Any progress reports for CMDK(Medley)?

[RyanL]

So I was reading through an old thread Chuck posted that has been closed almost 2 years ago.

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11799&highlight=medley+distillery

Any news on their progress so far either good or bad? Their website gives a little bit of info on their plans but nothing really in terms of any progress they are making. I was just hoping that maybe Chuck or someone else had been back down or talked to the distillery manager and gotten some details on how things are coming along. It would be very cool to see a piece of bourbon history revived and have their business take off and excel in the modern day market.

Here is their website for those interested:

http://www.cmdistillerskentucky.com/Operations.html

Here is a short news story on youtube:

[Rughi]

Thanks for doing a little footwork to put info together.

The news piece from 2009 talks of "distilling this fall" but I haven't heard of them starting up the stills yet. I drove by the site on a mid-week day last month and didn't see any obvious distilling activity, but it looked like an agricultural chemical supply company was moving a lot of product through what looked like it would be the bottling hall.

Of course, half the parking lot was underwater that day, so maybe I shouldn't draw conclusions.

Roger

[callmeox]

If the rumors are true that Angostura is shopping LDI around to buyers, I bet that CMDK is either on the block or the refurb plans are on hold.

[craigthom]

That's what I think, too. If the company ran into financial problems and needs cash, then they aren't going to be putting any into a distillery that won't have a product to sell for four years.

OK, maybe they could sell white dog earlier.

[cowdery]

Angostura is owned by CL Financial. If you Google it, the first suggested additional search term that comes up is "collapse." It is/was a very large (meaning rich) financial services company in Trinidad and Tobago. It collapsed in the 2008 financial crises. All of its plans were based on having a lot of money to invest in LDI, CMDK, and other facilities and interests. As it is, they can't come up with enough cash to pay the supplier who makes the bottles for Angostura bitters. (Hence last's year's shortage.) Both LDI and CMDK are for sale.

[RyanL]

Thanks Chuck, that's the kind of big news update I was looking for. Just sucks it had to be bad news.

[p_elliott]

I maybe wrong on this but hasn't Angostura been taken over by the government of Trinidad and Tabago?

[cowdery]

Yes, in that its parent company, CL Financial, was nationalized, but the latest news is that they're trying to figure out a way to give it back to the Duprey family.

CL is an insurance company. Insurance companies invest their reserves. That's universal. But CL is unusual in 'investing' its money by buying and running businesses like Angostura. It owns something like 30 companies that between them own 72 businesses. They're in lots of other things besides alcohol.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Maybe this is old news, but has anyone heard of any recent activity in Owensboro?

[tmckenzie]

Last i heard, was everything was still on hold. Still a lot of work left to do also.

[cowdery]

Angostura has been trying to sell all of its U.S. holdings, including Owensboro, Lawrenceburg, and the distillery in Georgia, without success. No activity otherwise.

[jburlowski]

Let's have a bake sale....

[Bourbon Boiler]

Let's have a bake sale....

I'll read up on the food pairings forum to see what I can make.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Asking price is $7.5 million according to the ADI forums.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Giving this a bump since the other thread reminded me and I didn't want to hijack that thread. Anyone know anything about the status in Owensboro?

[cowdery]

The owners are actively trying to sell it and quite a few folks have kicked the tires. A few deals, I'm told, have been close. Something is clearly scaring folks away, though it could just be an unrealistic asking price. If the price were reasonable, someone would buy it as a maturation facility, rather than building new warehouses. The warehouses are in fair shape and there's space for something like 120,000 barrels.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Thanks Chuck. It would seem to be a logical site for bottling/distribution as well being close to both an E-W and a N-S interstate.

[tmckenzie]

I imagine the price is a big factor and I would imagine asbestos is on site for sure, which would have to be abated. You would probably have to put 5 million in it just to make whiskey. Assuming the beer still and doubler are operational.

[cowdery]

I've been pretty close to that situation and I don't think there's an asbestos issue, like there is at Stitzel-Weller. I'm not sure of the status of the stills, but I don't think they are operational, and I know they need a boiler. The old bottling hall was fixed up to be the welcome center, so the building is in good shape but there's no bottling equipment. Sazerac, of course, has a huge modern bottlig plant on the other side of town, where Glenmore used to be.

Since anything can be sold if the price is right, the price obviously isn't right for what prospective buyers think it is worth.