Bond & Lillard

[jsr]

Is Bond & Lillard still available? My father drank too much of it years ago and I haven't seen it in years. If so, could it be found in the Dallas area? Also, where would I find Four Roses?

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

OK J I 'bumped' up an old thread posted last year on the same subject. The poster said she was having trouble just locating "bottles". She didn't say whether they were empty or full. I have never seen or heard of this whiskey before this post.

As far as Four Roses goes all I can tell you is to drive to Kentucky! I'm also told it is available is certain locations in Indiana. Does anyone know if Four Roses is available online anywhere? Since I'm from a 'control state' I don't pay any attention to who offers what from internet liquorstores.

[Gillman]

The post to which I am replying (regarding Bond & Lillard bourbon) was hitherto the terminal post in a trail which seemingly ran cold, ie. locating empty or full bottles of the once-renowned bourbon whisky known as Bond & Lillard.

I too have been searching for this brand over the years, and just found two bottles - full - in, of all places, the glitzy bar at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Chicago.

This bar has an array of whiskeys placed on shelves reaching far up the plate glass window which forms the backdrop to the bar. There is a brass-coloured ladder which the bartenders climb to reach brands high up on the shelves.

Amongst the high-quality but usual suspects (JD Single Barrel, Knob Creek, Booker's, etc.) I spied Bond & Lillard, previously having seen only pictures of the bottle in old ads. There are two bottles on the shelves, one at each end of the (very wide) bar. (Next to each bottle is a full bottle of the also obscure Sunnybrook Bourbon).

I asked to see the bottle and recall that it said Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 4 years old, and also, "Frankfort".

Anyway, I was poured a solid dram of the B&L and hey, it was great! Rich, very balanced, youthful but elegant. Quite unlike the bartender's opinion that it was like "Early Times". My wife, who knows good bourbon, said it was a winner too.

I could not tell from the bottle if this is now-discontinued stock that had languished for years in some storehouse of the redoubtable Hyatt chain and was pressed into service to fill up the (extensive) shelf space, or is still made as an obscure label by Jim Beam (Chuck has explained the history). If it is still made, it seemed an odd choice for the Hyatt, one would think they would have chosen one of the better-known inexpensive brands. I believe this bourbon is from a dozen or more years ago, and, since it was no doubt still in the inventory of a Hyatt hotel somewhere, can still be sold. One must compliment the hotel for offering this taste of history at the Hyatt in Chicago.

So bourbon fans, take note: shots of the B&L are available for the modest (in the circumstances) sum of $7.00. And again, this whiskey is good, it smoked (I thought) the Weller Centennial I also tried at the bar which struck me has having a dry, cereally, light taste that wasn't quite right (is there such a thing as bourbon being "light-struck"?)

Gary

P.S. It was a pleasure to meet Chuck Cowdery during my stay in Chi; Chuck, I think you would enjoy the B&L, I only discovered it shortly before I departed from town.

[Barrel_Proof]

Well, Gillman, I noted within your most interesting post about Bond & Lillard that the B&L bottle was parked next to a bottle of Sunny Brook bourbon. As I posted a few weeks back, I was rather excited to find and acquire recently a quart (yes, a quart) bottle of Cream of Kentucky at a shop in Altadena, California.

I didn't mention, though, that from this same shop I also purchased a bottle of the very Sunny Brook bourbon that you saw in Chicago (and a bottle of Hill and Hill bourbon, as well). Both were bourbons, not the blendeds that were bottle later under both brand names.

Here, Here, to rare bourbon sightings! It seems they come (at least) in pairs!

[cowdery]

Jim Beam Brands Co. is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, so they are very much a local company, as is Hyatt. Beam's national accounts team always has had a close relationship with the Hyatt chain. I suspect that, consistent with the concept of that bar ("Big"), they simply asked Beam to supply everything in their portfolio, even if it normally isn't distributed in the Chicago area. It has been more than a decade since I worked with Beam to help them rationalize the merchandising of the huge bourbon portfolio they obtained when they merged with National Distillers, but the strategy at the time was to continue to distribute some of the "cats and dogs" in markets where they were particularly strong. For B&L I don't know where that would be. It's possible, as Gary says, that the B&L at Big is some years old and the brand has since been discontinued. It's also possible it was some old National whiskey and not something Beam distilled. The "Frankfort" ID on the label suggests it was made at what used to be the Old Grand-Dad plant there at Forks of the Elkhorn.