Willett Pot Still - How come we never discuss it?

[Kalessin]

Perhaps we should draw back the curtain, tell the Wizard to go home, concentrate on what's in the bottle and refuse to pay more than it's worth.

As a certain class of whiskey drinkers, we may try to do so, but if you start looking "behind the curtain" at marketing... customers (in the large aggregate) WANT the puffery, the lore, the image that marketing puts on the product without caring much how true it is.

[squire]

I recon so Kalessin, Jack Daniels is the World's largest selling whisky.

[JB64]

I have received a bottle of the WPS for Christmas each of the past two years. I have yet to open either bottle, not sure why just always seem to reach for something else. I think I might crack one open tonight and give it try. Count me as one who likes the look of the bottle.

[squire]

Have one for me Jim, and let me know what you think.

[BourbonJoe]

I'm having a bit of a hard time ingesting the "dirty fraud" lead in your post. Even though you come back and restate your belief that KBD is just that. At least you say that it's a delicious bourbon in an awesome bottle. I've found Drew, his dad & family to be nothing but honest, straight forward brokers of damn fine bourbon and rye that they nurture in their warehouses and offer up for folks to come and take their pick from. I .. and I suspect you .. have had many fine Willett offerings although I rarely, if ever, buy blind. Regardless of how and why and where their barrels come from .. there are some damn fine bourbons on those ricks. I have climbed through them and tasted a few out-of-the-park home runs. Those that don't hit that "honey barrel" bell go into blends and come to us as Pure Kentucky, Noah's Mill, etc., etc. As someone who knows the Kulsveens and KBD very well once told me .. "When you find a bottle of theirs that is great .. go buy as much as you can because the next batch may be different!" That's simply how it works and it doesn't mean that they slapped you in the face when one batch differs from another.
The Pot Still Bottle is a marketing gimmick .. surely you know that. It's neat on a bar .. and guests gravitate to it immediately. Not a damn thing wrong with that.
Bottom line .. your petty point about the D in KBD aside .. they, like High West, Jefferson, and others are artisans who have provided us with some tasty treats and will likely continue to do so ... with or without your or Chuck's seal of approval.

I also doubt that Chuck would take claim to being the final word on what we do or do not drink. So I'm going to assume you're just stirring the pot (still) for the sake of stirring.

The fraud business is wrong ... it's just wrong.

I'm in total agreement John.
Joe

[White Dog]

Because the producer is a dirty fraud. Its a delicious bourbon in an awesome bottle. But KBD have been pissing Chuck off for 20 years so if he doesn't like them then we don't like them. Plus, look at what they did with Noah's Mill. It was a great bourbon with a 14yr age statement and then in went NAS and started using younger bourbon and totally ruined it.

Any non-disstiller producer, if they are buying bulk aged whiskey, then they are buying a finite amount. Once its gone, its gone. Look at Bourye. The second version had a new name, son of bourye, because there was no more bourye. So when is the current potstill going to run out and they're going to put something else in the same bottle and tell you its the same, but you know it isn't?

I wasn't aware that being a member of SB meant allegiance to Cowdery.

Also, They didn't choose to drop the age statements. The Bourbon Boom caused that, just as it caused the loss of Weller age statements.

[Phil T]

I had my first taste of this Monday evening. Its not bad. But at its price point, there lots of stuff better, that can be had for quite a bit cheaper. YMMV

[wadewood]

Also, They didn't choose to drop the age statements. The Bourbon Boom caused that, just as it caused the loss of Weller age statements.

Of course they choose it. They made a business decision to drop the age statement. Sure the bourbon boom was an underlying cause, but they don't get a free pass from me on this.

[White Dog]

Of course they choose it. They made a business decision to drop the age statement. Sure the bourbon boom was an underlying cause, but they don't get a free pass from me on this.

Technically yes, and I was gonna put quotation marks on the word choose. My point was that if they could still bottle Noah's as a 15yr at the same price and profitability, I think they would. Also, if they still had 18yr old Bernheim Wheater, they'd still be doing the Vintage 17 Bourbon. The simple fact is that there isn't any excess old Bourbon laying around. If we can't get EC18, we sure as hell can't get Noah's 15.

[White Dog]

Also, the Willett Pot is fine, but I would not spend my own money on it. And the name that they use on this product does annoy the shit out of me. Column stills produce the best Whiskeys in the world. F--king embrace that fact!