Evan Williams BIB change?

[flintlock]

To continue an old thread I'm interested in, I found these two seemingly identical whiskies today while dusty hunting. It was addressed a couple of years ago, but the question was never really answered. How are they different?



They're both 4 year old EW 100 proof BIB, with different labels, as addressed in this thread and are priced nearly identically. I think within a dollar of each other, although I never seemed to see the identical sizes side by side to do a direct comparison.

Just curious why the difference, and the cost and effort to differently bottle and label, two seemingly extremely similar whiskies.

Thanks for any help.

[Josh]

What are the dsp numbers on those puppies?

[fishnbowljoe]

Is the green label also BIB? Also, from the picture, it looks like it might be a liter. Joe

[flintlock]

They're both distilled at DSP-1 and bottled at DSP-31. And the green label is also BIB, you just can't see it on the photo. It's on the neck.

The white label is a liter - the one on the right is a 1.75 in plastic.

[callmeox]

They're both distilled at DSP-1 and bottled at DSP-31. And the green label is also BIB, you just can't see it on the photo. It's on the neck.

The white label is a liter - the one on the right is a 1.75 in plastic.

I would shy away from any old bottles in plastic. I don't think that they were meant for long term storage.

[BBQ+Bourbon]

I would shy away from any old bottles in plastic. I don't think that they were meant for long term storage.

I agree, Scott. I bought a Dant in plastic from the early 90s and it tasted like you were chewing a straw. Nasty stuff.

[Josh]

It can't be that old if it's dsp 1. At any rate, HH does a good job with its BiBs. But at the end of the day it's still 4 y/o whiskey, so if you buy it adjust your expectations accordingly. My personal favorite is the white label 6 y/o HH BiB. The JTS Brown is popular too.

[cowdery]

Those two labels are just the tip of the iceberg and it used to be much worse.

The way Heaven Hill built its business, from the beginning, was by selling the whiskey to its distributors when it was distilled, not when it was bottled. They then aged the whiskey on behalf of its new owners and, when the time came, bottled it for them for sale.

This was good for Heaven Hill because they got to reinvest that capital in new production. It was good for the customers because they secured their future product needs at a known price. Essentially, producer and distributor shared the risk of future price fluctuations.

Since it was the distributor's whiskey, they also got to make certain product decisions, such as labeling and even things like bottling proof and age statements.

As Heaven Hill evolved into more of a brand marketer they moved in the direction of standardization, especially with their lead national products such as Evan Williams, but they'll probably never accomplish complete standardization.

This or something like it is not unique to Heaven Hill. Some of the anomalous labels on major national brands from other producers have a similar explanation.