e., where most grain is farmed.)

GNS (some people prefer 'NGS.' Same thing.) is a commodity. It is used for beverages, medicine, and many other purposes. It is simply ethanol. Mostly made from corn, it is distilled above 95% ABV. It is as nearly 'pure alcohol' as can be made commercially. As a commodity, vodka producers buy it on the basis of price and availability. Most buy from all the usual suspects.

Some vodka makers simply take the GNS they buy and put it directly into bottles. Others do a little bit of additional processing. Tito's runs it through some pot stills. The only discernible purpose for that step is so they can make the claims about batch production (the big GNS makers are continuous, not batch) and Texas distillation. It has little or no effect on the liquid. Charcoal filtering is another common processing step.

Not surprisingly, Tito's doesn't give tours. That's because they don't have grain silos, grain mills, mash cookers, fermenters, and the other trappings of a real from-scratch distillery.

I don't want to get into it with vodka drinkers. I rarely touch the stuff. Feel free to drink whatever you want and think whatever you want to about it. Everything above is factually correct. Do with it as you will.

UPDATE 1/29/22: In 2020, TTB eliminated from its rules the requirement that vodka be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.

UPDATE 2/27/22: We all feel helpless watching the atrocity Russia is perpetrating in Ukraine and want to do something. If boycotting vodka is your protest of choice, you should know that almost none of the vodka sold in the United States is made in Russia. Even though most of them have Russian-sounding names, most vodka sold in the U.S. is made here and has nothing to do with Russia. Even Stoli. The Stoli sold in the United States is made in Latvia, not Russia, by a company based in Luxemburg. Just about the only major brand of vodka actually made in Russia by a Russian company is Russian Standard. Unless you stick to Russian-made brands, boycotting vodka makes about as much sense as boycotting Russian salad dressing (also not made in Russia).

UPDATE 2/28/22: A little bit more about Stoli. The company that makes it, SPI Group, is owned by Yuri Shefler, a Russian. Some of the grain used by the Latvian distillery that makes Stoli comes from farms in Russia. Whether or not they will continue to buy Russian grain is unknown. Today, Stoli officially condemned the invasion.

UPDATE 3/2/22: More facts about vodka, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are here.

Heaven Hill Is Now the World's Biggest Bourbon Distillery

Heaven Hill's humble beginning in Bardstown, Kentucky.

As reported today throughout the Louisville media, Heaven Hill's Bernheim is now the World's Biggest Bourbon Distillery. To quote Louisville Business First, "Today, at a press conference held on the premises of the Heaven Hill-owned Bernheim Distillery in West Louisville, representatives from the company, as well as local politicians and media, gathered to celebrate the latest news of the distillery’s $25 million expansion, which the company says will make it the largest single bourbon-producing site in the world."

The slight hedge is necessary because Jack Daniel's in Tennessee is larger, but Jack is not technically bourbon, and Jim Beam is larger if you count everything produced at DSP-KY-230, but that license covers two facilities, ten miles apart.

Hedges aside, this is a remarkable achievement for a family-owned company founded in Bardstown more than 70 years ago by Joe Beam and a group of investors that included Ed Shapira, father of current company president, Max Shapira.

The five Shapira brothers (Ed, David, Mose, George and Gary) were in the dry goods business, running a chain of small department stores called 'The Louisville Store,' although they had no locations in Louisville. The business was started by their father, an immigrant from Eastern Europe. The stores did well during the Depression, selling everyday necessities at bargain prices. That gave them money to invest when Prohibition ended in 1933.

Ed Shapira, who ran the Louisville Store in Bardstown, assumed it would be an arm's length investment, as the other founders were, like Joe Beam, all experienced whiskey men. After the distillery was built and in production, Beam and the others lost money in another venture. They gave Shapira a chance to buy them out. It was either that or close the doors. Ed conferred with his brothers and they agreed to take the plunge. Joe Beam stayed on as Master Distiller, along with his youngest son, Harry.

While Beams made the whiskey, the five brothers ran the business. Ed's son, Max, came on board as did David's son, Harry. They had a unique business model, in which distributors bought the whiskey when it went into the barrel, instead of when it came out. The distributors got a deal and so did Heaven Hill, because that meant less capital was tied up in aging inventory, which allowed them to grow. As with their retail business, value was the secret to their success. The objective was to make the best whiskey their customers could afford.

At first, it was a commodity business. Their first brand was a two-year-old straight called Bourbon Falls. It did okay. Old Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, launched a few years later, did much better. Soon it was the best-selling bourbon in Kentucky.

Other bourbon brands followed, and Evan Williams Bourbon became the company's flagship. They built the brand by steadily promoting the claim that it was older and higher proof whiskey, for less money, than the leading brands. Today, Evan Williams is third in sales after Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam, and Heaven Hill is a major, international, diversified distilled spirits producer. Its actual size is unknown because the company is still private, owned by the descendants of the five Shapira brothers.

There is no 'Heaven Hill' in Bardstown. William Heavenhill was the name of the farmer who owned the land before the distillery was built. Although its distillery is now in Louisville, the company is still based in Bardstown. Its Bourbon Heritage Center there is one of the best distillery visitor centers in the world.

Heaven Hill is a remarkable and quintessentially American success story.

Counterfeits and Unlicensed Sales in the News

Mea Culpa.

I committed one of the cardinal sins of journalism. I printed a story without corroboration. Thankfully, Chanda Veno of Frankfort's State Journal is a much better journalist than I am. She fleshed out the vague story Buffalo Trace released yesterday by finding the New York state public record identifying the Pappy counterfeiter as Charles A. Bahamonde, 32, of New York, who pleaded guilty in New York City Criminal Court to petit larceny, a Class A misdemeanor. He was ordered to pay restitution and remain arrest-free for one year, and is scheduled to be back in court on January 5th.

Veno also uncovered two other cases supporting last Friday's story about selling whiskey without a license. Both cases involved the illegal sale of Van Winkle whiskey. As Veno reported, "Wade Collingsworth, 45, was nabbed by state liquor agents after advertising a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20-year on Craigslist. At the meet-up, undercover agents purchased the bourbon for an undisclosed amount. The suggested retail price is $169.99. Collingsworth was charged with a misdemeanor."

In the second case, "Bob Monk, also of the Keystone State, was slapped with an $1,800 fine and misdemeanor charges after purchasing a bottle of 12-year Van Winkle Special Reserve for $59.99 plus tax and selling it to an undercover officer for $500 in December 2015."

Congratulations to Chanda Veno and The State Journal for some excellent reporting.

Van Winkle Bourbon Takes Action Against Counterfeiters

(The following was provided by Buffalo Trace Distillery)

Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, the bourbon that is so hard to find it has been compared to unicorns, has become so popular it's often being counterfeited with knock off bottles and illegally re-sold on the secondary market.

The Van Winkles, along with partners Buffalo Trace Distillery, have taken action and successfully provided evidence of counterfeiting which resulted in a resident of New York pleading guilty for his sale of two bottles of counterfeit Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which sold for $1,500 last year. The defendant will be sentenced in January 2018.

Although this case is the first successful prosecution for counterfeit Van Winkle Bourbon to date, other cases are under investigation. Buffalo Trace Distillery has spent over a half million dollars over the past year alone, to curb online marketplaces potentially selling fake bottles.

With the annual release of the much anticipated Van Winkle bourbons coming up soon, Buffalo Trace would like to take this opportunity to remind consumers to buy Van Winkle bourbons only from licensed retailers.

"Sadly, the Van Winkle bourbons are the latest victim of counterfeiting where innocent consumers are duped," said Mark Brown, president and chief executive officer, Buffalo Trace Distillery. "Avoid buying any bourbon or whiskey, especially the highly sought after ones, from anyone in the secondary market, which includes online private sellers, or in these social media groups that claim to offer genuine products. The only legal and reputable source you should be buying from is a licensed retailer." 

Scam artists have been operating in a variety of ways, some of which include taking empty Van Winkle bottles and refilling them with a variety of other liquids, sometimes cheaper bourbons, sometimes mixtures of products only known to the deceiver.

Nowadays, the con artists have gotten more sophisticated with the ability to print counterfeit labels on home printers and other technological advances. "It's disheartening to see this happening and to see innocent consumers being swindled," said Julian Van Winkle, president, Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery. "We cannot stress enough to be careful, and do not buy your Van Winkle products on the secondary market. The old adage of if seems too good to be true, it probably is, definitely applies here."

Van Winkle cautions that if you see a bottle that does not have a matching face label with a capsule on top with the proper corresponding color, that's a sure sign of fraud. Any consumers that run across suspicious looking bottles or may have purchased a bottle from a source other than a liquor store are urged to call their local law enforcement, their state's Attorney General, or their state Alcohol Beverage Control Board.

Sell Whiskey On the Internet and Spend Six Months in County

Whisky Advocate Magazine devoted most of its Fall 2017 issue to whiskey collecting and whiskey collectors. It is hard to collect seriously if you can only obtain whiskey through retail channels. In virtually all forms of collecting, most acquisitions come from the secondary market, either directly from other collectors, or indirectly through dealers.

But there is a problem. While secondary sale of beverage alcohol is permitted in much of the world, in the United States, with a few small exceptions, it is not. Both state and federal law prohibit the sale of any alcoholic beverage to any person unless you have the appropriate license or licenses. Penalties vary by state. In California it is a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in county jail.

The exceptions are few. One is auctions, which only a few states allow. The owner of a collection can consign it to the auction house for sale. The auction house has a license from the state that allows it to auction the bottles, paying the proceeds to the collector, less the auction house's fee. Are those sales taxed? I'm not sure, but it's hard to imagine they're not.

Another is states that allow retail license holders to buy 'vintage spirits' from collectors for resale either by the drink or by the bottle. 'Vintage' is usually defined as a product that has not been available on the retail market for some span of years. The District of Columbia allows this. Kentucky recently passed a law to allow it but it won't take effect until January 1.

That's about it. Peer to peer sales are all illegal.

The other side of the coin is that these laws are rarely enforced against collectors. They are really aimed at bootleggers and unlicensed bars. That doesn't mean it can't happen. The laws are on the books.

The legality of buying from an unlicensed seller is less clear, but most people who buy also sell. It doesn't matter if you only trade and no money changes hands. It is the same thing.

Some people will be mad at me for writing this. They always are. Do they think I wrote those laws? Or that the people who are supposed to enforce them wouldn't know about them if I would just stop mentioning it? At the very least, if you sell alcohol without a license, you might want to ask the Google machine what the penalty is in your state.