S-n-G...did you know about this blasphemy?

It appears that Maker’s Mark was going to water down its bourbon and try to pass it off as the same stuff until people got wind of their ballsy plan and said NYET!

[B]Maker’s Mark to stop watering down its whiskey[/B]

After backlash from customers, the producer of Maker’s Mark bourbon is reversing a decision to cut the amount of alcohol in bottles of its famous whiskey.

Rob Samuels, Maker’s Mark’s chief operating officer, said Sunday that it is restoring the alcohol volume of its product to its historic level of 45 percent, or 90 proof. Last week, it said it was lowering the amount to 42 percent, or 84 proof, because of a supply shortage.

“We’ve been tremendously humbled over the last week or so,” Samuels, grandson of the brand’s founder, said of customers’ reactions.

The brand known for its square bottles sealed in red wax has struggled to keep up with demand. Distribution has been squeezed, and the brand had to curtail shipments to some overseas markets.

In a tweet Sunday, the company said to its followers: “You spoke. We listened.”

The change in recipe started with a shortage of the bourbon amid an ongoing expansion of the company’s operations that cost tens of millions of dollars.

Maker’s Mark President Bill Samuels, the founder’s son, said the company focused almost exclusively on not altering the taste of the bourbon while stretching the available product and didn’t consider the emotional attachment that customers have to the brand and its composition.

Bill Samuels said the company tinkered with how much water to add and keep the taste the same for about three months before making the announcement about the change Monday. It marked the first time the bourbon brand, more than a half-century old, had altered its proof or alcohol volume.

“Our focus was on the supply problem. That led to us focusing on a solution,” he said. “We got it totally wrong.”

Both Bill and Rob Samuels said customer reaction was immediate. Company officials heard from “thousands and thousands of consumers” that a bourbon shortage was preferable to a change in how the spirits were made, Bill Samuels said.

“They would rather put up with the occasional supply shortage than put up with any change in their hand-made bourbon,” Rob Samuels said.

The change in alcohol volume called for the recipe and process to stay the same, except for a “touch more water” to be added when the whiskey comes out of the barrel for bottling, Rob Samuels said.

When production restarts Monday, those plans are off the table, Bill Samuels said.

“We really made this decision after an enormous amount of thought, and we focused on the wrong things,” he said.

Maker’s Mark is owned by spirits company Beam Inc., based in Deerfield, Ill. Its other brands include Jim Beam bourbon.

Maker’s Mark is made at a distillery near the small town of Loretto, 45 miles south of Louisville.

The bourbon ages in barrels for at least six summers and no longer than seven years before bottling.

The supply shortage at Maker’s comes amid growing demand for Kentucky bourbons in general.

Combined Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey sales from producers or suppliers to wholesalers rose 5.2 percent to 16.9 million cases last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, a national trade association that released figures last week. Revenue shot up 7.3 percent to $2.2 billion, it said. Premium brands, generally made in smaller batches with heftier prices, led sales and revenue gains.

Kentucky produces 95 percent of the world’s bourbon supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. There are 4.9 million bourbon barrels aging in Kentucky, which outnumbers the state’s population.

Hangin’s too good for em I say!

[QUOTE=c.captain;99409]It appears that Maker’s Mark was going to water down its bourbon and try to pass it off as the same stuff until people got wind of their ballsy plan and said NYET!

Hangin’s too good for em I say![/QUOTE]

AGREED!!
Yes, I did know. The owner of my local Whiskey Outlet mentioned it to me. My reply was "Why is everything good turning to shit these days?"
There was a movement in my county to close all saloons - this is war. The Sheriff told me, not to worry, he’s got the goods on all these so called good do’ers who want to impose their so called values upon the rest of us.

Nothing quite like a photograph of an arrogant religious type fellow in the public shit house doing something naughty to freeze his ass - forever. :smiley:

Try some 18 year old Flor de Cana rum on the rocks. I swill a bottle of it every June 1st.

[QUOTE=injunear;99419]Try some 18 year old Flor de Cana rum on the rocks. I swill a bottle of it every June 1st.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, injunear, it’s on my list. “June 1st,” want to post more info? Not important, of course, except to old Merchant Seamen such as I.

[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;99432]Thanks, injunear, it’s on my list. “June 1st,” want to post more info? Not important, of course, except to old Merchant Seamen such as I.[/QUOTE]
This goes back to my retirement date 6/1/09. I learned of Flor de Cana rum at the same time I learned the difference between “regalo” scotch and single malt. One of the most important lessons I learned from one of your classmates, Capt Gabor back in the early '70s!

[QUOTE=injunear;99444]This goes back to my retirement date 6/1/09.[/QUOTE]

PERFECT

[QUOTE=injunear;99444] I learned of Flor de Cana rum at the same time I learned the difference between “regalo” scotch and single malt. One of the most important lessons I learned from one of your classmates, Capt Gabor back in the early '70s![/QUOTE]

They taught us well back then.
David was in the class of 1960 and was sailing as Captain 10 years later. I like that.
He was 2 years ahead of me but I remember him. There was a neat saloon on Steamboat Road, Maurice’s Tavern, I would be there often. I recall having chats with your mentor, he did enjoy his whiskey. Can you believe this, back then you could be served alcohol when you turned 18 so I was often in Maurice’s. It was a short walk from KP. I made my class 15th reunion in 1977 (the only reunion I ever made) and was outraged, Maurice’s was no longer, Oh, suffering succotash.

Yeah, I had heard of Maurice’s, but since I didn’t start up at KP until '78, the closest joint for a beverage was the Fireman’s Club house. Oh, and of course the age of consent, if you will, was 18 at the time. My second class year, the Midshipmen’s Pub opened in Land Hall, open weekends, beer, wine and pub grub. I don’t know if it is still going, or even allowable in this current environment of pointing fingers. It saved money, both because the prices were reasonable and we didn’t burn gas getting there. Even more important, we didn’t end up getting wrapped around a tree on the way back. . . .

As far as the Maker’s Mark deal, when I first heard it, I nearly cried. I remember when Jack Daniels pulled the same thing some years ago and thought, “not my whisky. . .”. We occasionally have shortages here in the Houston area. A couple of years back, I had to wait a couple of weeks before my local supplier got a new shipment. It was worth the wait. Now, my kids are trained to by a large bottle for Chrismas, birthday, Fathers’ Day, etc. . . . Oh, and look, I got a birthday, soon. THAT is how I make sure I keep stocked up. . .

I heard the Fireman’s Club House is still in operation. Can anyone verity that? I tipped a few in there too, and of course the Town Pup (now kaput also) across from the RR Station. Don’t they understand, you never ever close a good saloon - never - DAMNATION!

[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;99674]I heard the Fireman’s Club House is still in operation. Can anyone verity that? I tipped a few in there too, and of course the Town Pup (now kaput also) across from the RR Station. Don’t they understand, you never ever close a good saloon - never - DAMNATION![/QUOTE]

Yeah, that and the Hick’s Lane Bar (variously called Working Man"s or Hammer Man’s) and McDonnel’s Pub. . . .gone but not forgotten; well, not totally, anyway. . .

[QUOTE=cmakin;99682]Yeah, that and the Hick’s Lane Bar (variously called Working Man"s or Hammer Man’s) and McDonnel’s Pub. . . .gone but not forgotten; well, not totally, anyway. . .[/QUOTE]

As I recall the Fireman’s Club House was across the street from Maurice’s and a couple of blocks further down the road. I’m heading over to Google Earth and see if I can find it. I know folks will be scratching their heads and wondering about me, not to fret, I am strange.

I have already done that in the past. . . .

[QUOTE=cmakin;99685]I have already done that in the past. . . .[/QUOTE]

Well I think I located the building that was Maurice’s, 192 Steamboat Road, but the Firehouse was not to be located. I did see an empty lot where I think it once stood. There is an “Alert Engine, Hook, Ladder, and Hose Company” but it’s on the wrong side of the street and it must be a corporation. Oh, the humanity ~