The Rebirth of Rye Whiskey

[cowdery]

I don't make it my mission to get up in arms anytime somebody writes a puff piece about Templeton or Michter's or any of the other Potemkins. I've put the information out there. Anybody who does five minutes worth of research will find it. If they can't be bothered, screw 'em. I don't care that much. This is especially the lazy season for that kind of journalism. Chicago Tribune did it too recently. Caveat Emptor.

[LostBottle]

I don't make it my mission to get up in arms anytime somebody writes a puff piece about Templeton or Michter's or any of the other Potemkins. I've put the information out there. Anybody who does five minutes worth of research will find it. If they can't be bothered, screw 'em. I don't care that much. This is especially the lazy season for that kind of journalism. Chicago Tribune did it too recently. Caveat Emptor.

Chuck, how is the article a "puff piece" or lazy journalism? Did you actually read it? It was plainly called out that Templeton Rye is distilled at another facility in Shelbyville, Indiana and only the actual bottling takes place at the Templeton, Iowa facility - it could not have been made much clearer. The audio segment, and accompanying transcript, also pointed out the fact that this rye has a backstory that was exploited for marketing purposes. I understand that you did not write the article, but that fact does not automatically invalidate it.

[TomH]

Chuck, how is the article a "puff piece" or lazy journalism? Did you actually read it? It was plainly called out that Templeton Rye is distilled at another facility in Shelbyville, Indiana and only the actual bottling takes place at the Templeton, Iowa facility - it could not have been made much clearer. The audio segment, and accompanying transcript, also pointed out the fact that this rye has a backstory that was exploited for marketing purposes. I understand that you did not write the article, but that fact does not automatically invalidate it.

Not Chuck, but.....

The fact that they can't get the location of the distillery screams lazy journalism....there is no distillery in or near Shelbyville IN.....the distillery is in Lawrenceburg, IN.

The article also promotes the Templeton myth of a secret recipe rather than bottling bulk LDI/MGP rye.

[squire]

A secret family recipe which cannot be true of a product sourced from LDI, facts easily verified. And the article repeats that canard about this stuff being Al Capone's favorite. Please, we're expected to believe a man who was a millionaire and who had the World's finest Wines, Champagnes, Cognacs and Whiskies at his fingertips instead sent his henchmen out into the boondocks (to a land far, far away from Chicago) just to satisfy his craving for some day old hooch? Not bloody likely.

[LostBottle]

A secret family recipe which cannot be true of a product sourced from LDI, facts easily verified.

Then please verify said facts and report back with the evidence.

Here is what SourMashManifesto said on that issue:
"Templeton confirms that the whiskey is greater than 90% rye grain with the remainder being malted barley. Interestingly LDI has a stock rye whiskey mashbill that is 95% rye. This is the juice that Bulleit, Redemption, and many others use in their products. It’s likely to me that Templeton Rye Whiskey is 95% rye based on this but that is only an assumption on my part."

Cowdery said:
"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."


So, it seems that while Templeton is probably just standard MGP/LDI juice, this cannot actually be verified and can only be called speculation. Should NPR have reported on speculation?

[squire]

Pay my standard retainer plus hourly billing and I'll verify whatever you like.

[LostBottle]

Squire, should we ever meet, I'll buy us both a round of Templeton so we can deride it together and at least agree on that.

[HighInTheMtns]

MGP lists details about everything they make on their website. They're not making custom mashbills for the two Diageo brands they supply, they're not doing so for Willett, they're not doing so for High West. Speculation that they are making a custom mashbill for Templeton is on shakier ground than is speculation that they're not.

Squire, should we ever meet, I'll buy us both a round of Templeton so we can deride it together and at least agree on that.

This made me laugh.

[squire]

Lost I would never deride free whisky.

[cowdery]

Since the sale and new openness at MGPI Lawrenceburg (not Shelbyville), we can be pretty sure they haven't been doing custom distilling for anyone. Also, the claim that the whiskey in the bottle now is the same as the whiskey made during Prohibition is false on its face, since that whiskey was likely mostly or entirely table sugar, i.e., not even whiskey and certainly not aged. It's hard enough to hide an illegal still from revenue agents, let alone an illegal warehouse with thousands of barrels in it, plus where would the barrels come from? All you really need is a brain and about 5 minutes use of it to know Templeton's tale is bullshit and all NPR did was repeat Templeton's bullshit. Why bend yourself into a pretzel trying to justify them? I didn't read the article but I did hear the story on NPR, and I assume they're the same. As for the 'story' as repeated by old Templetonians, it's not hard to believe that Templeton had some reputation as a place where illegal alcohol could be had. There were many such places. It's a big leap from that to claiming a fully aged straight rye whiskey is the legacy. As for the Capone story, just about every town in the midwest has a similar tale. It's like the Biblical flood story, just about every ancient culture in the world has one. Remember too that Capone's reign ended in 1931 -- 82 years ago. Most of the Templeton old-timers who are stumping for the brand weren't even born when the events they're talking about occurred. They're either repeating stories they heard as kids or, just as likely, saying what Templeton president Scott Bush told them to say. Again, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. But, yeah, I'm the bad guy here.

Also, Sazerac Rye is not a "longtime New Orleans favorite" unless you consider seven years a long time. Sazerac Rye was introduced in 2005.