Miami Herald article

[bourbonmed]

Folks, great news.

I'm glad to report there will be a full feature article on bourbon this Sunday, April 29, 2001 in The Miami Herald. It's the last Sunday before the Kentucky Derby. I'm hoping the article also makes it to the paper's online edition. If so, I'll let you know. www.herald.com

I don't know how many connoisseurs will be quoted, but I did suggest interviews with Julian, Elmer, Jimmy, Chuck and a visit to our forum.

The Herald photographed my collection for the story. One photo likely to run reveals the following to the trained eye: Hancock Reserve, Wild Turkey Stampede, Ezra B 15, Woodford Reserve, Jefferson's Reserve, WT Kentucky Spirit, Pappy Van Winkle's 20 and I.W. Harper President's Reserve. I'm standing behind the bottles, holding a Pappy Van Winkle cigar (which I forgot to light up so there's no smoke, duh) on one hand and a half size bottle of Blanton's on the other hand. Most of the bottles are full, so my friends at the office won't be able to tease me about alcohol consumption.

Another photo likely to appear: a stunning shot of a bottle of Distiller's Masterpiece, lit from behind, with shot glass, cigar and a fountain pen. It's a gorgeous shot, makes you want to run down to a liquor store and get some bourbon.

I've done my part to spread the bourbon gospel in this part of the country. Now I urge you to pitch your local media on the virtues of our favorite elixir.

Be well,

Omar

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Congratulations Omar! Now you're a celebrity. My local paper is about as likely to print a positive article on bourbon as the church across the street would be to pass out shots of Old Forester on communion Sunday!

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

[MashBill]

Great job brother Omar! If they don't put it online, could you scan it for us? I'd be happy to put it on my website for people to download.

Did you do the initial contact with the paper for the article? I'd be interested in finding out what angle you used to pitch the idea to the paper. I'd be glad to try it here in Kansas City.

Keep spreading the gospel!

Bill
http://home.kc.rr.com/mashbill/

[MashBill]

Linn,
Why pass out shots of Old Forester? Just set up a big tub full of Old Forester near the church and perform bourbon baptisms![IMG]/wwwthreads/images/wink.gif[/IMG] (Pants would be optional..)

Bill
http://home.kc.rr.com/mashbill/

[bourbonmed]

Hi Bill!

I pitched the bourbon story to the paper in February, when I learned that Julian and Sally Van Winkle were coming to Miami to promote her book. The reporter asked for places where bourbon habitue gather to sip their single barrels, so I started to do a little research to satisfy my own curiosity.

I went to steakhouses, cigar bars, popular watering holes and liquor stores. I got mixed feedback. Some places hardly sold anything other than Jack Daniels or JB. Other establishments had a decent number of bourbons (i.e. the Heritage Collection, the JB Small Batch line and some premiums). One common remark from bar managers was that the "regulars" seem to come for their drinks rather late (after 9 or 10 p.m.) Some bars claimed the premium market was up, but others like the popular Smith and Wollensky or Morton's steakhouses, said they sold so-so.

If you are planning to pitch your local paper, you may want to call a few popular bars in advance. It'll be interesting to see what the Herald found.

The story should be online Sunday (Tropical Life section) at www.herald.com

Good luck pitching. Your collection is worthy of a story just by itself.
And Kansas City is famous for its steakhouses. Who said "research" is boring?

Omar

[kitzg]

nicely done. I'll pick up the article

Greg

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Omar and all,
It's a bit difficult to find, but here's the direct link: http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/food/digdocs/094366.htm
Really good article!



~Linda~
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[kitzg]

thanks, Linda. I was planning on getting it through a service I have and then posting it here. thanks for saving me all the copy and pasting.

Greg

[**DONOTDELETE**]

And also for saving JimB all the hassles of having a copyrighted article be posted directly on his website. It's usually okay to quote something, but I'm sure copying the whole article word for word would be heavily frowned upon by the Miami Herald. Jim, could you give us all some guidelines about published stuff and what we should and shouldn't post?

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[jbutler]

John, et al:
Worst case scenario; someone yells at me to remove their material from my site ... I do so ... end of story. That being said, I don't like people yelling at me, and I particularly don't care for written notices from law firms. A hyperlink is the preferred method of posting, and I can't imagine anyone complaining about increased traffic on their site. If you have copyrighted material you want others to see, I suggest obtaining written permission from the author(s), and then post it on your site, placing a link here.

As long as no one decides to attach a copy of Adobe Photoshop to a post, it shouldnt be an issue ;-)

Cheers,

Jim Butler
Straightbourbon.com