Making of Templeton Rye Video

[T Comp]

I couldn't bring myself to watch any more TR vids after viewing the one linked but it was worth going there for the good laugh I got from the second video down in the suggestions column, which has nothing to do with TR .

[IowaJeff]

I didn't either at first. You have to scroll the link in this thread back to the beginning of the video.

Sorry about the weird link. I don't know why it would link to only the last 30 seconds of the video. The LDI portion is at about 1:40 to 5:00.

Try this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G6ZW5igSUA

[cowdery]

I see it now. It is a nicely produced video. I like a lot of things about Templeton. I guess since they're tying themselves to the lawlessness of Prohibition, expecting them to tell the truth about their product would be contrary to their brand.

To be specific, the primary lie in this video is that LDI is making a custom product for them, although throwing a few bushels of 'their' rye into the mix was a nice touch.

LDI looks a lot like CMDK in Owensboro, the old Medley Distillery that Angostura also owns.

[IowaJeff]

I see it now. It is a nicely produced video. I like a lot of things about Templeton. I guess since they're tying themselves to the lawlessness of Prohibition, expecting them to tell the truth about their product would be contrary to their brand.

To be specific, the primary lie in this video is that LDI is making a custom product for them, although throwing a few bushels of 'their' rye into the mix was a nice touch.

LDI looks a lot like CMDK in Owensboro, the old Medley Distillery that Angostura also owns.

I wondered about the 'custom' product and the 'proprietary' yeast strain. Does LDI do custom orders for anyone or do they just roll with a couple of mash bills?

[Rughi]

I wondered about the 'custom' product and the 'proprietary' yeast strain. Does LDI do custom orders for anyone or do they just roll with a couple of mash bills?

The question isn't as much would they as did they.
Noone on this forum knows.

[cowdery]

The people at LDI schooled them well. All of the yeasts LDI uses are proprietary. I'm not sure who owns them now but Seagram's developed and patented them. See, it's all very clever. Because it is a 'proprietary yeast,' it's just not Templeton's proprietary yeast.

We don't know it's not a custom job. We only know what we know and based on what we know it's very unlikely that it's a custom job.

You have to think about aging time. We know it could not have been a custom job initially because Templeton had aged product to sell on day one. (They got their license in 2005.) Legally, LDI could not have done any kind of business with Templeton until Templeton had a license. So it could not have been custom initially. Did they convert it to custom at some point? You're right, we don't know.

And why don't we know?

But if you've got a successful product, why would you change it? It is legally impossible for it to have been custom-made product before 2009. Thereafter it's logic. Why would they mess around with something that's working? Why would they go to the added expense of a custom job when there is no advantage in it?

As for 'would' LDI do custom, of course they would. That's their business. But a custom job is a much more costly proposition for them, therefore it's more costly for the customer. Templeton is obviously well-capitalized, based on their marketing spend. Is it reasonable to imagine they're also buying product four years ahead? That's why they're doing business with LDI in the first place. Because LDI has mature product to sell.

What I'd like to know from a business standpoint is why? Why does LDI have mature product to sell? All of these people have been buying whiskey with at least two years on it. Templeton seems to have a lot of barrels so it's conceivable they're now buying it at two years and aging it there for the last two years. (Again, no, we don't know. Why don't we know?) It wouldn't make sense to pay to ship the whiskey in barrels otherwise.

So my question for LDI is, why did you make that whiskey? Have they, in fact, been making whiskey and laying it down -- an expensive proposition -- on the if-come? And how's that working out for them? My suspicion (Again, no, we don't know. Why don't we know?) is that it has been working out okay but they don't have enough capital to ramp it up and make a real business of it.

You would think that if that is the case and they're trying to sell the place, they would want people to know that. But companies are run by people who sometimes made decisions contrary to their best interest.

[IowaJeff]

Jeez Chuck, maybe TR's age old handwritten recipe happened to be the exact same recipe that LDI had been using. You're such a skeptic.

[TomH]

I couldn't bring myself to watch any more TR vids after viewing the one linked but it was worth going there for the good laugh I got from the second video down in the suggestions column, which has nothing to do with TR .

Actually, I enjoyed seeing inside LDI, but I must agree with you about the other video being great (I really can't figure out how it managed to pop up in the related videos list).

[cigarnv]

Well done video which puts a face on the product. You have to admire these small whiskey houses like Templeton, High West, Catoctin, etc. that believe enough in the products they sell and the future of the whiskey industry to step up and make something happen. Tough not to respect folks who are willing to put their money on the line for something they believe in.

[T Comp]

I couldn't bring myself to watch any more TR vids after viewing the one linked but it was worth going there for the good laugh I got from the second video down in the suggestions column, which has nothing to do with TR .

Actually, I enjoyed seeing inside LDI, but I must agree with you about the other video being great (I really can't figure out how it managed to pop up in the related videos list).

And just for clarification the TR video I was referring to above was not the one shot at LDI but the more purposely schlocky one with the local employees doing the bottling. And I'm still guffawing over the other video based on my experiences with a few select fellow employees that have had the procedure done.