Before Makers' Mark, it was not OK for bourbon to taste good!

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Originally Posted by Inthewater

"Our stuff is allright, but you'd be better off buying our competitors product."

Sounds like a winner of an advertising campaign.

Joe - You put into much better words what I was thinking. It seems like people are more upset by the fact that they have had success, and that they personally don't think they are the best, than any huge problem with the product itself.

Sounds to me like they have just had good luck with their marketing schemes. Money well spent.

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Joe & Inthewater-

you two are absolutely correct, they absolutely should not suggest that their stuff is sub-par. Advertising your product as the best is very common practice, and ultimately there's nothing wrong with it. :cool:

There business strategy is sound, and it works wonders for them. I am not upset that they are a successful company.

They have been a one-horse parade for a long time, and when they have done any sort of special edition, it has almost always been a label or wax color change only. I genuinely want to see a maker's mark product that gives something like PVW15 a run for its money.

and as for the maker's fanatics- I guess I've just been lucky enough to meet a couple. the most extreme one worked for boeing in wichita, and other than the bread argument, they also tried to convince me that maker's mark was pretty much the only bourbon still actually made in kentucky. Now, whether or not that particular person got those ideas from maker's ad campaign or not is certainly debatable- perhaps they got their mis-information somewhere else and it wasn't really maker's fault at all.

mad props to a company that knows how to use marketing to corner the market share! I've got nothing but respect for them for that. Hopefully this new incarnation of their whiskey will be as amazing as I could hope for.

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Originally Posted by craigthom

You apparently like corn beer. The Milwaukee brewery uses a lot of corn in its mash. AB differs only in the adjunct they use, not the use of an adjunct. The adjuncts add very little if any taste.

A few years ago AB switched Michelob back to an all-barley beer. I haven't tried it since, but I keep meaning to. They did it when they switched back to the lava lamp bottles.

I am unaware of any beer Miller makes that doesn't have corn in it.

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I didn't know that. I guess you're right, I must like corn beer, at least I like it better than rice beer. I haven't had a Mich in years. I'll give it another shot since you say they are using all barley now.

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Originally Posted by CorvallisCracker

Having reached the point where you're able to perceive and appreciate the complexity and refinement of a PVW 15 does not constitute "posing".

You're free to call it that. I'm free to say you're wrong.

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Thanks for that. This meme where preference is automatically tied to ego drives me nuts and has been a fallacy perpetuated many times throughout this thread.

Sometimes preference is derived from research and that's what some consumers do even when the merits of the product in question may be subjective.

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Originally Posted by DeanSheen

Thanks for that. This meme where preference is automatically tied to ego drives me nuts and has been a fallacy perpetuated many times throughout this thread.

Sometimes preference is derived from research and that's what some consumers do even when the merits of the product in question may be subjective.

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I get your second paragraph, but I'm not sure what the first paragraph means. What fallacy has been perpetuated many times? Robert, I ask this in all sincerity, and not as some sort of "bait".

Gotchya Joe.

My first paragraph was more a reply to what Pepcycle wrote and some other words I've read that seemed to equate the idea of preference with superiority.

Ultimately despite the drift I think this thread was allot of fun especially when it touches on the abstracts of decision making. There are some interesting perspectives here on mechanics even if the choices involved are trivial leisure products.

The Heineken example earlier in this thread reminded me of the episode of Mad Men when they decided to place the beer in end caps and only put it in supermarkets in upper middle class neighborhoods and associate the product with Europe which would lead the women who did most of the shopping to see it as quality and exotic. I'm paraphrasing here but ultimately Don's wife bought it and was pissed when she found out about his campaign thinking Don used her to come up with the campaign, but he just exploited perceptions he observed.

I'm rambling now, so I'll quit.

Pep wrote: "Many people here don't suffer the neuroses associated with making a bad choice. They can brush off having purchased something that was too expensive, doesn't taste right or even if the cork is hard to pull. MOST CAN"T. They have to make the best decision every time!!!! They pride themselves on never owning a car that was lemon, a toaster that was recalled or seeing a movie that had a bad ending."

To clarify; I did not intend to knock Maker's product. I used to drink a lot of it and to this day I like Makers. I would have a bottle in my cabinet if it were priced closer to the $20 price that I think it deserves.

My bitch is about the comment made in the video. It's insulting to serious bourbon distillers to say that Makers is the first bourbon that made bourbon taste good. And its bullshit.

I could ignore the blatant lies Makers spewed when it claimed to have created wheated bourbon. I understand that their marketing department wants to claim that Makers is the best bourbon ever put in a bottle.

When their master distiller makes such a patently absurd and untrue comment about being the first bourbon that tasted good, I was insulted. Prior to that I had no problem with all the shenanigans of MM's marketing department. I'd still buy it at the $20 or less price the juice deserves.

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Originally Posted by DeanSheen

Thanks for that. This meme where preference is automatically tied to ego drives me nuts and has been a fallacy perpetuated many times throughout this thread.

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I don't think it is a fallacy. If you want examples, visit any enthusiast product or special interest internet forum and just read. I'm sure that you will find many threads where folks will fight tooth and nail to "prove" that the product or service that they chose is the "best" or the market leader overall. I don't care if it is mobile phones or cable/satellite TV or whatever, you will find what I'm talking about. People have their entire being defined by their choices in these forums and are very passionate about it.

Honestly, I find the claims that something is "best" to be juvenile, as what suits my needs may not suit yours and vice versa.

There is no best when opinion is involved.

I was talking about the idea of determining preference which is different from the idea of best and the two notions do not require linkage. How did we get to best from preference? Because some individuals make the relation between the two absolute does not mean that they have to be.

What I think you meant was that there "is no best for everyone". Well outside of water and air. I think that's pretty much the best for everyone.

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Originally Posted by DeanSheen

I was talking about the idea of determining preference which is different from the idea of best and the two notions do not require linkage. How did we get to best from preference? Because some individuals make the relation between the two absolute does not mean that they have to be.

What I think you meant was that there "is no best for everyone". Well outside of water and air. I think that's pretty much the best for everyone.

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How? Unless one is trolling or is a self denier, they wouldn't select what they thought was the worst, would they?

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Originally Posted by callmeox

How? Unless one is trolling or is a self denier, they wouldn't select what they thought was the worst, would they?

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Scott. would you agree that every single person cannot agree on one single product being "the best?" I'm fairly certain that is what Dean meant.