Allocation News From Templeton Rye

Whisky Intelligence posted an entry with Templeton's Dec ‘10 - Dec ‘11
preliminary allocation and why it's so hard to find their product in Iowa.

"As you can see, we sent nearly 80% of our December allotment to Iowa
and will continue to do our best to supply our home state while balancing
the future growth for our company."

but

"What we want to make clear is that once we sell product to the ABD we
do not control where it ends up or the price on the shelf. We have a lot
more influence on those items in other states and quite frankly, if Iowa
were not our home state we would probably allocate much less product
here."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silverfish

"We have a lot
more influence on those items in other states and quite frankly, if Iowa
were not our home state we would probably allocate much less product
here."

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And if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

I guess it's intended as a criticism of the Iowa ABD. Still an odd thing to say.:skep:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Josh

I guess it's intended as a criticism of the Iowa ABD. Still an odd thing to say.:skep:

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That's the impression I got after reading the piece.

An interesting (maybe) side note on Templeton......I have a brother-in-law who's family had been in the grain business during prohibition in that part of Iowa. So I asked if the family had supplied any grain for the distilling. He said they hadn't supplied grain but they were "distributors", they would get the whiskey in 5 gal containers and break it down into flasks, pints etc.

As they were the grain elevator it was common for the locals to stop by on a regular basis. No whiskey exchanged hands at the elevator, someone would come in and pay and a drop would be arranged like the third telephone pole north of a road intersection etc.

Once Templeton was back in production his dad always had a bottle or two on hand.

They're definitely trying to deflect some criticism onto the ABD (which does deserve criticism). There are a lot of complaints about allocation around the state and price increases. Allocation is up to the ABD, any price increases are primarily retailers-neither are Templeton's fault. I think Templeton also ges some grief about allocating to Chicago and NY when the demand is still so high in Iowa. There may be many criticisms levied against Templeton, but IMO that's not a real good one. They clearly want to expand the brand beyond Iowa and to do so they have to give other major markets a taste.

Small semantic point. Iowa ABD controls distribution to retail and thus a kind of "allocation" but as the term is used the "allocation" in question is how much product Templeton is allocating to Iowa out of their total production.

Templeton has itself in a box of its own making. Demand outstripping supply may seem like a good problem to have but in Templeton's case, they keep promoting, promoting, promoting, but then people go to the store and can't find the product. They get mad, retailers complain, and the ABD has complained and been very critical of Templeton. Getting in a pissing match with the ABD may be satisfying and it's always easy to blame the government for anything, but in the long run I think Templeton is in trouble.

"They get mad, retailers complain . . ."

That's true, many of the retailers I've talked to here in Des Moines are annoyed at the constant calls and questions about TR. I know some mark it up quite a bit out of spite, or 'compensate themselves for the annoyance.'

In other TR news, they are starting to sell used barrels. I have a friend who's going to go get one today. Nothing like sticking your face in a used whiskey barrel-great smell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cowdery

Small semantic point. Iowa ABD controls distribution to retail and thus a kind of "allocation" but as the term is used the "allocation" in question is how much product Templeton is allocating to Iowa out of their total production.

Templeton has itself in a box of its own making. Demand outstripping supply may seem like a good problem to have but in Templeton's case, they keep promoting, promoting, promoting, but then people go to the store and can't find the product. They get mad, retailers complain, and the ABD has complained and been very critical of Templeton. Getting in a pissing match with the ABD may be satisfying and it's always easy to blame the government for anything, but in the long run I think Templeton is in trouble.

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Templeton is really in trouble when you think about the introduction of Bulleit Rye coming next month. That's gonna suck up all the extra LDI juice. Bush may have to actually make his own Whiskey!!:shocked: :shocked:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by White Dog

Templeton is really in trouble when you think about the introduction of Bulleit Rye coming next month. That's gonna suck up all the extra LDI juice. Bush may have to actually make his own Whiskey!!:shocked: :shocked:

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Shall we start the betting...

I have no idea what goes on in Iowa but it can be found rather easily around Chicago. Is it really that hard to find or is this just a PR stunt telling people "It's so hard to find so buy it if you see it"

Anyone know if the Templeton people are involved with the Iowa bourbon I've seen lately...comes in the same bottle.