High West Distillery

[Gillman]

Good point about the blends (i.e., incorporating some neutral spirits as a base), and no doubt people were glad to get them until the fully-aged bourbon and rye were available. Indeed, the blends probably were much more palatable than 18-24 month old bourbon, which may have given a kick-start to the blended whiskey market that only sputtered once vodka really got going.

Gary

[p_elliott]

Good point about the blends (i.e., incorporating some neutral spirits as a base), and no doubt people were glad to get them until the fully-aged bourbon and rye were available. Indeed, the blends probably were much more palatable than 18-24 month old bourbon, which may have given a kick-start to the blended whiskey market that only sputtered once vodka really got going.

Gary

Correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Americans really get their introduction into and taste for blended whiskey during prohibition from all the Canadian whiskey that was smuggled in?

[cowdery]

Long before that. In the late 19th century, long before Prohibition, so-called compound whiskeys (essentially blends) dominated the U.S. whiskey market. They outsold straights by a wide margain. There was, however, a lot of misleading labeling, which led to the Taft Decision which created the categories of straight whiskey and blended whiskey. Scottish and Canadian blends were popular during Prohibition and after Prohibition, many distilleries made blends out of necessity, but American consumers switched back to straights as soon as enough aged whiskey was available and straights have prevailed among consumers of American whiskey ever since. People who like Canadian whiskey and blended scotch drink those products, but that hasn't carried over into success for American blends.

[p_elliott]

Thanks, here in Iowa Canadian whiskey far out sells straight whiskey. Bars will only carry 3 or 4 straight whiskeys like JD, JBW, TH, and WT 101 but will have many Canadians.

[Gillman]

It might be interesting to ask bartenders or even patrons (in the right way) why this preference exists.

Gary