Michter's Small Batch American Whiskey

[AVB]

IMO, no it isn't worth it. While I haven't gone through a whole bottle I have had some of my friends who did buy a bottle. Better things to spend $30 on. YMMV

Some of my co-workers and I are wondering if we should talk our beverage manager into carrying it.

[ethangsmith]

Wow... talk about a HIJACKED THREAD!!!!!




Okay, another question-- I heard a rumor that the current producer of Michter's bought the recipes along with the name, thus the current Michter's is still produced to the original mash recipes-- just with different water and different stills.

Can anyone substantiate this claim?

Oh yeah, I live 30 minutes from the original Michter's distillery in Shaefferstown, PA. It still has a lot of prestige amongst local customers 40 and over, hence my questions. Some of my co-workers and I are wondering if we should talk our beverage manager into carrying it.

I'm going to say that nothing that Kentucky Bourbon Distillers is producing under the Michter's name is an original recipe from Schaefferstown. I have some of the original stuff from about 1979 and I have the new stuff (Rye, American Whiskey, and Bourbon) from Kentucky and there is no comparing the 2. The PA stuff is just incredible and deep in taste. The 3 KY products I have are pretty basic stuff. Nothing special. I've been doing research (and even some physical work) with the old Michter's site in Schaefferstown (see my other thread about the distillery) and if I come across any recipes or connections to the new stuff, I will let you know.

[Josh]

IMO, no it isn't worth it. While I haven't gone through a whole bottle I have had some of my friends who did buy a bottle. Better things to spend $30 on. YMMV

I agree. The rye is mediocre, the Bourbon is worse and the American Whiskey is worser. Next to New Holland's Zeppelin Bend (not including some tainted bottles of otherwise good whiskeys) those last two are the worst whiskeys I've ever had. I don't know why they even bother. It's a disgrace to the name and to the PA distilling tradition.

[fricky]

I like the 10 yr old single barrel Michter's Bourbon and the 10 yr old single barrel Michter's Rye. Based on what I tasted, I am not a big fan of Michter's small batch US 1 bourbon. As we all know, idividual tastes differ. That is a good thing; otherwise, we would not have many whiskies from which to choose.

By the way, how does one know if the original Michter's that you like was in fact distilled at Michter's?

[ethangsmith]

Check out the bottle. All the new Michter's stuff is labeled that it is from Bardstown, KY. All the PA stuff either says "Distilled and Bottled in Pennsylvania" or "Schaefferstown, PA." In 1993, the ATF came in and removed ALL the whiskey from the abandoned Michter's property in Schaefferstown. The whiskey was sent to Philly and redistilled into alcohol for coolant or high octane race gas. The ONLY surviving Schaefferstown Michter's is in old decanters or glass bottles or A.H. Hirsch bottlings.

[fricky]

The point that I was trying to make is that not all whiskey sold by Michter's, Schafferstown was distilled by Michter's in Schafferstown and maybe the Michter's, Schafferstown whiskey that you really like was not distilled by Michter's in Schafferstown.

[ethangsmith]

It wasn't? I'm not being smart or anything. I honestly didn't know that Michter's was not always distilled in Schaefferstown. I am doing very in-depth research about the brand and the distillery and this is the first that I have come across this. I had always heard that Louis Forman was buying whiskey from Pennco from the Schaefferstown distillery to fill his Michter's products with. After Mr. Forman sold the distillery to Veru in 1979, Michter's became a distiller and bottler of their product. Where was Michter's coming from if it wasn't all made at Schaefferstown?

[AVB]

Supposedly the 10 yo Rye was the same as the PVW rye at close to 18 yo even though both were labeled with younger stated ages. Having had them I can see where that might be true.

I don't know about the bourbon.

I like the 10 yr old single barrel Michter's Bourbon and the 10 yr old single barrel Michter's Rye.

[barturtle]

Supposedly the 10 yo Rye was the same as the PVW rye at close to 18 yo even though both were labeled with younger stated ages. Having had them I can see where that might be true.

I don't know about the bourbon.

No, actually it was the 13yo-stated stuff that VW did under the Hirsch name. I have a thread on it here, where I sorted through Julian's posts on the subject.

[AVB]

There is a mention by dgonano about VW bottling this here. That is what I was thinking of.