NIGHTCAP: October
Here we are, November.. What a month October has been, so much happened, I apologize for not having more pieces up, but I was extremely busy with my best friends wedding, and a lengthy and relaxing stay in Kona, so don’t expect a long nightcap. I promise to be more active with features and shorts this month as we head kicking and screaming into the holiday season. Pour yourself a couple fingers worth of your brown water of choice and let’s get into it.
I hope you had a very nice Nightmare Before Christmas. My Nightmare Before Christmas is the annual announcement of the BTAC and Pappy releases.
In the “it seemed so inevitable” category, suspended horse trainer Bob Baffert sued some liquor stores over a satirical sticker that was applied to a store pick of Pinhook Bourbon. Not only did the suspended horse trainer win a $50,000 settlement which was donated to charities, but he obtained written apologies (presumably framed and put on the wall for flex rights) from the folks involved. Suspended horse trainer Bob Baffert vigorously defended his “reputation” with litigation, presumably unhappy with the discovery that his image had been used without permission on the sticker (which was not presumably hilarious, it was in fact, hilarious). While I don’t enjoy defending presumably humorless suspended horse training millionaires that can’t presumably withstand the emotional distress of a satirical sticker, the law is the law. The so-called “tater” stickers over the years have routinely flouted copyright and trademarks, and are in fact mostly not legal applications to bottles which was the general basis of the lawsuit. This should put a chill on any upcoming aftermarket stickers that aren’t infringement free. Quick mention that neither Pinhook nor Castle and Key were involved in the settlement.
From Wikipedia where you can learn a great deal more about Bob- “over 30 horses Baffert trained had failed drug tests. Baffert has paid out over $20,000 in fines, compared against over $321 million in career earnings. He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions.
I’m a very big fan of the Uncle Nearest story, the whiskey, the people running the place, and their passion for what they do. They’ve announced a distillery only straight Rye whisky release. This is a Canadian Rye (that’s why I said whisky you goof!) aged for 4 years in New York, and then blended and bottled in Tennessee. Even though the real life Uncle Nearest was famous for the filtration process, this rye will be uncut and unfiltered. This won’t be the last rye from Uncle Nearest (not the real life one, he’s deceased do you even whiskey?) as they have plans for more releases. What’s the price? $149. Yes, you read that correctly. That’s a lot of scratch for a 4 year rye, and a Canadian one at that. I get it, it’s a business, gotta make the scratch and grow the stacks, but I’ll be sitting this one out. They’ll likely have no trouble selling out of this distillery only release as Uncle Nearest is so hot right now, I’m convinced they could make glue, enter it into spirits competitions, and come away with a sack of gold medals. I’ll add this to the growing amount of examples of “branding” leading to higher and higher prices (and secondary too), regardless of what’s inside the bottle. My gaze falls upon you Smokewagon…
I love clickbait articles as much as the next earth person, but when I see one like this, I don’t click, and neither should you. First of all, this shouldn’t make ANY best of Rye list, secondly, it’s the Caribbean Reserve rye, and not the Maroon labeled Dark Rye as noted by the incompetent editors of said clickbait article.
Did you know that Knob Creek has released their 18 year old bourbon? If you read this blog, then you know already, but 3 weeks after it hit shelves, and was tasted by yours truly, it’s been press released and all the accounts are sharing it. Here it is in brief, with some fun pokes and snark at the marketing gibberish.
CLERMONT, K.Y., Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Knob Creek® Bourbon, a leader in the Small Batch Bourbon category, is excited to announce the addition of a new, limited-edition bourbon to its award-winning* portfolio: Knob Creek® 18 Year Old. This latest release marks the oldest expression from Knob Creek to-date, and its introduction comes just in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Knob Creek and the Small Batch Bourbon Collection.
Hmmmm, nothing there to snark at. You win this round Jim Beam, you win this round, but I’ll be waiting, always waiting for a marketing gibberish mis-step.
Speaking of press releases, errrr marketing gibberish, you’ve by now likely have heard that Pappy will be a “little less rare” this year. Buckle up folks this is gonna be a wild one! With snark mode engaged, let’s get to the gibberish….
FRANKFORT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, KY (Oct. 4, 2022) – Buffalo Trace Distillery is announcing the upcoming annual release of all six Van Winkle whiskey expressions. To the delight of whiskey fans, there will be more bottles available this year than usual of almost every Van Winkle expression due to both putting away more whiskey to age over 10 years ago and a higher yield than typical when moving from barrel to bottle.
This year’s release of the Family Reserve 15-Year-Old has been noted as particularly delicious by the sensory experts at Buffalo Trace, describing it as, “An unbelievably opulent and flawless bourbon that takes wood and distillate to its absolute pinnacle.”
The wheated recipe used by Buffalo Trace to make its Weller and Van Winkle Bourbons allows for longer aging, in some cases two decades or more, than the traditional rye recipe used in most bourbons. This wheated recipe also results in a smoother and somewhat sweeter flavor. The Weller and Van Winkle lines have earned an impeccable reputation among connoisseurs and have almost achieved cult-like status.
SALVATION IS UPON US! There will be more bottles available this year. How many? One? Two? Fifty? 37 hundreditythousand? This is meaningless to us fans. These are never seen on a shelf at a store without secondary pricing, and frankly, aren’t these always locked in a case, or behind the register on the top top shelf with a 1/4 inch of dust and pigeon shit on them? Higher yields without actual case counts is gibberish, and normally I’d want to know just how many more, but since no one drinks these anymore outside of an expense account at a restaurant bar, it just doesn’t matter. It’s exciting to know that this years 15-year-old is “particularly delicious” yeah, everyone knows this, or at least used to know this, when it could be found and consumed, no need to rub it in the face! THE FACE!
My last snark is reserved for the “almost achieved cult-like status” portion. This is an affront to all serious cults. This isn’t cult like, nor is it almost, to me it’s just strange. The annual festival of Pappy stupidity is one of the most remarkably baffling things in all of whiskey. It’s great bourbon, but it isn’t the best out there. NOT EVEN CLOSE. However It is the most famous though so all due respect (it might have a book, and some documentaries about it). People overpay for these bottles every single year, and it’s so frustrating to watch knowing that it’s not even the best whiskey put out by Buffalo Trace.
Buffalo Trace proudly lists their MSRP on these, so THIS is what they value the whiskey at, and it’s so entirely divorced from the reality of those “delighted whiskey fans” that it’s more insult than price guide. Old Rip Van Winkle $69.99 Nice try BT, how about $500? Lot B $79.99, another nice try keep trying little guy, $800. The first of the actual Pappy’s, the 15-year-old at $119.99 is more like $1600. The 20-year-old? $199.99, farcical, try $2000. The grand-pappy of them all, the 23-year-old $299.99 which is usually around $2500 or more depending on the local gouge-house. Lastly, my very favorite of the lineup (at least it was it’s been so long since I’ve had any it could suck how would I know? See how delighted I am BT?) is the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye (rolls off the tongue no?) at $119.99 has been about $1800 or more.
What’s with all the 99’s by the way? Goofy stuff that BT wants to sneak in that extra dollar, but won’t raise the MSRP to help offset the flippity flippers. Julian says they can’t do anything about the stupid prices that shops charge, because that isn’t legal, but there actually IS something they could do, and all it takes is to look at what Whistle Pig successfully did with the Boss Hog line…. Raise the MSRP significantly to give themselves a bigger slice of the profits rather than the shops who overcharge, or the flippers who are hesitant to invest a substantial amount of money to simply “double” their scratch stacks. Shops would still make money, but they wouldn’t make as much as they do now. We can all debate the distributor games of “buy 849.99 cases of wheatley to get one ORVW bottle…” but to say that there’s nothing that can be done is a load of horse-dump. /snark
In the “I can’t believe my eyes” category, here’s the cocktail menu at the new lobby bar at Caesar’s Las Vegas. If this kinda nonsense doesn’t make you start flasking in Vegas, you are what the industry folks call, a high roller. Paying $26 for any cocktail, any PLACE, just means you are high. Probably.
Here we go folks… Rye is picking up steam, and Canadian Rye is something that insiders like me have been crowing about for quite some time. I’m starting to see more of these articles pop up, so don’t say you weren’t warned about buying those discontinued 14-year-old Barrell rye bottles…..
Well, the inexorable trend to find new and unique pairings continues…. Oysters and Whiskey Pairings. Personally I’m waiting for someone anyone, please UPROXXX or Robb Report, pair some whiskey with Van Gogh paintings. I’ll wait for it. I’m frankly over this silliness. Now, if you want to talk BBQ and Rye pairings, drop me a line, I’m all about this. I wear the hypocrite gold jacket quiet well don’t you think?
The new Jack Daniel’s distillery series rye release (formerly the Tennessee Tasters selection) has been announced and folks, it’s TOASTED. You know what this means right? In a year or three, it’ll be a mass release, and it’ll sell out in fourteen moments (that’s my imprecise and expressive measurement of time) and command stupid prices on secondary. Get it while you can.
Are you hungry while reading the Night Cap? I have you covered with some killer brisket fries from 4505 in San Francisco. Twice fried fries, brisket, real cheese, Carolina white sauce, pickled red onions and cilantro. Hungry now? Yeah, me too.
Sagamore has released their Sherry finished Rye. If you’ve followed along, you likely know that I loathe Sherry and all the raisin notes these finishes often have, so I was not initially excited about this release. I still went for it, because Sagamore has become famous among Rye fans for doing nuanced finishes that aren’t ham-fisted clunkers that hit you in the face with the finishing agent that ends up burying the Rye spirit. Every single finish Sagamore has done, is understated and celebrates the Rye itself. It’s always a subtle enhancement, that adds while elevating. This is yet another example of why Sagamore is one of the premier whiskey finishers in the business. Frankly, I’m at the point of stating that no one does finishes better than Sagamore and Barrell, and I’ll answer the bell to anyone who says otherwise.
I mentioned that it seems like a lot of established master distillers/tasters/blenders etc.. are leaving prestigious positions to explore their entrepreneurial dreams during last months recap, and here we are with why Denny Potter left Maker’s Mark. He and Jane Bowie are creating a brand new distillery. I mean of course! Why not use that expertise and do some things that are new and exciting? Frankly I think this trend will continue, especially with the insane growth shown by brands like Blue Run, and Penelope etc..
Spent some time at Sugarfield here in Louisiana learning all about their mad scientist laboratory and the crazy things they’re conjuring up. Look for a piece on this madhouse soon.
QUICK HITS
There are 11 million barrels of whiskey aging in Kentucky. Distilleries there are filling 2 million barrels a year. That’s a lot of hooch.
A pretty cool short timeline article on KBD/Willett, check it out here. Article also includes a spreadsheet of all known single barrels, a must-have for the Willett insaniac or those that aspire to spend more of their scratch than they should.
New Orleans Bourbon Festival is six-months away. You can get your tickets here, and I recommend getting your VIP tickets soon, as they do sell out.
Andre Mack has released Rye & Sons, more to come on this during #31derfuldaysofrye but I wanted to include it here, because this brand will be rye for rye fans, will be released in different vintages, and is very budget friendly.
The Bills are 6-1. You might not care, and that’s ok, but if you wanna jump on the Bills Mafia bandwagon, we got room for you at the plastic tables, just keep your head up.
Last minute breaking news that I’ll be talking more about soon, but Campari has purchased a 70% stake in Wilderness Trail (roughly $420 million), with the goal of total acquisition at a later date (total valuation on the purchase will be $600 million). The need for capacity is real, and the consolidation will only continue.
#31derfuldaysofrye is underway, look for a Rye takeover of my Instagram page…
The When We Were Young festival took place in Las Vegas, and they had some crazy high-winds that forced the cancellation of one of the days, which happened to feature the Horror Pops, who were the only band I would’ve cared to see. What to do with the cancellation? Well, they then played a free show at the Double Down Saloon, which is a wildly small “venue” if you could even call it that. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to have a few bacon martinis (yep, they invented them) and watch the Horror Pops in a place the size of most American living rooms.
That’s it for October, I hope you had a terrific Halloween, thank you for dropping by and reading some things that I found interesting last month. Feel free to leave a comment, a criticism, or a joke in the comments section below. Let’s get to the drinking, NOW!
- Mickey Pinstripe