After More Than 20 Years, Stitzel-Weller to Resume Production

Earlier today, John Hansell reported on the Whisky Advocate Blog that Diageo sources have told him Stitzel-Weller will resume production soon. No further details are available. Hansell received the news in confidence several months ago, and decided to confirm it today after the news began to leak over the weekend. According to one report, on Friday night a Diageo rep spoke about it freely at Bourbon's Bistro in Louisville.

Stitzel-Weller is the Louisville distillery established by the Van Winkle family after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. It was known for producing wheated bourbon, which it sold as Old Fitzgerald, W. L. Weller and several other brands. The Van Winkle family sold the distillery, its whiskey stocks and brands in 1972. After that, ownership changed several times until it landed with a predecessor company to Diageo, which closed it in 1992. Since then, the warehouses have been used but not the distillery. There have been multiple reports that the need for asbestos abatement makes it cost prohibitive to return the existing distillery to production. How that will be resolved remains unknown.

In 1999, Diageo sold Old Fitzgerald and the other Stitzel-Weller brands.

When the Van Winkle family sold Stitzel-Weller, they retained rights to Van Winkle as a brand name and went into business as a non-distiller producer, using whiskey bought from their family's former plant. This is the basis of the now famous Pappy Van Winkle line, although today only the 23-year-old is entirely Stitzel-Weller bourbon. In other forms too, whiskey produced at Stitzel-Weller has long been highly prized but, after more than 20 years, it is very scarce.

Diageo's only active whiskey distillery in the United States is the George Dickel Distillery in Tullahoma, Tennessee. In 2012, Dickel Master Distiller John Lunn was put in charge of operations at Stitzel-Weller, where whiskey for Diageo brands is matured and blended.

We await an official announcement from Diageo as well as meaningful details. Whatever the plan, it will be several years before new Stitzel-Weller whiskey will be ready to sell.

In recent years, Diageo has prepared Stitzel-Weller to serve as a homeplace for Diageo's Bulleit brand, which is made elsewhere at non-Diageo facilities. Although The Bulleit Bourbon Experience has been ready for nearly two years, it hasn't been opened to the public. Presumably that too is imminent, but again there is no official word.

Diageo Launches Bulleit 10, Surprising No One

In recent years it has become almost impossible for alcoholic beverage producers to keep their new products a secret until launch. So it is that the new 10-year-old iteration of Bulleit Bourbon was announced today with plenty of fanfare but not much excitement, since everyone has known about it for months.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is part of the problem. Labels for alcoholic beverages have to be approved in advance by the TTB. Each approved application--formally known as a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA)--is public information and easily found on the TTB web site (ttb.gov). COLA trolling is a popular hobby among some enthusiasts.

In addition, producers will often test market their new products, or announce them well in advance to trade audiences such as distributor sales forces. Today, with social media and a camera in every pocket, a new product that makes a brief appearance in Walla Walla, Washington, will have its image broadcast around the world in minutes.

For reasons that are increasingly hard to fathom, company PR departments and their agencies steadfastly refuse to confirm the new offerings until the official release date. The ancient practice of giving favored journalists the first taste has become an empty gesture.

So it is that today marks the official launch of Bulleit 10, which made its first appearance on StraightBourbon.com on November 10th. It should begin to appear on store shelves, at about $45, toward the end of this month. It will be ever-so-slightly higher in proof than standard Bulleit, 91.2° proof (45.6% ABV) instead of 90° proof (45% ABV).

Here's a fun game you can play. The press release mistakenly states the Bulleit 10 ABV as 45.5%. Let's see how many 'journalists' fail to catch the mistake. (ABV is always proof divided by two.)

Since the standard Bulleit Bourbon expression is NAS (no age statement), it's impossible to know how much older the 10-year-old version even is, but it's bound to be good. Bulleit Bourbon is made for Diageo by Four Roses and everything they make is good.

George Dickel Gives A Different Taste To LDI Rye

There’s an interesting link between the new George Dickel Rye and Templeton Rye. Though not available in most of the country, Templeton Rye has, in a short time, become a major brand in Iowa and Illinois, including the major market of Chicago.

When Templeton debuted in 2005, the company was extremely secretive about where it was made. They wanted people to believe it was made in Templeton, Iowa, since mythology about that small town’s Prohibition-era reputation as a leading illegal whiskey source was the heart and soul of the company’s marketing strategy. That was impossible, since the company got its license as a distilled spirits producer the same year it launched its product, which as a straight rye whiskey had to be at least two years old, and tasted more like five or six.

Obviously, Templeton was whiskey made by another distiller, but who? Most lists of the usual suspects (including mine) didn’t include the old Seagram’s distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, which turned out to be the source. Little was known about that distillery, then owned by Pernod-Ricard, except that it made Seagram’s Gin, Seagram’s Vodka, and Seagram’s Seven Crown Blended Whiskey, but no straight whiskeys sold in the U.S.

Since then, many straight ryes have been introduced using whiskey made by the distillery best known as Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI), which last year was sold to MGP Ingredients, Inc. of Atchison, Kansas. Templeton was the first to bring LDI’s unique 95% rye to market and George Dickel Rye may be the last, as least for now, since almost all of LDI’s current rye inventory is less than a year old. (Dickel has its supply locked up.)

The recipe, which calls for 95% rye grain and 5% malt, was developed many years ago, when Seagram’s still reigned. It was created by Larry Ebersold, then master distiller there. At first they made a standard rye whiskey, just 51% rye, the rest corn and malt. They wanted more rye flavor so they experimented with a recipe that was 80% unmalted rye and 20% malted rye. Everyone loved the result except the accountants, because malted rye is expensive, so they changed the proportions to 95% unmalted and just 5% malted rye. Still too expensive, said the accountants, so they replaced the rye malt with standard barley malt, and that’s the recipe LDI makes today.

The whiskey was always intended to be an ingredient in blends, not a straight. The company liked it so well for that purpose they decided to make it at their plant in Gimli, Manitoba, for use in Crown Royal and other Canadian whiskeys. They failed because a crucial strain of bacteria, native to Indiana, couldn’t survive beyond one generation in the harsher Canadian climate.

Since Templeton, the LDI rye has appeared as straight rye whiskey from High West, Redemption, Filibuster, Smooth Ambler, James E. Pepper, and now Diageo's Bulleit and George Dickel.

Although Diageo doesn’t own LDI, they’re its biggest customer. For several years, Diageo has worked with LDI to develop rye whiskey products for Bulleit (released last year) and Dickel (coming soon) using the LDI rye. The Bulleit version is very similar to Templeton but the Dickel Rye is different.

According to Dickel Master Distiller John Lunn, the aged whiskey is transported from Indiana to the Diageo bottling facility in Plainfield, Illinois, near Chicago. There it meets up with charcoal sent from the Dickel distillery near Tullahoma, Tennessee. At Plainfield, it goes through the exact same charcoal mellowing process as George Dickel Tennessee Whisky does at the distillery. The only difference is that the Tennessee Whisky is filtered before aging and the rye is filtered after aging. It is done in the same way using the same charcoal, after chilling the whiskey to 40°F.

Compared to Bulleit Rye, the difference in flavor is dramatic. Critics of filtering claim it makes any whiskey less flavorful, but that’s not the case here. There is plenty of flavor, but it’s different. Bulleit Rye is fruity but the fruits it suggests are red grapes, plums, and dark berries. Dickel Rye has a strong citrus flavor, suggesting variously grapefruit or pineapple. It’s appropriately sweet with a little bitterness, like peanut brittle, licorice or sassafras. There’s some soot and also raspberry and apricot.

If Dickel Rye does well it will be good for LDI, since Lunn says there are no plans to distill rye at the Tullahoma plant. “We’re concentrating on making the best Tennessee Whisky we can,” he says. They’re not planning to expand the distillery or build more warehouses either, but they have 600 acres, so there’s plenty of room to grow. There are no other products or projects, such as limited edition releases, that Lunn wants to talk about, “but we’re always looking at innovation, what we can do and what the people want,” he says.

At 42, Lunn is one of the youngest master distillers for a major producer. He was trained by his predecessor, Dave Backus, and even got to meet Ralph Dupps, who built the current Dickel distillery in 1958. Dupps gave him one piece of advice, “Don’t change a damn thing.”

He hasn’t. Dickel is unique in operating almost exactly as it did 50 years ago, with no computerized control systems.

The business has been buzzing about rye whiskey for almost a decade, but in the last year or so several new ryes have been introduced as line extensions of major bourbon or Tennessee whiskey brands, including Jack Daniel’s, Knob Creek, Bulleit, and now George Dickel. This should prove whether or not the heavily-publicized rye whiskey revival really has legs or not.

NOTE 10/29:  Made a correction today based on information received from Diageo. When Lunn said they 'use the same charcoal," I incorrectly assumed they filtered it at the distillery. Instead they send the charcoal to Plainfield, Illinois, where Dickel is bottled. Sorry about that.

The Bulleit Experience At Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Several years ago at WhiskyFest Chicago, I was chatting with Chris Musumeci, then brand manager for Diageo's Bulleit Bourbon.

We talked about the growth and popularity of the brand. "At some point," he said, "Bulleit will need some kind of home place."

The distillery where it is made would be the natural home place but, as we both knew, Bulleit's products are contract distilled by non-Diageo distilleries. 

My comment was, "Well, there's always Stitzel-Weller." Stitzel-Weller is the old Van Winkle family distillery. Built in 1933, it operated until 1992. It was the home of Old Fitzgerald, W. L. Weller, Rebel Yell, Cabin Still, and Old Rip Van Winkle wheated bourbons. The company now known as Diageo has owned it since 1987.

Last summer, it seemed as though they had taken my suggestion. "The Bulleit Experience at Stitzel-Weller Distillery" was announced with moderate fanfare. Industry people, including myself, were invited for previews. A few preview events were held. Mine was cancelled.

Another visit was scheduled and cancelled earlier this year. Two weeks ago, I finally got to peak behind the curtain.

The first pleasant surprise. There is a guard on the front gate again. In recent years, only the back gate has been used.

I was met by Tom Bulleit (left, in the photo) and Bobby Burke, who was introduced as the first tour guide. The focus of "The Bulleit Experience at Stitzel-Weller" is the old office building, whose design was based on Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. The effect of Southern gentility is enhanced by the large magnolia tree in front.

To the right, there is a small gazebo. To the left is the first row of black-painted, steel clad aging warehouses. On the long side of each warehouse there is a raised concrete walkway covered by a low roof, giving it the look of a covered porch. Upright whiskey barrels and rocking chairs complete the effect.

It is possible, therefore, to walk along the long side of each warehouse, protected from the elements, though still outside, and look into the open first floor windows, yet that's not part of the tour because of "insurance concerns."

Instead, details of the office building's architecture are pointed out. Don't get me wrong, I love that sort of thing. Inside there is a vestibule with some benches. The next door leads to a large room with exhibits that tell the history of the distillery, of the Bulleit brand, and of Kentucky whiskey-making in general. There are a couple of barrels marking production milestones and other artifacts drawn from the distillery's vast archives.

This central room has several doors. One leads to Tom Bulleit's office, which occupies a small portion of what was originally Pappy Van Winkle's vast office. It's a very handsome room.

Another door leads to another now-subdivided part of Pappy's old office, that is decorated like a library. This is where the tastings will take place. This space has a large window that provides a nice look at the grounds. Then there's the gift shop.

That's it.

I had a very nice time with Tom and Bobby. I was just meeting Bobby but I've known Tom for years and always enjoy his company. As I told them, I think people will be disappointed if they can’t see a little more of the distillery, in particular the inside of a warehouse and at least an outside look at the old still house. If going inside isn't possible, then at least include a walk of the grounds pointing these things out.

That's all there is anyway. No distilling or bottling is done there.

I also don't know where people are going to park. They have maybe ten spaces in front of the office building and no place for buses. You wouldn't want to sully the grounds by laying more asphalt. These may be some of the reasons why the place isn't open to the public. Tom and Bobby say they don't know when it will open. It's not up to them.

They did mention that recent road improvements make it easier to get there from Interstate 65, and the improved road takes the visitor past Papa John Stadium and Churchill Downs, where they might be going anyway.

For now, they're just using it to host journalists and trade customers.

They'd love to be on the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail and it would love to have them.

As they also point out, Stitzel-Weller is an active maturation facility. As such, it is overseen by John Lunn, who is best known as Master Distiller at George Dickel. He was recently promoted to Southern Hub Director for Diageo. The Southern Hub is comprised of the Dickel and Stitzel-Weller sites. As Director, Lunn oversees daily operations and is responsible for production, quality and safety.

The Rye Renaissance Is Finally Real.

The 'rye renaissance' has been a popular topic in the media for several years, but even though it was getting a lot of ink, producers weren't inking a lot of additional sales. (See, "The Rye Revival Is A Mirage," here.)

That's starting to change. Many brands, such as Sazerac Rye (i.e., 'Baby Saz') and Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond are on allocation and shoppers sometimes find empty shelves. Templeton Rye has struggled to get enough whiskey from its distiller in Indiana to meet demand. Now add Wild Turkey to the list.

As Wild Turkey introduces a new Wild Turkey Rye at 40.5% ABV (81° proof), it is letting people know that the 50.5% ABV (101° proof) version will be in short supply for the forseeable future. Wild Turkey also makes Russell's Reserve Rye.

Jim Beam, which produces more rye than anyone else, doesn't seem too stressed. It's even bringing out a new one, under the Knob Creek name.

Another brand that seems to have plenty is Bulleit Rye, which just launched a few months ago. It's the same Lawrenceburg, Indiana-made rye as Templeton and several other brands. You have to believe drinks giant Diageo, which owns Bulleit, has a priority claim on any whiskey Lawrenceburg has ready, but even mighty Diageo can't make fully-aged rye whiskey out of thin air.

You can bet the new owner of Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana, MGPI, is turning the dial on the rye machine there up to 10. This is why the aging cyle makes whiskey production planners prematurely gray. A few years ago, producers were wondering if the rye boom was real. Now they're wondering if it's here to stay.

Coming Soon: The Bulleit Experience At Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Several years ago, at WhiskeyFest here in Chicago, I was chatting with a Diageo executive who opined that they would eventually have to do something about creating a "home place for Bulleit." What's a "home place"? Think of it as a distillery substitute. You can't visit the Bulleit Distillery because there isn't one.

What does Bulleit have to do with Stitzel-Weller? Nothing, except Diageo owns both of them. Stitzel-Weller is the old Van Winkle family distillery. Diageo has owned it for more than 20 years. The distillery itself has been dark since 1992, but they use the warehouses to age bourbon distilled for them by others, and may be using other parts of the facility too.

Although Diageo has never confirmed this, I'm pretty sure Bulleit is aged at Stitzel-Weller.

The Stitzel-Weller Distillery is located just south of Louisville in the suburb of Shively, where there were once dozens of distilleries. It was built just after Prohibition ended and operated for 60 years. Until Maker's Mark it was the only distillery making wheated bourbon. Its brands were Old Fitzgerald, W. L. Weller, Old Rip Van Winkle, Cabin Still, and Rebel Yell, none of which Diageo still owns.

According to the announcement, Tom Bulleit and his team are very excited about this  opportunity to share more about Bulleit while giving folks a close look at one of the most legendary distilleries of its time. Stitzel-Weller will also serve as Tom’s place of business when he is in Kentucky.

I haven't been inside the fence since 1996, so I'm excited too.

Pappy Van Winkle built Stitzel-Weller to be a showplace as well as a working distillery. It is great that this important landmark will be preserved and people will be able to experience it.

They haven't announced when it will be open to the public. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

My Rye Whiskey Epiphany.

I promised you some follow-up to my posts about the new Bulleit Rye. If you want to read those previous posts first just scroll down. They are all recent.

Under ‘old business,’ there was one unanswered question when last we broached this matter, “my question about the Bulleit Rye label’s use of the word 'mash' in 'Straight 95% Rye Mash Whiskey,' in which I wondered if that is an alternative form of the designation 'distilled from rye mash,' which permits used barrels. Point blank, is Bulleit Rye aged 100 percent in new charred oak barrels or are used barrels used? I'm still waiting for an answer to that one.”

I received that answer from my official Diageo contact and the answer is, no, used barrels are not used. Bulleit Rye is 100 percent aged in new, charred oak barrels. They even gave me the specific char level, the highest, #4.

Note for CVI Brands and other producers. If you want to squelch ‘speculation,’ provide direct answers to direct questions.

And just to be clear about another potential point of confusion, Bulleit Rye is made at Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI) in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Bulleit Bourbon is made at Four Roses, which is in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. This is pure coincidence. The Indiana Lawrenceburg is near Cincinnati, the Kentucky one is near Lexington, about 120 miles away.

Diageo – which owns the Bulleit brand – does not own either distillery, although if they’re interested the Indiana one is for sale. Four Roses, which is owned by Kirin Brewery, has a long term contract to sell bourbon to Diageo for Bulleit, a holdover from when both the distillery and the Bulleit brand were owned by Seagram’s. LDI is a former Seagram’s property too.

I have now tasted Bulleit Rye and also, as it happens, Redemption Rye, which is another bottling of the LDI 95 percent rye juice.

In tasting both of these products I had an epiphany.

Whiskey is usually evaluated neat or with a little water. That’s how most whiskey-drinkers drink whiskey and so that is the traditional whiskey-tasting paradigm. The whiskey is expected to stand on its own as a drink in its own right.

But does it have to be that way?

I’ve mentioned before, for example, that this LDI 95 percent rye recipe was created many years ago by Seagram’s to be a flavoring ingredient in blends like Seagram’s 7. What else can you do with a whiskey designed to be an ingredient? Use it in cocktails. For that, both of these ryes shine. Unbalanced? Not a problem. Balance it in the glass with other ingredients. Use it for the sharp, intense, and distinctive vegetal flavors it brings, and use other ingredients to give your drink the body and dimension the whiskey alone lacks.

If you don’t like cocktails, mix it with a bourbon like High West did (Bourye).

The main difference between Redemption Rye and Bulleit Rye is age. Redemption is just north of two years, while Bulleit is just north of four. Redemption has slightly more alcohol too, 46 percent compared to 45 percent for Bulleit.

Neither rye tastes especially white-doggy, but even Bulleit could do with a little more age to be a good straight sipper like Rittenhouse BIB or Baby Saz. Maybe it can never be that. Maybe it doesn't matter. Where Bulleit and Redemption should get love is from bartenders.

My epiphany wasn’t wholly spontaneous. Both Bulleit and Redemption address bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts in their promotional materials.

Both of these ryes have a big rye grain flavor, as close to rye bread as you are likely to get. There is plenty of heat, spice, mint and sod. Yes, sod. And fresh lawn-clippings. Mint toothpaste too. And all of it is great big and in-your-face.

Bulleit Rye is a Diageo product and its packaging resembles that of Bulleit Bourbon, except with different embossing on the glass and a green label. Redemption Rye is owned by Dynamic Beverages and bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky, by Bardstown Barrel Selections, a new independent bottling house run by Dave Schmier and Michael Kanbar. Schmier is the young entrepreneur behind Dynamic Beverages and Kanbar is the young entrepreneur behind Strong Spirits.

The Redemption line also includes a bourbon that happens to have the same high-rye mash bill as Bulleit Bourbon, except this is the version distilled and aged at LDI. Like the rye, the Redemption Bourbon is a little more than two years old and designed to work better in cocktails than it does in a glass by itself. Both Redemption products use the same simple but elegant bottle, which is topped by a sensible screw cap instead of a pretentious cork. Bravo for that. The price is also attractive, $26.99 for the bourbon and $27.99 for the rye at Binny’s here in Chicago, about the same retail price as Bulleit.

I guess if you’re going to copy somebody why not copy the biggest and most successful company in the business?

What Is Killing LDI?

My recent posts about Diageo’s Bulleit Bourbon, new Bulleit Rye, and the Indiana distillery where Bulleit Rye is produced, got a lot of attention. There are a few things to wrap up on the various subjects those posts covered. If you want to catch up first, the posts were on March 3rd, March 9th, and March 10th.

This post will be about Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI). The next one will be about Bulleit, including some tasting notes on the new rye.

Although no one official at LDI talked to me, plenty of other people with knowledge about the place did. The main thing they told me is that LDI is for sale, with a deal likely to be concluded in eight months to a year.

Many of the people who contacted me, including some who commented publicly on the blog, asked what specifically do I want to know? I’d like to know everything, starting with facility specifications: How many bottling lines? How many and what types of stills? How many rectification plates in the whiskey still? How much copper? How much still capacity? How much fermenter capacity? How much maturation warehouse capacity? What type of maturation warehouse construction?

That sort of thing. Standard whiskey geek stuff.

Some of it is on the website but most isn’t and I doubt the website has been updated recently.

Most of all I want to know what they’re doing today? What’s their business model? What do they offer to customers? What do they offer to a prospective buyer? The website tells us what they make -- or at any event what they have made and can make -- but it says nothing about what they have to sell now. That’s what bulk whiskey customers want to know. How much 2-year-old 40% bourbon do you have for sale? How much 3-year-old? How much 2-year-old 95% rye? How much 4-year-old? Or did Diageo get it all? How much is in the pipeline for next year and the year after that?

Prospective buyers of the whole facility don’t just want to know its physical specifications. They want to know what kind of business it can be. They want to know if they’re buying a viable business or just a factory. There is a difference.

The General Manager at LDI is Rick Brock. Although he won’t talk to me, he gave an interview to Cincy Magazine just about a year ago. At that point things were looking bright. Now they’re on the sales block. What happened? Isn’t the economy in recovery? Hasn’t alcohol been strong lately? The Distilled Spirits Council says it has. Shouldn’t a company that was doing well in the spring of 2010 be doing even better today?

Either way, that’s an interesting business story.

According to my sources, LDI has seven bottling lines but runs only four on a typical day, and only on one shift. Lately they have been bottling a lot of Three Olives Vodka, which is a product of Proximo Spirts, a small New Jersey-based producer and importer of various vodka, tequila and rum brands as well as, just recently, Stranahan’s Whiskey. LDI bottles several other Proximo brands and some for Castle Brands too, a similar small producer and importer whose products include Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon and Boru Vodka.

For drinks giant Diageo they bottle Moon Mountain Vodka, Godiva Chocolate-Infused Vodka, Bulleit Straight Rye Whiskey, and Seagram’s Seven Blended Whiskey.

Absent from these mentions is Seagram’s Gin, which used to be a mainstay of LDI. At 2.8 million cases sold per year, Seagram's is America’s #1 gin.

The Seagram’s Gin and Vodka lines are owned by Pernod Ricard, which owned LDI until 2007. Before it sold LDI, Pernod moved most of its bottling to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where it also manufactures its Hiram Walker cordials line. But LDI still made the gin and shipped it by tanker to Fort Smith. Did LDI lose that contract?

Presumably, all or most of the products they bottle at LDI are made there as well. The distillery and maturation warehouses are about a mile from the bottling hall and finished goods warehouse.

Last year at this time, Brock said they had about 185 employees. They have fewer than half that many now, according to my sources, and many are temps.

Is LDI’s secrecy what’s killing it? There’s seems to be no problem with their products, which are doing well for companies such as Diageo, Proximo Spirits, Castle Brands, Tipton Spirits (Harrison Bourbon), High West Distillery, Templeton Rye Spirits, Dynamic Beverages (Redemption Bourbon and Rye), Big Bottom Whiskey, and no doubt others. Their fully-aged whiskey, in its various guises, is the darling of international whiskey enthusiasts and their young bourbons and ryes, again in various guises, are hot properties with today’s most creative and celebrated mixologists.

Shouldn't somebody be able to make a profitable business out of that? I suppose they would have to know about it first.

Diegeo Goes On The Record.

This post pertains to my post yesterday about Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI) and the one last week about new Bulleit Rye.

I finally heard from my usual and official Diageo contact, who was as I speculated away on family business, which is why she was slow to respond. I am assured that a sample of Bulleit Rye is on the way.

She confirmed that Bulleit Rye is produced at LDI. "It’s made by our friend and master distiller Greg Metze - distilled, aged and bottled, all at LDI. We chose LDI because of our long-term partnership with them (Seagram’s history) and because they are experts at what they do; they are reliable and they produce great-tasting whiskey."

They are not, however, offering media tours of the distillery.

She also addressed my questions and speculation about Bulleit Bourbon. "Bulleit Bourbon is made – 100% made – in Lawrenceburg Kentucky."

As I have reported previously, sources connected to Kirin have disagreed with that assertion. They need to put up (i.e., go on the record) or shut up. Diageo has the high ground now.

Diageo also categorically denies that there is any LDI bourbon in Bulleit Bourbon.

Now you might ask, "Chuck, do you believe them?" From my experience, companies will often obfuscate, mislead, dance, dodge and "no comment," but rarely do they lie. So, yes, I believe them.

What about the new make we know Diageo is buying from Brown-Forman? Diageo has other needs for bourbon besides Bulleit, so there is no conflict in those two bits of information.

She also had this to say, "Bulleit Rye has long been a dream of Tom’s – it makes sense for the brand, as Bulleit Bourbon’s high rye content lends itself to launching this new addition to the Bulleit family. On his travels across the country, Tom has often been asked by bartenders to create a rye, and so he’s quite pleased, for that reason among others, to be launching this month."

And this information was offered about LDI: "There are two facilities in Lawrenceburg that are one mile apart. The first produces whiskey, neutral spirit and some gin. Moon Mountain Vodka uses the other facility, which is the bottling hall."

So Moon Mountain, which I wrote about here, is bottled at LDI but distilled somewhere else. Where? They're not saying except that it is "a Midwest distillery using a small batch copper pot still."

Also unanswered is my question about the Bulleit Rye label’s use of the word 'mash' in 'Straight 95% Rye Mash Whiskey,' in which I wondered if that is an alternative form of the designation 'distilled from rye mash,' which permits used barrels. Point blank, is Bulleit Rye aged 100 percent in new charred oak barrels or are used barrels used? I'm still waiting for an answer to that one.

Finally, and this did not come from Diageo, I got my Magic Eye Secret Spy Viewer to give me a picture inside LDI. What I see is an announcement newly pinned to the bulletin board. It says the distillery is for sale and they hope to find a buyer who will be able to operate it at full capacity.

Although LDI's ownership has changed twice in the last ten years, it has operated continuously through the changes and there are still many employees there who go back to the Seagrams era. We hope this ends well for their sake and for all of us who would hate to see the number of major American whiskey distilleries shrink from 13 to 12.

Diageo May Be Dissing Me.

Another writer and I have taken to calling Diageo 'The Big Galoot,' TBG for short. In case you don't know, TBG is the world's biggest drinks company. It owns Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Bailey's, J&B, José Cuervo, Captain Morgan, and Tanqueray, to name a few.

One of their itty-bitty brands is Bulleit Bourbon, which is soon to be joined by Bulleit Rye, but you didn't hear it from me. Why? Because it appears that TBG is boycotting me, maybe just with regard to Bulleit Rye, or maybe with regard to everything from now on.

The Shanken Combine is all over it but I can't get my calls returned.

If TBG is boycotting me, I think I know why. It's because they don't want to talk about what I want to talk about, which is their source for this whiskey and their relationship to Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI), the Angostura-owned distillery that makes and bottles this rye on Diageo's behalf. Lawrenceburg, Indiana is clearly identified on the label as the source.

It's no scandal that Diageo is buying its whiskey from someone else. Diageo hasn't made a drop of bourbon or rye whiskey in more than a decade.

No, I want somebody to talk to me about LDI because it's interesting. LDI is known-to-be or believed-to-be the source of many recent whiskey releases, all on behalf of other people, none of whom are talking about the real distillery where it was made. LDI whiskey is being sold as Templeton, High West, Harrison, Redemption, and probably others.

LDI is identified as the producer of Bulleit Rye on the TTB label approval form and, of course, it says Lawrenceburg, Indiana on the label. There is only one active distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. (Lawrenceburg is near Cincinnati, by the way.)

The label also says Bulleit Rye has a 95 percent rye mashbill, which is a LDI hallmark.

LDI is owned by Angostura Holdings Ltd. Angostura and LDI are mysterious. I can't get anyone at either place to talk to me. LDI returned my call and referred me to my regular Diageo contact. I had already reached out to her. She usually is great but suddenly doesn't know who I am. (Or maybe she's on vacation.)

We do know this. Angostura is based in Trinidad and Tobago. Yes, it's the company that makes Angostura Bitters, but they're a big rum and vodka producer too for the Caribbean market. Twenty months ago, Angostura Holdings Ltd was suspended from trading on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) because the company had failed to submit audited financial statements for 2008 and 2009. The stock resumed trading last month. About 75 percent of Angostura is owned by the CL Financial Group, which is now under the control of the Trinidad and Tobago government as a result of the 2008 worldwide financial meltdown.

So it's understandable that they haven't been very interested in publicity, but now they're trading again, and their chairman says in the latest financials that "there is a bright future ahead for Angostura," so why won't they talk about their American business interests, which also include an active distillery in Florida and a silent one in Kentucky?

If I can get someone at TBG to talk to me, maybe I'll also ask why they're still saying Bulleit Bourbon is made at Four Roses even though the owners of Four Roses say, no, it's not.

The Four Roses Distillery is in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and the Bulleit Bourbon label says "Distilled by the Bulleit Distilling Co., Lawrenceburg, Kentucky."

But here's the story. TBG got Four Roses in the Seagram's break-up. When TBG sold Four Roses to Kirin Brewery, the deal included a contract to supply TBG with whiskey. That was more than ten years ago and the amount Four Roses is obliged to supply has decreased in each year of the contract. The exact terms are secret but eventually that sales agreement goes away.

No one is willing to talk about this on the record but I have it from reliable sources that the amount Four Roses is supplying now is way below the amount Bulleit is selling. Similarly, I know Kirin has done chemical analysis and determined that while some of the whiskey in a typical bottle of Bulleit Bourbon was made at Four Roses, it wasn't all made there.

I also know that TBG has been buying bourbon white dog from Brown-Forman, Jim Beam and Tom Moore, in quantities amounting to millions of gallons a year, and aging it at the former Stitzel-Weller Distillery in the Louisville suburb of Shively, Kentucky, which TBG owns.

There is nothing wrong with any of this. It's all a perfectly legitimate way to do business.

What's weird is that I can't get anyone to talk about it, any of it. People are particularly interested in LDI, this major distillery (previously owned by Pernod-Ricard, briefly, and for a long time by Seagram's) that nobody knows much about. I know a few things, but it's mostly pieced together from different sources, some of them dated, most of it vague and incomplete.

There's no reason somebody can't spend 20 minutes on the phone with me or, heaven forbid, give me a tour.

How To Taste What Rye Does For Bourbon.

The classes I teach for I Wish all involve tasting, so to simplify things we always do the classes in bars, i.e., a licensed premises. It's good for the bars because they get some business on a usually slow night and get some people into the place for the first time who might like it and come back.

Although I might make some suggestions, the bars usually pick what we're going to taste. We've been using good bars who have made good choices. Then I tailor my remarks based on what they select. I'm not sure why Rock's Lincoln Park picked the four bourbons they did, but it made for an interesting lesson in the use of rye as the most common flavor grain in bourbon.

We started with Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel, which is made from Buffalo Trace mash bill no. 2. It has an average rye content. While they won't reveal the exact percentages, it's probably about 15 percent rye. Next we tasted Knob Creek, which is the Jim Beam mash bill and also about 15 percent rye. Then it was Buffalo Trace itself, which is their no. 1 mash bill, and lower, about 8 percent rye, so with ETL and Knob we're tasting two very similar mash bills but two different distilleries and two different yeasts, and a couple years more age in the Knob. Finally, we tasted Bulleit, which is about 35 percent rye, the highest of any bourbon.

One thing you notice is that low rye bourbons taste sweeter. They're not actually sweeter, but the rye tends to mask some of the sweetness with its distinctive spice and floral notes. By reducing the rye or substituting wheat, a milder flavor grain, you make way for the sweetness to cut through.

Who Makes Bulleit Bourbon?

Although I have taken some shots at the marketing of Bulleit bourbon, I've always been a fan of the product itself. It's well-made and has a distinctive taste profile. Bulleit is not a typical bourbon. The reason, we've always been told, is that the mash contains more rye than any other bourbon on the market, in the neighborhood of 35 percent.

Although there was a previous version of Bulleit made at Buffalo Trace, the current iteration has long been a product of the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. When Seagram's acquired the brand, it also owned the distillery. However, when Seagram's was dismantled (2001-2002) the Bulleit brand went to Diageo while the distillery (and Four Roses brand) went to Kirin.

Then as now, Diageo had no functioning distilleries in Kentucky, so as part of the sale to Kirin it contracted for Kirin/Four Roses to supply its bourbon needs. Although that initially meant aged whiskey, it has evolved to mean new make (i.e., white dog), which Diageo barrels and ages at the old Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Shively, Kentucky, which Diageo still owns. From solid industry sources, I can tell you that Diageo also contracts with Brown-Forman, Constellation and Jim Beam for white dog.

The amounts are significant (on the order of six million proof gallons a year) and Diageo has many other needs for bourbon. It still sells I.W. Harper Bourbon in Japan and other places, though not so much in the United States. Bourbon whiskey is also the second-biggest component, after neutral spirits, in Seagram's Seven Crown American Blended Whiskey, other American blends, and even some Canadian blends. Diageo, a scotch company at heart, is much bigger in North American blends than it is in straights.

But Bulleit, because of its distinctive taste profile, was believed to be all from Four Roses, which sells about 40 percent of its output to Diageo.

So I was surprised when, in the context of an event coming up next week at the Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, a Kirin executive objected to the characterization of Bulleit as being made by Four Roses. His assertion was that since Four Roses supplies whiskey to Diageo, but can't be sure what Diageo does with it, and because it's known that Diageo gets whiskey from other sources they (Kirin/Four Roses) don't believe Bulleit is 100 percent Four Roses whiskey. Another source tells me that organoleptic testing confirms that Bulleit is not 100 percent Four Roses-made whiskey.

So I contacted Diageo, told them what I was hearing, and asked them where Bulleit is made. Here's their reply:

"Bulleit Bourbon continues to be wholly distilled at the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY according to exacting standards developed by Tom Bulleit and the Bulleit Distilling Company. Bulleit Bourbon’s bold flavor is the product of a unique recipe featuring a high proportion of the rye grain and the use of a proprietary yeast culture. As with all Kentucky straight Bourbons, Bulleit Bourbon is aged in charred barrels made from new American Oak and contains absolutely no additives whatsoever."

Who is telling the truth? Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps more interesting is why, now, is Kirin/Four Roses getting its back up about this? Is Diageo doing what Four Roses says and Four Roses is putting them on notice that if they want to continue to invoke the good name of that distillery, they better stop diluting Bulleit with whiskey made in other places? Or is something else at work here? I'm pretty much at a dead end because I take everyone at their word unless I have reliable evidence to the contrary.

Drink Bulleit Anyway.

The new ad for Bulleit bourbon bothers me.

My first problem is, I don't know what it means. What makes Bulleit the "Last of the Great Bourbons"? And why should that make me want to drink it?

Gene Song is the Brand Manager for Bulleit and George Dickel at Diageo. Here is his explanation:

"Last of the Great Bourbons" is meant to convey the idea that Bulleit Bourbon is among a small collection of unique bourbons which have survived the tests of time and continue to be enjoyed today. More specifically, Bulleit Bourbon's distinctive taste from its high rye recipe and long history dating back to Augustus Bulleit combine to form something unique. Unless other brands from the 1800s are resurrected, this 'fraternity' of bourbons is closed.

Today, we are lucky to live in a time where consumers who enjoy bourbon have more choices than ever. There are a lot of great bourbons available, each with its own history and taste profile. "Last of the Great Bourbons" is intended to inspire those who are looking for a bourbon with both distinctive taste and a long, rich history to discover Bulleit Bourbon.

Well, okay, except for a couple of things. First, and perhaps most important, Bulleit bourbon is not a "brand from the 1800s." Bulleit bourbon was launched in 1995, the brainchild of Tom Bulleit, a Kentucky lawyer who, through his legal work, learned a lot about the growing international market for American whiskey. He contracted with the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, to make it. A few years later, he moved his operation over to Seagrams. They created the current bottle and reformulated the product, moving its production to the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

When Pernod-Ricard and Diageo teamed up to buy Seagram's, they each took the brands they wanted and sold the rest. Diageo took Bulleit but not Four Roses, although Bulleit is still made there under contract.

Bulleit has never before claimed to be a 19th century brand. Tom Bulleit always said that his family had a history in the whiskey business. That evolved into stories about a 19th century ancestor named Augustus Bulleit. The present day Bulleit formula was supposedly passed down from Augustus.

I know and like Tom Bulleit and have asked him about this history. He told me it's what his father told him, but he looked a little embarrassed as he said it. I didn't press him. This much I know, there is no evidence to support any of the claims about Augustus Bulleit and there is no record of a product named "Bulleit Bourbon" before 1995. That doesn't mean the stories passed down through the family aren't true, it just means it's a big stretch to characterize Bulleit as a 19th century brand.

It was Seagram's that, in advertising, first called Bulleit "frontier whiskey." The original Buffalo Trace package looked like it might contain perfume. Seagrams went with something inspired by 19th century apothecary bottles, hence the "frontier whiskey" theme. A couple of years ago, Gene Song's predecessor told me it was the bottle design that caught the attention of senior Diageo executives and made them think Bulleit was a horse they could ride to the front of the emerging premium bourbon category.

As for the recipe, the Bulleit recipe is one that Seagram's has made for decades, since long before there was a Bulleit bourbon. Yes, it is a high-rye bourbon formula, but it was developed entirely independent of the Augustus Bulleit legend.

Finally, did Gene Song really answer the question? Why "last"? He seems to be saying that it is last in that it is the most recent 19th century brand to be relaunched in a later century. He even concedes that it could be supplanted if, for example, somebody reintroduces Old Tub, the Beam family's 19th century bourbon.

One also has to accept the premise that 19th century automatically equals great.

Perhaps this just goes to show that we shouldn't read any advertising too carefully.

Or does it show that we don't read most advertising carefully enough?

All that said, drink Bulleit bourbon anyway, because Four Roses is a great distillery and Bulleit is a delicious and well-made bourbon, in an admittedly cool bottle, that is sold at a good price ($20-$25). The high-rye mash bill gives is a spicy taste you won't find in many other bourbons.

My problem with dubious history in association with American whiskey products is that the industry has such a rich authentic history, I hate to see it confused with ficton contrived by marketers for short term gain. Diageo isn't the only culprit, virtually everybody does it, although I have taken Diageo to task before for playing fast and loose with the history of its George Dickel brand.

The moral, I guess, is that while I take my whiskey straight, I take most whiskey marketing with a grain of salt.