Ah Pook
02-17-2013, 00:18
Anyone following this? Anyone care?
http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/02/11/makers-mark-distillers-water-down-flagship-spirit-claim-we-didnt-screw-up-your-whisky/
http://nationalpostlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/mark.jpg?w=620
Does your favourite whisky taste a touch watered down these days? Well, if you’re drinking Maker’s Mark, that’s because it is.
The well-known Kentucky-based craft bourbon distiller is embroiled in something of a scandal this week, as company executives have said in a letter on the weekend addressed to “loyal customers” that the company, headed by Rob Samuels, grandson of the brand’s founder Bill Samuels Sr., will begin to water down their flagship product in an effort to meet rising demand in the U.S. and around the world.
There will be a 3% reduction in the alcohol by volume (ABV) in each bottle, dropping the product from 45% to 42% ABV. Samuels, also chief brand ambassador, assured people in an email that the company had done extensive testing on the taste profile of the lower alcohol bourbon, and found the less boozy product was still the equal of his father’s original recipe. The company says they’ve been far more worried about scarcity of their product lately than any perceived damage to their brand from lowering alcohol content slightly.
Still, Twitter was abuzz with negative reaction, and Esquire magazine, for one, had found a way around the whole mess (http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/makers-mark-watered-down-bourbon?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_6916626), which was simply to buy Maker’s 46, the upmarket brand of distiller, sure not to be watered down, but which comes with a heftier price tag.
Slate’s Matthew Yglesias dug down a little deeper into the story, and writes that the worldwide spike in demand for the trademark American-style of whiskey may be the root cause of Maker’s troubles (http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/11/maker_s_mark_watering_its_bourbon_down.html?utm_so urce=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_toolbar). But he still muses that it’s clear this is the dividing line between Maker’s appealing to serious bourbon drinkers, and knowing that they really are a mid- to downmarket spirit. After all, in a shortage, the other alternative would have been to raise the price on the product, if they actually believe their customers would notice a drop in quality. The brand is currently under the umbrella of spirits made by Beam Inc., makers of Jim Beam, of course, and also Alberta Premium. Beam Inc. is said to be refocusing its attention on emerging markets, and seems to be less concerned with the somewhat fickle and mature U.S. liquor market, which is becoming increasingly bifurcated between super high-end actual craft products and mass-market brands.
Here’s Rob Samuels letter in its entirety:
Dear Maker’s Mark® Ambassador,
Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores. Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.
We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.
We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago. We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference.
Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.
In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.
By the way, if you have any comments or questions, as always, we invite you to drop us a line at rob@makersmark.com or bill@makersmark.com. Thanks for your support. And if you’ve got a little time on your hands, come down and see us at the distillery.
Sincerely,
Rob Samuels
Chief Operating Officer
Ambassador-in-Chief
Bill Samuels, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus
Ambassador-at-Large
Jack Daniels has lowered the alcohol content of their Black Label at least twice. Didn't seem to hurt them long term.
http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/02/11/makers-mark-distillers-water-down-flagship-spirit-claim-we-didnt-screw-up-your-whisky/
http://nationalpostlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/mark.jpg?w=620
Does your favourite whisky taste a touch watered down these days? Well, if you’re drinking Maker’s Mark, that’s because it is.
The well-known Kentucky-based craft bourbon distiller is embroiled in something of a scandal this week, as company executives have said in a letter on the weekend addressed to “loyal customers” that the company, headed by Rob Samuels, grandson of the brand’s founder Bill Samuels Sr., will begin to water down their flagship product in an effort to meet rising demand in the U.S. and around the world.
There will be a 3% reduction in the alcohol by volume (ABV) in each bottle, dropping the product from 45% to 42% ABV. Samuels, also chief brand ambassador, assured people in an email that the company had done extensive testing on the taste profile of the lower alcohol bourbon, and found the less boozy product was still the equal of his father’s original recipe. The company says they’ve been far more worried about scarcity of their product lately than any perceived damage to their brand from lowering alcohol content slightly.
Still, Twitter was abuzz with negative reaction, and Esquire magazine, for one, had found a way around the whole mess (http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/makers-mark-watered-down-bourbon?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_6916626), which was simply to buy Maker’s 46, the upmarket brand of distiller, sure not to be watered down, but which comes with a heftier price tag.
Slate’s Matthew Yglesias dug down a little deeper into the story, and writes that the worldwide spike in demand for the trademark American-style of whiskey may be the root cause of Maker’s troubles (http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/11/maker_s_mark_watering_its_bourbon_down.html?utm_so urce=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_toolbar). But he still muses that it’s clear this is the dividing line between Maker’s appealing to serious bourbon drinkers, and knowing that they really are a mid- to downmarket spirit. After all, in a shortage, the other alternative would have been to raise the price on the product, if they actually believe their customers would notice a drop in quality. The brand is currently under the umbrella of spirits made by Beam Inc., makers of Jim Beam, of course, and also Alberta Premium. Beam Inc. is said to be refocusing its attention on emerging markets, and seems to be less concerned with the somewhat fickle and mature U.S. liquor market, which is becoming increasingly bifurcated between super high-end actual craft products and mass-market brands.
Here’s Rob Samuels letter in its entirety:
Dear Maker’s Mark® Ambassador,
Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores. Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.
We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.
We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago. We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference.
Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.
In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.
By the way, if you have any comments or questions, as always, we invite you to drop us a line at rob@makersmark.com or bill@makersmark.com. Thanks for your support. And if you’ve got a little time on your hands, come down and see us at the distillery.
Sincerely,
Rob Samuels
Chief Operating Officer
Ambassador-in-Chief
Bill Samuels, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus
Ambassador-at-Large
Jack Daniels has lowered the alcohol content of their Black Label at least twice. Didn't seem to hurt them long term.