Bottling Miniatures

[OneCubeOnly]

Several months ago there was a thread in alt.drinks.sc****-whisky (cough!) in which somebody who was supposedly 'in-the-know' claimed that distilleries used a lower quality product in their miniatures. Needless to say, this was argued and disbelieved, but this person was adamant.

Has anybody heard of this practice with American whiskeys? I would think a distillery would want to put some of their BEST product in the minis to try to win people over!?

[bobbyc]

Out of all the miniatures of Bourbon that I have tried , I have yet to find one that caused me any concern that it was of less quality than the larger version of the same label. My $0.02

[jeff]

I've had a couple of minatures that tasted like the plastic bottles in which they were contained . I doubt this was a true reflection on the bourbon, only on the cheap plastic-leaching bottles

[cowdery]

Urban myth. It's the same product in the miniatures. In fact, many of the companies go to great expense to duplicate the packaging of the full size product because the minis are so important for sampling. There would be no benefit to using a lower quality product in the minis.

[CL]

On a airplane, has anyone ever seen anything besides JB White and JD Black? (I did see JB Black - once - and the passenger that got it was clueless as to what it was. I told them that it was fine and that many considered it better than JD Black.)

Occasionally, I will see WT or MM in a liquor store. And it's only been in Ky where I've only seen anything else than these four I mentioned above.

Based on this unscientific survey, it seems that only the best selling bourbons make it to miniatures, outside of KY. Therefore, I don't see how distilleries would use them to get folks to sample different products. It seems that they are just supplying their best selling product.

[Barrel_Proof]

Delta now serves Makers Mark.

[cowdery]

Minis aren't just on airplanes. Liquor stores in some states sell them. I know all of the Jim Beam Small Batchers have minis, as does Woodford Reserve. Maybe you have to fly in First Class to get the good stuff.

[WEG3]

Some of the bottle shops here in MA , have a growing selection of mini buorbons . Bookers , and now I have just forgotten the other one I got , that and the more common brands that I did not give a second look at ................ .........

Bill g,

Once again I failed my mind .......

[bluesbassdad]

CL,

I now have a mini of Blanton's, which I ordered from either Sam's or Binny's. (A mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

Furthermore, one of the keys to my reintroduction to bourbon a while back was a wood-enclosed package of minis of the Jim Beam Small Batch collection.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[WEG3]

CL,

I now have a mini of Blanton's, which I ordered from either Sam's or Binny's. (A mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

Furthermore, one of the keys to my reintroduction to bourbon a while back was a wood-enclosed package of minis of the Jim Beam Small Batch collection.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

Mind is not lost , just a bit miss-used and abused .....

[Paradox]

There's also a wood packed version of the "Small Batch Botique Bourbon Collection" of Rowan's Creek, Noah's Mill, Pure KY XO and KY Vintage though I only saw that in KY... Some mini's that were available now are not like Rock Hill Farms... I really like the idea of companies offering mini's of their products and feel more need to do so.

[OneCubeOnly]

Interestingly enough, as deficient as Virginia's selection is, we have plenty of minis available. They're a great way to do samplings. There have been several I'm glad I wasn't stuck with 750ml!

[Paradox]

I agree, the ABC stores I visit in VA do have a rather nice selection of mini's... I always pick up several of the Virginia Gentlemen 'The Fox' 90 proof mini's for only $1.00! It comes in an exact duplicate bottle of the 750ml, is glass, complete with gold wax. I like to leave a few in my trunk as 'emergency bottles' while on the road.

[bluesbassdad]

Dear Cool-But-Not-Diluted ,

I hear you about those orphan 750s. However, on the flip side I've found more than one bourbon that grew on me over time. For example, if my first drink of Elijah Craig 12 year-old had been a mini, I might never have tried it again. As it is, I am now on my second or third bottle (a 1.75 L., at that) since I first encountered it last year.

Minis are no substitute for a generous friend with a well-stocked bar.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[CL]

On USAirways three years ago, first class didn't get you anything different. I did one hundred segments one year which earned me automatic free upgrades to first class for the next year. JB White and JD Black was all they ever had.

Based on what the other folks here are saying, though, it appears that alot of states have a good choice of minis. NC isn't one of them, though.

[Paradox]

With the exception of some specialty stores in the city, NY has a pretty sad stocked inventory of bourbon in general, both 750 and 50 ml's... Exceptions naturally are beam white, wild turkey 80 and 101, etc...

[bluesbassdad]

Mark,

I could almost work up some self-pity over that. How in the world do they sell them at that price?

That's equivalent to $15 for 750 ml., right? Plus you have the convenience that you spoke of. I pay $21 plus shipping (from Sam's) or $22 plus 8-going-on-10 % CA sales tax for a 750 ml. bottle.

It's almost enough to make me do a cross-country Junior Johnson run in my stock Geo. (Come to think of it, I'd probably steal my wife's Saturn Vue, which has ten times the cargo capacity. )

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Paradox]

I never could figure it out either Dave. They sell the 750ml bottle at the same ABC store for $17.50. I always asked myself why they would do that, I just figured it's their way of 'enticing' people to try 'The Fox'. I had to laugh when my father who was with me seriously said, "Buy the mini's and empty them all into the empty you have at home!"

Watch, with my luck when I go down again, they will have raised the price!

[OneCubeOnly]

Dear Cool-But-Not-Diluted ,

I hear you about those orphan 750s. However, on the flip side I've found more than one bourbon that grew on me over time.

Actually, I have yet to find a totally undrinkable bourbon, but a couple higher-end bottles have been relegated to ginger ale. However, there's a couple bourbon wannabe's from a neighboring state which might stay orphans for awhile!

[Bob]

Given the poor availability of various bourbons here in NY, I'm glad there's Sam's and others we can learn about here on the 'Net. I'm also eager to stock up during the visit to KY in September!

Bob

[Paradox]

Haha, if you stock up like me and Chris did during last years festival, you'll have no more suspension travel left on your rear shocks, and that's not an exageration!

[ratcheer]

Hell, that's only $15 per 750 ml! At that price, you could just buy the minis and never have to worry about how big your pour is.

Tim

[WEG3]

knob Creek !

Duh , How could I forget ....

I found it very good , but still not good enough to replace ORVW 10yr 107 as my daily pour .....

Bill G.

[Bob]

Hey Mark,

What was the strategy you guys used last year? Did you buy lots of different bottlings, or did you buy quantity of a few things?

Bob

[Paradox]

We tried to buy one of everything that we knew we had no chance getting up here... Then after all the gazeebo sessions and tastings if there was something that we really found to be superb, we just got a 'little' more of it. So honestly, it was a little of both. Some of what we also got was not for immediate consumption like for example the yearly derby bottling from Woodford Reserve. But those purchases took up only a small amount of trunk space.