Beam running short of aged stock?

[callmeox]

John Hansell just posted this to his Twitter:

A letter and empty bottle of Knob Creek arrived today. Lettery says no more KC until November. I sure wish they sent a full bottle!

-----

Time to grab a bottle I guess. Not my face pour but easily the best price/value of the Beam SBC IMO

Could this be a sign of the times for other aged products?

[independant]

If I am wrong please tell me but KC at 9 years is the oldest bourbon they sell is it not and they have the largest stockpile of ageing bourbon correct. So how much white label are they selling to run out of the old stuff?

[HighTower]

I guess this has been coming for some time with them dropping Beam black in International markets to "aged to perfection" and losing its 8yo age statement. Like you say, they have been pumping out too much of that underaged crap!

An empty sealed bottle of KC would be pretty cool though.

I saw one the other day where the wax was UK blue instead of black and the bottle was signed by UK coach Rich Brooks. 1 of 100 bottles done like this.

[Josh]

An empty sealed bottle of KC would be pretty cool though.

I saw one the other day where the wax was UK blue instead of black and the bottle was signed by UK coach Rich Brooks. 1 of 100 bottles done like this.

A waste of perfectly good wax. At least it wasn't Crimson & Cream colored.

[Lost Pollito]

Don't diss my man Brooks. Maybe our Basketball team will get a special bottle in April. Go big Blue!!! We finally got a good coach again. Hey at least it wasn't Louisville Red for Pitino the defector. Sorry. Can't help it. I've got Blue blood.

[independant]

not to take away from the topic of the tread but I had to share this bottle. When I was at HH and on the behind the scenes tour we saw the single barrel bottling line and I asked about getting a bottle from the day I was there. I was told they could not sell me a bottle off the line but they were nice enough to give my brother and I a empty bottle sealed with the date on it.
I love it.
Sorry I took about 10 pics of the date and this was the best one

[tommyboy38]

Maybe they should charge $30 for the tour and give you a free bottle with whiskey inside.

[OscarV]

and they have the largest stockpile of ageing bourbon correct.

Beam has the most bourbon.
Heaven Hill has the most aged bourbon, aged being 8 years and older.

[Bourbon Geek]

It's not just about how much younger stuff they are selling. Each distillery has a laydown strategy that is supposed to take in to account the age profile of their brands ... the projected sales growth ... etc.

If they are running short of Knob Creek designate, it could tell us several things ...

1. Their laydown strategy went askew ... somehow they didn't make enough designate 9 years ago ... either the sales projections were off or the production guys didn't believe them. (The growth in demand for Knob Creek could simply be far greater than anyone anticipated ...)

- or -

2. Their sales and marketing strategy changed since laydown ... either by using up some of the designate for other brands like black or white Beam ... or by being more aggressive with export growth ... or by over-incentivising sales on Knob Creek to cause it to grow too aggressively.

- and -

3. They were either unwilling or unable to buy up sufficient similar aged product from other sources to somehow make up the shortfall (like buy stuff for Black, and convert the in house Black designate to Knob designate).

Or, there could really be no shortage at all ... and this is just a clever marketing scheme to raise interest in the brand ... "if it's in short supply, people must be flocking to the brand ... it MUST be good"

For those who enjoy Knob Creek, lets hope that if there is a shortage, that it is short lived and that the future available product is sufficient ... if it is #2 and #3 ... it could mean a multi year shortage.

[jburlowski]

The alledged shortage of KC is of concern to me only in the sense that, when I'm on the road, it is often the only potable alternative to the usual "Jim Beam (White) or Jack".

Other than that, I find KC to be a perfectly serviceable pour. But there are so many better alternatives....