Truth in labeling

[TNbourbon]

You guys are doing a good job of explaining why BIB designations are going away. I'd be surprised if there are any left in 10 years.

[MikeK]

What's interesting is that I have bought within the last year or 2 a bottle of Rittenhouse Rye with DSP-354 and with DSP-31. So it looks like they did go to the trouble of printing labels while they were in-between distilleries, at least for the Rittenhouse. (Or were they farming that out anyway?)

I have seen a lot of Dant BIB DSP-31 on the shelves with '07 bottle stampings this year. It is actually quite good. It does not taste like 4yo. And having trusted the DSP# it was quite believable that this was 10yo that was in a low-temperature fluctuation spot in the warehouse.

So it turns out that it is likely DSP-1 juice, but I still think it is well older than 4yo, and it is still a nice pour.

Good point, Tim, a lot of whining is more likely to make BIB go away than correct anything. Too few of us know and care what it means. But I guess I'd rather it go away than be wrong.

And again, HH is the main subject of this discussion soley because they make such a huge number of BIB offerings, which I sure do appreciate.

Cheers,

[mozilla]

I saw a liquor board sheet that listed JW Dant as a 54 month old bourbon. I don't know how correct it is today with most products losing age, though.

[cowdery]

If Tim's point is that whining is more likely to make BIB go away than correct anything, that's not much of a point. What good is the BIB designation if the producer isn't following the rules?

As for Rittenhouse, BF has been making all of Heaven Hill's straight rye since the fire and is still making it, as they don't have enough capacity at Bernheim.

As for the quality of the whiskey, I feel the same way about the J.T.S. Brown as you do about the Dant. There is no better whiskey for less than $10 anywhere on earth. It's great. As for it being, "10yo that was in a low-temperature fluctuation spot in the warehouse," I have too much respect for Heaven Hill as a successful business to believe that is possible. They would sell that as Old Heaven Hill BIB 10-year-old, which they have recently discontinued because no way are they going to sell 10-year-old whiskey that cheap in this market.

[MikeK]

They would sell that as Old Heaven Hill BIB 10-year-old, which they have recently discontinued because no way are they going to sell 10-year-old whiskey that cheap in this market.

Crap! I didn't know the 10yo was discontinued. Make sense in this market though.

I shall covet my only bottle all the more. Until I drink it.

[TNbourbon]

...Good point, Tim, a lot of whining is more likely to make BIB go away than correct anything. Too few of us know and care what it means...

If Tim's point is that whining is more likely to make BIB go away than correct anything, that's not much of a point. What good is the BIB designation if the producer isn't following the rules?..no way are they going to sell 10-year-old whiskey that cheap in this market.

Actually, it was more you two guys' latter points that most reflect what I meant.

[cowdery]

BIB probably is dead whether I whine about it or not, because even if the concept has some appeal--especially the idea of a "single batch" whiskey--the name sucks and the proof is inflexible. Today it probably would make more sense to call something "single batch" and explain what that means rather than try to explain BIB. Of course a single barrel product is single batch by definition, but a single batch product that is not single barrel could be produced less expensively since it can be bottled on a standard, automated line.