Sam Houston Whiskey, not Bourbon

[gburger]

I just tried a sample of Sam Houston Whiskey, not the bourbon. It comes in a taller bottle with a blue label. Very smooth taste.

The store I was at will have some next week to purchase, but I cannot seem to find any info online. It is from Kentucky, but I did not read the label closer to see a distiller.

Any ideas about this?

[cowdery]

The Sam Houston brand is McLain & Kyne, which is part of Castle Brands, and the Zoeller family, father Chet and son Trey, are the folks behind it. Same folks as Jefferson's. They are a marketing company, not a distiller or even a bottler. The pictures they show of 'their' distillery are actually of KBD/Willett which, of course, is not a functioning distillery either but a broker and bottler, aka non-distiller producer (NDP). KBD has done bottling for M&K, but so has LDI. As for what the product is or who made it, that's anyone's guess.

[harshest]

I've been wondering about this product since it showed up on the MI LCC price sheet. They list the vendor as Western Spirits Bev. It also starts out at $27.94 which seems pretty steep to me.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/lcc_code/dt_lccc.asp?code=07636

[gburger]

Chuck,

Thanks for the quick reply. Also I just got my first Bourbon Country Reader from you. Great reading.

Gregg

[chefnash51]

Just saw this pop up at a local store. $37, too much for me without any idea of where it came from.

[bourbonv]

I thought that Castle Brands sold the Sam Houston brand about a year or so ago. I know Chet said he was no longer associated with the brand.

Mike Veach

[cowdery]

I just got the same information, that Castle sold the Houston brand and Jefferson's is their sole bourbon product, but I haven't been able to find out who they Houston to.

It's funny that you can appropriate the name of an historical figure for a product (I'm sure they didn't consult Sam Houston's descendants) and then sell the name to someone else. I guess the rationale is that they developed value in it as a brand of whiskey.

[wadewood]

I just got the same information, that Castle sold the Houston brand and Jefferson's is their sole bourbon product, but I haven't been able to find out who they Houston to.

It's funny that you can appropriate the name of an historical figure for a product (I'm sure they didn't consult Sam Houston's descendants) and then sell the name to someone else. I guess the rationale is that they developed value in it as a brand of whiskey.

Sam Houston is pretty important person in history context here in Texas, so my guess would be they are going after Texas market (of note - gburger is from Austin, TX)

[cowdery]

The only reason to buy the existing brand as opposed to starting a new one with the same name would be if they wanted the existing base of business which, you're right, is probably in Texas.

[jburlowski]

Saw this for the first time yesterday at the Party Source. The bottle comes in one of those (IMO) pretentious cardboard "cans" so little product info was visible. Seemed to be too much trouble to put down what I was holding and wrestle one open....

[kickert]

Sam Houston was sold to Three Springs Bottlers (can't remember the parent company), but they are the people who brought you White Tail (caramel infused bourbon), Bird Dog (blackberry infused bourbon), and Tres Leche (sweet pre-mixed drink).

It is now bottled here in Bowling Green, KY.

[cowdery]

That's the guy who made his fortune selling branded generic cigarettes.

[kickert]

That's the guy who made his fortune selling branded generic cigarettes.

yup... Rick Kelley

[cowdery]

Yup... and it looks like he's trying, with some success, to apply the same formula to distilled spirits.

[Young Blacksmith]

Picked one up last week on sale, $20. I'll try to crack it this weekend and post some thoughts.

Even the liquor store employees were asking me to come back and let them know what it was like, they have no clue!

[cowdery]

I'm told the new owner is a company called Western Spirits.

[Young Blacksmith]

Bottle says:

Bottled for Western Spirits by Three Springs Bottling Company, Bowling Green, KY.

43%, American Straight Whiskey.

It's different. Smells like rubbing alcohol and bourbon, bananas, sweetness.

Taste floats between bananas, bourbon vanilla, and rubbing alcohol. No wood I can taste. It's OK, I'd pick it up again if it was on sale and I wanted something different, but not a regular in my bar.

Ultimately makes me want a little bit of KC or WT101.

[trumpstylz]

Sam Houston is pretty important person in history context here in Texas, so my guess would be they are going after Texas market (of note - gburger is from Austin, TX)

Wait, so Sam Houston isn't the actor who plays the cowboy at the bar who orders sioux city sasparilla in The Big Lebowski?

[craigthom]

Wait, so Sam Houston isn't the actor who plays the cowboy at the bar who orders sioux city sasparilla in The Big Lebowski?

Close! That's Sam Elliott, although I bet he could play Sam Houston.