Faux'd up Dept: bourbon's demise documented

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:41 am

Bourbon joins rum on the slippery slope...

...while rum is about to hit bottom, bourbon seems to following. Although I'm not a bourbon fan (yet), I have frequently praised this category as perhaps the purest expression on Planet Earth, due to it's very specific standard of identity:

No color, no additives, aged/stored solely in charred, new oak barrels. No (undefined) "finishing" allowed. The only exception: chips or chopped up ex-sherry staves can be inserted into the charred new oak casks for purposes of coloring and flavoring. In this very rare instance the label MUST state the words "colored and flavored with (chips, staves)".

This is changing!

The marketing monkeys have now decided to bend the rules and release products alleged to be "finished" in ex-sherry barrels for two reasons (actually just one). First, they are doing so to mimic the successful sherry finishing of many single malts, and secondly (really firstly) to create what they are attempting to promote as an especially profitable premium form of bourbon.

What they are doing is simple: take a bourbon that might sell for $25 to $35, give it a quickie, Plantation style dip in ex-sherry barrels, upgrade the presentation and bottle, then sell it to the dummies for vastly inflated prices.

Sub Prime examples...

Jim Beam’s Limited-Edition Distiller’s Masterpiece Finished in Sherry Cask. Yup, another NAS but now $199 and very hard to get, thus appealing to well tailored idiots. How bout another? Try Angel's Envy Rye Whiskey - which they buy bulk, and vat for "up to 18 months" (which actually means "at least 15 minutes") - then also sell for premium dollars. They also make a faux bourbon concoction called "Expression 10/10" (I could think of another "expression") - alleged to be barrel "finished" in sherry barrels. Now for the bad news:

Jim Murray - and I heartily agree - has made an irrefutable case that by the storage/aging/finishing in anything other than the mandated storage in charred, new oak is no longer bourbon, but at best could be labelled "Whiskey made from bourbon mash". At best. The above products convincingly violate both the spirit and the letter of the law, yet just like Ron Matusalem, the TTB doesn't give a monkey's red ass. Murray claims this is indeed the camel's nose and puts formerly pure bourbon on the slippery slope to oblivion.

So what else is new? The shelves have been taken over, the TTB is useless, and the fix is in. It's just a matter of time.

Worse yet? Is there a worse yet?

Yes. Murray claims that a leading head distiller has threatened to quit if his bosses insist on his prostitution of his beloved bourbon. Who can blame him? Worse yet is that when I raised these issues over at StraightBourbon.com only a few posters took real interest and - worse yet again - most didn't care and - worse yet again - no less than Chuck Cowdery, whom I've considered a truly independent voice was on the pro-alteration, "it's all good" side. Jim Murray - no slouch - was cast aside as some kind of quack with an agenda.

This does not bode well at all.

The bourbon monkeys are in denial. Trust me, I did my level best to share the sad story of rum as Exhibit A, but they weren't hearing anything that remotely implied that everything was anything other than just peachy fackin keen (no doubt from the sherry barrels, lol). All I can say now is...

Havabanana!

*******
The complete Jim Murray analysis:
http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1410

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:59 am

I'll keep documenting until they stop...

Rough Rider "Bourbon":
"Extra matured in high proof local Brandy washed casks". Now even the casks are phonied up. They are not ex-brandy casks - nope - they're now "brandy-washed". Toss in a 1.75 of a cheap brandy, swirl it around, repeat. Premium presentation and price.
http://lispirits.com/rough_rider.php

Woodford Reserve Masterbaiter's "Four Wood" Selection
"...matured in American Oak Wood, that has been finished in barrels made from Maple Wood, Sherry Wood and Port Wood.". Very expensive, and oh - they also sell a "maple wood" finished faux bourbon.
http://www.woodfordreserve.com/bourbon/ ... ollection/

Belle Meade 9 Year "Bourbon"
"...finished in Oloroso Sherry casks". Unable to find or price.

Wild Turkey "Sherry Signature" Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
"...Wild Turkey's 'Sherry Signature' actually blends oloroso sherry with the bourbon as well as finishing it in old oloroso barrels. Before this, the whiskey is matured for 10 years in heavily charred, traditional white oak barrels.". Unfackin believable! Does anyone else see where this is going? From moving the spirit to an ex-sherry barrel, to actually adding real sherry?!! $150.

Jim Beam's version of this is their "Signature Series" at just short of $100 (I guess the new marketing buzzword is "Signature" - Signature this (grabbing crotch)! Folks the fix is in - way, way in. C'mon Chuck, get with it!

To be fair, some exceptions...

Woodford also sells a double-barreled bourbon, with the spirit being transferred to another new, charred oak barrel (although the marketing boyz get woodies describing how this second barreling, though charred, is somehow different and adds a bunch of stupendous and exciting new flavors. Our good friend Phil Prichard to his discredit is reputed to buy bulk bourbon, but to his credit then rebarrels it in his own smaller, new charred oak for a second "aging" (Prichard's Double Barreled Bourbon). Both are sold at premium prices.

Both of these are legitimate products that meet the Standards, kudo's to both.