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

[craigthom]

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.

To go one further, people often consider it a personal insult when they hear a negative comment about something they like:

"I think the guitar in that latest song by XXX is out of tune, and the vocals are too far down in the mix."

"You're an idiot! I'd like to see you do better!"

[NeoTexan]

Being the poster boy for this thread ( see www.flipshare.com / Login: crightonspam@gmail.com / Password: Emily [case sensitive]), I just thought I would throw in a few words…..

Marketing

I understand MM makes outrageous claims. As It has been pointed out in other treads that there are other claims made by other distilleries that may stretch the truth a tad. I do not think that making claims of this sort is unique to MM. Marketing s marketing ….. always present your product as superior to the other guy. Making a claim that before Makers' Mark, it was not OK for bourbon to taste good, is an opinion. You have free will to accept it or reject it.

Liking MM

I drink MM as my usual evening drink. Not exclusively …… As those of you have been to my home or kindly invited me to their homes, I am not averse to drinking a wide variety of bourbons. I enjoy the taste of the majority of them and do not care for others. Some of those I do not care for are, are loved by some on this board, but I would never question their opinion or their ability to judge good bourbon. Their preference is different from mine and I respect it.

Buying into the Hype

I collect MM items. I make no apology for this. It is a hobby and I enjoy it. For the most part, the special bottles MM puts out are to benefit some charity. (Talk about marketing!! Sell more product and get great press! Win/Win )

[callmeox]

Making a claim that before Makers' Mark, it was not OK for bourbon to taste good, is an opinion. You have free will to accept it or reject it.

To be an opinion, it should be framed as such otherwise it comes off as a statement of fact (as this does, IMO).

[callmeox]

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.

As I said above, I find the claims that something is "best" to be juvenile (and to expand) an attempt to make one's ability to choose seem superior to others who prefer something else. It is the same personal ego boost that people get by claiming fanship to a particular sports team, etc.

I own the xPhone, your phone sucks.
I drink Pippy Von Schtankle, the crap that you drink is swill.
I drive a Chebby, Furd's are trash.

Etc, etc...

[Inthewater]

Yeesh...

That is all.

[cowdery]

I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again as an addendum to Dale's comments. In the history of MM advertising, the tone has usually been one of tongue-in-cheek overstatement. Some people don't get the tongue-in-cheek part and, in fairness, there have been times when MM seems to forget it too, and takes itself too seriously. Bill Samuels and I have discussed this and he agrees. As for the tape, I didn't watch it but I've seen Dave do that presentation live. I wasn't offended by it, but he never did pull off the tongue-in-cheek part as well as Bill does.

Especially because I have worked in Marketing, I find personally that the only way to avoid getting worked up by overstated claims is to not take any marketing claims too seriously.

[CaptainQ]

"I collect MM items. I make no apology for this. It is a hobby and I enjoy it."

That's quite a collection there NeoTexan.

Hell, I'd settle for a Pappy tee shirt.

[ErichPryde]

Pippy Von Schtankle

This is getting added to my list of favorite whiskeys.

[SMOWK]

I drink Pippy Von Schtankle, the crap that you drink is swill.

hahahahahaha. i love it!

[pepcycle]

Now to finish to my original treatise on making good decisions.

The real point I was trying to make is that no one can be an expert in everything and in order to be prepared for decisions that are not in an area of expertise, its nice to have a "go to" product that you can trust.

I, for one, am not an expert on cheese. I like cheese and often bring it as a guest when I visit. I want to bring something good that shows I'm not a cheese rube. For this role, Cambazola fills the bill. I can thank Jeff for introducing me to this cheese. It gives me that "can't go wrong" feeling when I show up with it.

I think Maker's Mark fills this niche perfectly. Most host would be glad to receive it. It ain't bad, but it ain't Pappy Van Stankle either. Its recognizable as a "premium" brand and has a nice story, even if its not totally true. You can't go wrong, except with a limited population of real bourbon enthusiasts and even then, most would be glad to have a bottle to keep on the bar.

Now, the apologies.

I wasn't trying to imply that everyone on sb.com has no capability to express their free will. On the contrary, many here are "out of the bottle" thinkers and can appreciate a diverse profile of products with an open mind.
I don't believe that most people here are driven by marketing hype when it comes to alcoholic beverages or cars or cheese. I do believe that we all want just a little more info to base our decisions on, something that makes a product unique in some way that we appreciate the difference.

I'm glad that this thread is here. Its a credit to the open discussion and level of respect members have for each other, in spite of broadly varying opinions. I know that I've learned a lot by seeing someone else's point of view.
OH NO. The is getting deep again.

Thanks for having me here.
I'm going see if that old Fiat in the garage will fire up so I can drive it to the mechanic (again)