Thursday, February 27, 2020

"Is This Worth $40?"



AUTHOR’S NOTE (3/2/20): The folks at Lonely Oak Distillery are angry about this article. Their ire is misplaced. This article is not about Lonely Oak’s Steeple Ridge Bourbon. It is about what you can do when you see a picture like this and want to find out about the product and what’s in the bottle. That answer may seem disingenuous but let me continue. The article is very clear about the steps one goes through and, in the end, it does not reach a conclusion. Because the picture only shows the front label, I also scoured the distillery’s website. I did not search for the COLA, which would have shown me the back label, because most consumers don’t know how to do that. Also, COLAs can be unreliable because labels can change after label approval. Apparently, this product is 100 percent house-made, and less than four years old, but some of my other questions (actual age?) remain unanswered. Finally, the adage, “there is no such thing as bad publicity,” applies here. ‘Bad’ publicity creates an opportunity to generate good publicity if you’re smart about how you handle it.

The original article begins now.
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A person posted this picture online with the question, "Worth $40? What is it? Has anyone tried it??"

My answer: "When I see something unfamiliar, I ask myself 'what is it?' If I can't figure it out from the label, I try the web site. If I still get a bunch of vague puffery but no useful information, I conclude it is not worth consideration, let alone $40."

If you spend time on bourbon sites, you see this sort of thing all the time. That new label someone saw in the store sparks their interest. Maybe someone on the site has an answer, but probably not. They're probably in the same boat. The unfamiliar label catches your eye and you wonder, have I just stumbled upon an unknown gem?

Almost surely not.

Here is a tip for bourbon shoppers. That bourbon you just saw in the store that is unknown to you just might be perfectly okay but it is almost certainly nothing special and most likely an undistinguished, overpriced, sourced whiskey in an enticing bottle. The chance that you have discovered some overlooked gem from some mysteriously unknown distillery is virtually zero.

This is especially tragic if the person is someone new to bourbon. There are so many good to great bourbons and ryes out there at decent prices, from reliable producers who make it clear what's in the bottle, that you really should spend your time getting to know them. But I get it. Strange has its own appeal.

More likely than not, that unfamiliar label is the product of a marketing company that has created a concept and acquired some bulk whiskey for the project. It might be a brand created by a retail chain or distributor, again using bulk whiskey. This is a little less true now than it used to be because the new, smaller distilleries that launched a decade or so ago have come of age and are making good whiskey. But even new distilleries often create a brand using sourced liquid to generate cash flow while they get their distillery off the ground.

But it might still be great whiskey, right?

Anything is possible, but here is why that is unlikely. First, you need to know that whiskey's probable source. The number of distilleries in the U.S. that make whiskey is still fairly small and the number that make enough whiskey to sell some of it in bulk remains tiny. All of them keep their best whiskey for their own brands. What they sell is perfectly good in most cases, but probably nothing special and maybe not worth the price you're asked to pay.

It may not even be unfamiliar. You may have already had that exact same whiskey under a different label.

Almost all of the majors sell some bulk liquid from time to time. These days, aged bourbon is so valuable that if you have more than you need of a certain age or type, it makes sense to sell it rather than leave it in the warehouse.

There are a few companies, most famously MGP, who sell most of their output in bulk, but business is so good these days they struggle to maintain stocks that are more than a standard five or six years old. They're selling most of it much younger even than that.

Consequently, if you're in the market for bulk whiskey so you can create a brand, you will have a pretty easy time finding new make (spirit straight from the still), but the pickings get slimmer and the cost gets higher the older you go. If the source has something in the range of 12-years available, there's a good chance it's over-oaked, which doesn't mean someone won't sell it anyway.

If you're really interested in a new brand and don't have $40 (or more) to throw away, start by asking the retailer if that brand is available to taste. If not, maybe you can find it in a bar and taste it that way. Otherwise, the next step is to do some research.

Back to the bottle in the picture, "Steeple Ridge Bourbon Whiskey." What does the label tell you? There is no age statement visible and it's not labeled 'straight bourbon,' so that's a bad sign. 'Straight' is a pretty low threshold. It just means the whiskey is at least two years old. In the U.S., an age statement is required if the whiskey is less than four years old. After that, the age statement is voluntary. You can't see an age statement in the photograph above so does that mean it's at least four years old? Not necessarily. The absence of 'straight' suggests the whiskey is less than two years old. If the age statement is there it probably is hidden on a back or side label, in very small type. I've seen them printed sideways to be even less noticeable.

But say you're in the store, have examined the bottle carefully, and found no age statement. Does that mean it's at least four years old? Not necessarily. People have been known to violate that rule.

The other thing to look for on the label, which this one doesn't show, is some kind of 'distilled by' statement. Although that's not required, if it doesn't say 'distilled by' and says something like 'produced and bottled by' followed by the name of the distillery, or it says nothing, it almost certainly is sourced whiskey. Again, perfectly good whiskey but not an undiscovered gem.

The next step is to search the web. The good news is that this producer, Lonely Oak Distillery, appears to be a real distillery in rural western Iowa. There are pictures of their stills. There are pictures of the owners standing next to their stills. Their distillery is not huge but it is substantial. You can make whiskey with that rig. They are farm-based so they talk a lot about their grain, but not at all about mashbills, aging, and other details.

A little more online digging reveals that Lonely Oak Distillery has been in business only since the summer of 2017. That means that, at best, anything made there is barely two years old. No whiskey that young is worth $40 a bottle, though I concede that's an opinion others may not share.

The information now at our disposal suggests that this is probably a 'something to get us started' bottling of sourced whiskey. This is bolstered by the fact that they are also selling a single barrel, cask strength bourbon. It's still possible both are very young house-made liquids, but sourced seems more likely.

If it is sourced and was distilled outside of Iowa the label is supposed to disclose the state where it was made, but that rule too is often disregarded or, like the age statement, hidden as much as possible. One famous offender was their neighbor in Templeton, Iowa. There aren't very many distilleries in Iowa in a position to sell their whiskey in bulk, but it's possible. A source like MGP in Indiana is more likely. Again, we don't really have answers and although Lonely Oak has a well-designed web site loaded with stuff, none of those questions are answered there.

So we know more than we did but we still don't have a good idea of what is in that bottle, who made it, or how mature it is. Is what we do know worth $40?

It's nice to support someone just getting started, so you could look at your purchase that way, as part whiskey, part Kickstarter contribution.

I'll leave the final decision up to you.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Kentucky Bourbon Festival Names New President and Chairman


International Barrel Rolling Championship at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
The Kentucky Bourbon Festival (KBF) is an annual event in Bardstown, Kentucky. If I'm counting right, this will be its 29th year. The dates are September 16-20.

I have been critical of the festival in the past. The gist of my complaint has been that it always felt like a party the locals threw for themselves, but they got the bourbon industry to pay for it. It seemed to neglect what should have been its core audience, out-of-town bourbon enthusiasts. Not a few of the bourbon producers expressed the same criticism.

The festival has steadily gotten better in that regard and it looks like they've just taken a major step in a positive direction. First, they have hired a professional to run the thing. He is Randy Prasse, the new president and COO. Prior to joining the KBF, Prasse was Senior Director of Operations at Churchill Downs in Louisville, directing all operations functions of the 2016-2019 Kentucky Derbys. He has also held positions at WESS Event Services – Garda, Gettysburg Fest, Tri-County Economic Development Alliance (Elizabeth, IL), and the Wisconsin State Fair Park, and has volunteered for numerous festival, travel, and visitors bureau non-profit organizations in Wisconsin. Randy was named Top 100 People to Know in Milwaukee (2008) by OnMilwaukee.com and Forty Under 40 (2006) by the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Equally as important is the appointment of David Mandell as the new Chairman of the festival's Board of Directors. Mandell is the Co-Founder and former President and CEO of The Bardstown Bourbon Company, where he created, launched and managed the company’s Napa Valley-esque bourbon distillery destination experience in Bardstown, Kentucky.

In addition to Mandell, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival Board of Directors includes:

Vice Chair – Melissa Horton, Corporate Events Manager at Heaven Hill Brands
Treasurer – Donald Blincoe, President/Professional Engineer at Buzick Construction
Secretary – Rachel Miller, Owner of The Harrison-Smith House
Board Member – Jennifer Cissell, Trade and Hospitality Manager at Beam Suntory
Board Member – Tony Kramer, Distillery Operations Manager at Lux Row Distillery
Board Member – Andrew Wiehebring, Director of Spirit Research and Innovation at Independent Stave Company

In addition to Mandell, three board members come from bourbon producers. Independent Stave is the largest maker of bourbon barrels. Buzick Construction builds the warehouses where those barrels, full of bourbon, are stored. Harrison-Smith House is a fine dining restaurant in downtown Bardstown.

Nothing against the city mothers and fathers who got the festival going, but a board of accomplished professionals directly connected to bourbon production and hospitality has to be an improvement in terms of helping make the festival the international, bourbon-centric event it always should have been.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

The Van Winkle Phenomenon and How It Got That Way



There is nothing else quite like it in the world of distilled spirits, a product (six products, actually) in such demand that they rarely hit the retail shelf and mostly sell (licitly or illicitly) for several multiples above their suggested retail price. If you can acquire a bottle of Pappy 23-year-old for its $299.99 SRP, it is because you won a lottery.

You probably know that Julian P. 'Pappy' Van Winkle owned Louisville's Stitzel-Weller Distillery, which was famous for wheated bourbon. You probably know that the brand is managed today by his grandson and great-grandson, in conjunction with Sazerac, and produced at Buffalo Trace Distillery.

But you may not know the whole story of the man, the whiskey, the brand, and the international phenomenon it has become.

But you can, because the new issue of The Bourbon Country Reader is all about Van Winkle, plus a few suggestions of whiskeys you might enjoy instead.

Current Reader subscribers should receive their copies in a week or so. New subscribers can get on the bandwagon by clicking here.

Founded in 1993, 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 history, 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 a mere $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. For those of you keeping track, this new one is Volume 19, Number 6. (And, yes, it's a bit overdue.)

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. The release of Volume 19, Number 6 means Volume 19 is now available. 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.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Happy Birthday to Our Booziest Presidents



Today is Presidents' Day. Technically, it's the day (the third Monday in February) when we celebrate Washington's birthday (which is really February 22), but most of the ads for mattresses and used cars will feature Washington and Lincoln, our booziest presidents.

Not that they were heavy drinkers, neither man was, but both were in the whiskey business.

For Washington, it was a coda to his public career. Washington the businessman was always looking for ways to make his Virginia estate more profitable. His manager, a Scot, suggested they convert some of the rye, corn and barley grown there into something much more valuable: whiskey. Although it operated for only a few years, the distillery was one of Washington's most successful enterprises.

Today, you can visit Washington's restored gristmill and reconstructed distillery, and even buy some of the whiskey distilled there (recently, not way back when).

For Lincoln, booze was something he got involved with at the very beginning of his adult life, and it dogged him throughout his political career. As a teenager, he briefly worked on flatboats that hauled whiskey from Kentucky to points south. For several years early in his 20s, Lincoln was in the retail liquor business, first as a hired clerk, then as a store owner in New Salem, Illinois. His stores all failed and left him burdened with debt.

Lincoln’s partisans tried to downplay or obscure the fact that he sold whiskey, just as his enemies exaggerated it. Most accounts of Lincoln’s early life describe his stores as 'groceries,' a term that sounds innocent enough to us now, but which at the time was a euphemism for a makeshift rural saloon.

Lincoln's stores sold lard, bacon, firearms, beeswax, honey and other necessities, but mainly whiskey. In tiny New Salem, Lincoln's male customers would hang out and visit with Lincoln, his business partner, and each other while consuming some of the whiskey they had just purchased. This socializing helped Lincoln develop the skills and reputation that carried over into his political career. What's more, it was considered all very normal and respectable at the time.

Years later, Lincoln had to deal with a growing Temperance Movement. His message was, “love the sinner, hate the sin.” He praised the good work of the good folks in the local Temperance society and advocated voluntary abstinence. He practiced it too, according to all accounts.