Due to the fact that my wife, and tasting partner, just got home from Yellowstone National Park last night I thought I’d share some of the more interesting items that have landed in my inbox over that last few days. I’d like to start including more news anyway so this will be a nice test of the concept.
Four Roses Announces 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch
NEWS: Big news today out of Lawrenceburg, KY as Four Roses has announced the impending release of the 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon. According to the press release the bourbon is “Non-chill filtered and bottled at 114.2 proof, the 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch features four different hand-selected batches aged 12 to 16 years. These batches represent four of the distillery’s 10 distinct Bourbon recipes – a 16-year-old Bourbon from the OBSV recipe, a 14-year-old OBSQ, a 12-year-old OESK, and a 16-year-old OESV.” There will be 14,500 bottles and the suggested retail price is $150.
COMMENTARY: So at one point, this would have been the most exciting news of the bourbon year for me. It was the bourbon that we celebrated with when we reached my wife’s cancer-free milestones. These days, if it wasn’t for the taste they send me, I’d never be able to even review it much less enjoy a bottle. It just isn’t available without paying ridiculous black market prices. I’m sure it will be delicious but I’m done hunting limited releases. Because of the emotional cancer connection, this was the last one I went out of my way to try to get my hands on, but these days I’m happy with a pour of something readily available. If I happen to be drawn in a lottery or something, I’ll probably pick it up but otherwise, I will enjoy the taste I received. And I’ll have a full review later in the week.
Fred B. Noe Distillery Unveiled at the James B. Beam Distillery Co. Campus
NEWS: Jim Beam is showing off a new distillery. The Fred B. Noe Distillery will, to quote the press release, “serve as an innovation playground for Fred’s son & 8th Generation Beam Family Distillery Freddie Noe as he carries on the Beam family legacy in pushing the boundaries of bourbon, as well as the new home of crowd favorites from the James B. Beam Distilling Company’s award-winning Super-Premium portfolio, including Booker’s Bourbon, Baker’s Bourbon and Freddie’s own creation, Little Book Bourbon.” Whisky Advocate is reporting that the distillery will spend 10 months fulfilling the needs for Booker’s and Baker’s Bourbons while leaving around two months for experimentation.
COMMENTARY: This probably isn’t the most exciting bit of news from the consumer standpoint. It doesn’t sound as if this distillery will open to the public. But as far as I’m concerned, anything that helps the big boys to innovate and experiment is good news. I’ve been really pleased with the editions of Little Book that have come out so far so I’m excited to see what Freddie Now cooks up next.
Lux Row Distillers Announces Blood Oath Trilogy Second Edition
NEWS: Last week I got a note from the PR person for Lux Row letting me know that in September, Lux Row will be releasing the second “Trilogy” of Blood Oath Bourbons. Featuring three 750 mL bottles, one each of Pacts 4, 5, and 6, this package will retail for $799. Pact 4 was a blend of 12-, 10-, and 9-year-old bourbons. Pact 5 was a blend of 13-year-old bourbon, 11-year-old wheated bourbon, and 8-year-old bourbon that had been finished in rum barrels. Pact 6 was a blend of 14-year-old bourbon, 8-year-old bourbon, and 7-year-old bourbon that had been finished in Cognac casks.
COMMENTARY: I love doing vertical tastings and would love to get my hands on this…if I didn’t have to drop nearly a grand to do so. I’ve bought a few brandy collections that feature multiple 100 mL bottles of brandy. The price per mL is still high but the retail price is such that it is reachable as a splurge to many more people. Sadly it isn’t a trend to do this for American Whiskey. As much as I would love to get my hands on this—I gave each of them a high “like” rating—I’d be much more inclined if I was getting 300 mL of old releases for $125-150 (I increased the per mL price due to the cost of increased packaging) than I would be if I was getting 2.25 L of old releases for $800.
Inspired by the Trilogy, it is time to beat my drum again. For years, I’ve been talking to whoever would listen that I would love the ability to purchase a gift pack that included small bottles of each of the 10 Four Roses recipes. A long time ago, when prices were more affordable, I was able to get my hands on a full bottle of each. It was so much fun to taste them all side by side. These days that would be prohibitively expensive, if you could even find them all. But, taking it another step further, I could wish is that Bourbon companies would do the multi-packs of 50 or 100 mL bottles, even for “normal” stuff. I could see a package including the various Russell’s Reserve Bourbons and Ryes. Or vertical tasting sets of the various Ezra Brooks, Very Old Barton, or even the Four Roses standard releases. These could be a lot of fun and bring new customers to the brands.
Of course, a shout-out is due to Heaven Hill, Maker’s Mark, and Jim Beam who have actually done this. The first time I had the Beam Small Batch collection was by purchasing a gift pack from the Beam distillery gift shop that included 50mL bottles of each release. And a couple of years ago around the holidays, Heaven Hill put out the “test-tube” set that included many of their whiskeys. I actually reviewed the Maker’s Mark collection last year, mostly because it was so much fun. So good for them. Their gamble gave people some joy and brought at least one person to appreciate their products more. Me, in the case of Jim Beam. If nothing else, it’s something for companies to consider.
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