Real Deal or promotional gimmick

[p_elliott]

Jim Beam says their out of Knob Creek till November but in doing so are sending distributor,vendors and writers empty sealed bottles and t-shirts that says I survived the drought. To me this all sounds to me like nothing more that a publicity stunt. To make their product sound so popular that they can't keep up with demand. Shame on Beam for such an out rage just another nail in there coffin for not caring for their consumers and only caring about their profit margin.

[cowdery]

Huh? That's a quick jump to conclusions without any factual support. Is it a "real deal or promotional gimmick"? It is, of course, both. A nine-year-old bourbon takes nine years to make and it is possible to run out if sales go better than expected. Better you should have whiskey to sell but if you don't, why not make the most of it? George Dickel got a lot of publicity from the black label shortage. BT didn't exactly milk the Weller 12 shortage, but it happened and nobody seemed to doubt it was real. Running out says a lot of people like the product. Why not publicize it?

Also, since there is still a lot of KC in the pipeline (i.e., in stores and at distributors), something like this can stimulate demand, clear the shelves, and get the attention of trade as well as consumer audiences. I can understand if you're just a Commie and hate free market capitalism, but that's no reason to doubt the underlying circumstances.

[Josh]

I can understand if you're just a Commie and hate free market capitalism, but that's no reason to doubt the underlying circumstances.

Well I'm a commie and I hate free market capitalism, but I believe them. They're in it to make money. That's how it goes; as a prophet once said, it's all about the benjamins, baby. Why not make the best of a challenging situation and have some fun with it?

[ThomasH]

They can keep the empty bottle, but I'll gladly take a free t-shirt if they want to send me one!

Thomas

[tommyboy38]

At least there's plenty of Red Stag. That crap is everywhere.

[ILLfarmboy]

Well, I'm a hard core capitalist. I don't doubt Beam could be running short of aged stock that would go into KC but that doesn't mean I necessarily like the concurrent publicity stunt. Sending distributor, vendors and writers empty sealed bottles and t-shirts that say "I survived the drought", strikes me as crass. Perhaps, my opinion on this has been influenced by Beam's release of Rye One and Red Stag, neither of which are directed at hard core lovers of American whiskey. Beam's new products seem to be aimed at 20 something adolescents so it doesn't surprise me that their marketing schemes are childish. As Chuck pointed out BT didn't pull the same kind of stunt when stocks of Weller 12 were in short supply. And, in comparison to Beam, I now respect them for it.

[independant]

Seeing as KC is the number 1 selling small batch in the world I believe that this shortage was forseen a long time ago and now they are sending out empty bottles and tee shirts as a marketing promotion. Personaly I don't really care for KC but I would liked beam better if they came out and said sorry and gave out coupons or something.

[jburlowski]

Well, I'm a hard core capitalist. I don't doubt Beam could be running short of aged stock that would go into KC but that doesn't mean I necessarily like the concurrent publicity stunt. Sending distributor, vendors and writers empty sealed bottles and t-shirts that say "I survived the drought", strikes me as crass. Perhaps, my opinion on this has been influenced by Beam's release of Rye One and Red Stag, neither of which are directed at hard core lovers of American whiskey. Beam's new products seem to be aimed at 20 something adolescents so it doesn't surprise me that their marketing schemes are childish. As Chuck pointed out BT didn't pull the same kind of stunt when stocks of Weller 12 were in short supply. And, in comparison to Beam, I now respect them for it.

Speaking of Weller 12... it was supposed to return "in early 2009". Anybody heard any news?

[ILLfarmboy]

Speaking of Weller 12... it was supposed to return "in early 2009". Anybody heard any news?

It has been available in my area since, I think, late April, both in the Quad Cities and down in Peoria.

[cowdery]

I believe Binny's is well-stocked with Weller 12 and has been for some time.