Stateways

Stateways Sept-Oct 2014

StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions

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31 StateWays Q www.stateways.com Q September/October 2014 nounced plans to build a distillery, visitor center and warehouses on 100 acres in the Nelson County Industrial Park. "The Bardstown Bourbon Company will be a celebration of the Bardstown community, from the local ingredients we use to produce our product and the team that designs and builds our distillery, to the employees that distill, bar- rel and store our Bourbons," says David Man- dell, president and CEO of The Bardstown Bourbon Company. Billed as a destination ex- perience, the company will produce Bourbon and other spirits with local ingredients. Craft Creations S eptember marks National Bourbon Heritage Month and the annual Kentucky Bour- bon Festival. Beam Suntory is celebrating with limited edition releases that have been called the rarest whiskey expressions to leave the rackhouse. Jim Beam Signature Craft is launching the Jim Beam Harvest Bourbon Collection, which is a series of six handcrafted Bourbons aged more than 11 years. Each of the six Bourbons represents a differ- ent grain representation: Soft Red Wheat, Brown Rice, Rolled Oat, Triticale, High Rye and Six Row Barley. Soft Red Wheat and Brown Rice, both 90 proof and with a suggested retail price of $49.99 for a 375 ml bottle, will be released in September, while the other four will roll out in limited quan- tity throughout 2015. The brand's Signature Craft Line releases Jim Beam Signature Craft Quarter Cask in September. The ultra-premium offering joins Jim Beam Signature Craft 12-Year, the line's permanent expression that was released in September 2013, and is the second limited edition expression. Aged at least fi ve years, the 86 proof product has a suggested retail price of $39.99 for a 750 ml bottle. Rye on the Rise "R ye whiskey continues to undergo a revival in the United States and around the world," Briese says. "Much of rye's growth can be attributed to the on- premise trend of recreating and experimenting with pre-Prohibition cocktails that were traditionally made with rye whiskey." Tom Bulleit started Bulleit Distilling Company with a family Bourbon recipe, but it's the Bulleit Rye he launched in 2011—at the request of bartenders who wanted a spicier rye—that has surged in three years, be- coming the No. 1 selling rye whiskey. "There has been an amazing and truly unprecedented resurgence in straight rye," says Susan Wahl, Senior Brand Manager for American Whiskeys at Heaven Hill. "For those few of us who have made it for decades in lim- ited quantities, it is both an opportunity and a challenge to produce enough to meet sudden record demand." As rye whiskey surges, Heaven Hill has taken its age- old Rittenhouse Bottle-in-Bond Straight Rye Whisky and redesigned its packaging, giving it a look that is based on the original labels from the 1930s. While the colors and brand logotype remain the same, the Rittenhouse face label looks more like the Art Deco design it had post- Prohibition. The redesign includes the return of the tax stamp and the addition of a printed neck capsule. "Rittenhouse, like several other traditional American Straight Ryes, has probably seen more activity and inter- est in the past eight or 10 years than it saw in the 70 years prior," Wahl says. Jack Daniel's has made a name for itself in the whis- key category, but it only recently explored expressions in the rye segment. "We have a great brand and platform to make interesting whiskey, so you've seen us over the past fi ve years start experimenting with our rye whiskeys," Blevins explains. Jack Daniel's entered the rye whiskey category with its 2012 Unaged Tennessee Rye. "We've no- ticed as part of this trend of people becoming more interested in whiskey, the real afi cionados want to experience the product in a lot of different ways," Blevins says. "The unaged rye whiskey was the fi rst shot across the bow of innovation from Jack Daniel's whis- key world and that went very well." Two years later the brand is following that up with a limited release of Jack Dan- iel's Rested Rye, the distillery's fi rst barrel- matured expression in the rye category. "Given the success of Unaged Rye, we felt like we should offer our friends another lim- ited-quantity rye expression with a brief exposure to the barrel that's still handcrafted with the same passion and quality they expect from all of our products," says Jack Daniel's Master Distiller Jeff Arnett. Crafted using the same charcoal mellowing process that's used in the Tennessee Whiskey recipe, Rested Rye contains 70 percent rye, 18 percent corn and 12 percent malted barley. The one-time offering became available in select U.S. markets in April with a 750 ml bottle sug- gested to sell for $49.99. Limited Luxury J im Beam isn't the only brand celebrat- ing a milestone in 2014. Wild Turkey's Master Distiller, Jimmy Russell, has been with the Kentucky distillery for 60 years, gaining a reputation as an innovator who respects the traditional methods of mak- ing Bourbon. Known as a living legend in the spirits industry, Russell is considered the longest-tenured active Master Distiller in the world, which is something the brand Wild Turkey Diamond Jack Daniel's Rested Rye Rittenhouse Rye

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