The mysterious 6th BHC member

[mozilla]

I recently finalized my BHC collection and noticed that Old Weller Antique 107 was not in the literature that UD provided. Now, I'm sure that I have bought quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag. What's the deal?? I contacted Mike Veach, and confirmed that OWA 107 was deffinately not a BHC member. So, where did the BHC bag originate?
Also, OWA 107 has a UPC number of 88004 which is commonly known today as BT. Why would UD put 88004 on OWA 107 and 88076 on Weller Centennial from the same time period?
Was the OWA something that was distilled at BT? Maybe, UD needed to expand thier upc base? As far as I can tell, the julian date on my OWA 107 is very similar to the VSOF BHC.
Thanks for your input!
Jeff M

[mozilla]

Oh, here is the pic of the two bottles.

[doubleblank]

Those Weller 107's in the gold veined bottle and bagged appeared a couple of years ago (I don't recall exactly). It was presumed/speculated/rumored to have been originally done as a project for Duty Free sales. I drank mine a while back, so I don't have the bottle to look at anymore.

Randy

PS You still find them here and there.

[mozilla]

Randy,
My bottles appear to be from 1995 and 1996.

[doubleblank]

They were bottled a long time ago but showed up on shelves much later......that is the story I was told.

Randy

[TNbourbon]

Just to iterate a somewhat obvious point -- the title of this thread bothers me a little for its potential to mislead -- there only ever were five Bourbon Heritage Collection bottlings. Bag or no bag, Weller Antique 107 is/was NOT BHC.

[mozilla]

[quote=TNbourbon;92642]-- the title of this thread bothers me a little for its potential to mislead --

Tim, I am sure that the actual misleading tends toward the group that put a BHC bag on the Old Weller Antique. Thanks for the help.
Jeff M

[cowdery]

I am sure that the actual misleading tends toward the group that put a BHC bag on the Old Weller Antique. Thanks for the help.
Jeff M

Then let's explore that, shall we? You say you bought "quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag." Where did you buy them? All at one place or at many different places? All in Austin? Over what period of time? You showed us meaningless pictures of bottle back labels, where's a picture of this bag? The bag is the anomaly, not the bottles.

Was the product sold in the bag? If so, how did you know what it was?

Does anyone else recall ever seeing a BHC bag? I remember the BHC products coming in boxes. I don't recall ever seeing a bag. Curious that the bag would be generic to the collection and not specific to the individual products.

So, assuming there was such a thing as a BHC bag, how does a non-BHC product get into it? That could happen at the producer, or just as easily at the distributor, or even at the retailer.

When I worked in the display business, one of the things that used to drive us and our clients crazy was you produce some fancy rack or other display piece for XYZ brand, then you go into a store and see it full of some other products, but not XYZ brand. The problem is, when you give something to a distributor or retailer, it's theirs. There isn't a lot you can do to control how they use it.

[gblick]

You say you bought "quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag." Where did you buy them?

I found one in Houston two months ago. It is a 1L gold-veined bottle with a Louisville label and a bottle date of '96. The Black bag has "The Bourbon Heritage Collection" on it with some kind of BHC logo, and it also says "W L Weller" (see pic below). The rear bottle label also has the 88004 number on it.

Was the product sold in the bag? If so, how did you know what it was?

Yes, it was sold to me in the bag, I found it like that on the shelf.
I had to open the bag to see what it was, and also to see the price on the bottle.

So, assuming there was such a thing as a BHC bag, how does a non-BHC product get into it?

I have no idea.

Here's pics (the gold veining on the bottle does not seem to show up on the pic):

[TBoner]

I also found an OC Proprietor's Reserve in a BHC black velvet bag, but didn't buy it (it was gone when I went back later - which is fine with me; I like the 12-yr just as well).

That said, I have noticed some retailers will sell bottles without their boxes/bags, and then put something else in the package. I've seen, for example, recent VSOF in the old BHC box. I've also seen current BT Weller 107 in the old red velvet bag. So, since the W.L. Weller on the bag doesn't indicate a proof or age, it's possible that the bag was designed to hold the Weller Centennial and that the Old Weller 107 was put in the bags after the Centennial was sold. In fact, it could be that the retailer had in mind to mimic the red velvet bag that Weller 107 sometimes came in by using the black bag. My best guess is the misleading is on the part of the retailer in this case. There could be other explanations, of course. Just my two cents' worth.