The Story of Black Maple Hill

[Kyjd75]

David Driscoll has an interesting article about Black Maple Hill on his K & L blog. Read it here: http://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/

[Lazer]

I feel personally insulted by his Ritt BIB comments. "A standard grade mixer." Excuse me, but Ritt BIB is one of the best whiskeys around. But what do you expect from California people? Their brains are fried from all that ... uhh.... sun exposure. :cool:

[LostBottle]

While there have been some past Black Maple Hill bottlings like the ryes and the 16 that were excellent, I am unsure what the current hype is about. The BMH Small Batch David is talking about in this article is mediocre at best and overpriced for sure; I prefer the "standard grade mixer" Rittenhouse BIB, regardless of price. Lastly, about the "magic formula", point 3 states "It's contents are unknown" and pitches this as a positive - this seems more like a negative to me.

Edited July 15, 2012 by LostBottle

[CaptainQ]

You guys can have my share of BMH. Last time I bought a bottle it tasted like the standard HH profile.

[compliance]

Is there really any demand for BMH? I have never seen anyone buy any or heard anyone talk about it other than those aged editions that are long gone. Most people stay away for all the reasons stated in the article. The premise that this is somehow a hot label sets off my BS detector, but I don't run the liquor store so what do I know?

[PaulO]

... The premise that this is somehow a hot label sets off my BS detector...

It sets of my B.S. detector too. I think this article was written by the same guy that posted some one selling an old bottle of Old Fitzgerald for $1000 (for the person that wants real S-W) a few months ago. This was when all the crocodile tears and nonsense about VW was going on. The whole doomsday scenario where the world runs out of bourbon tomorrow is laughable. If I ever wanted to buy BMH, I could get it in about 15-20 minutes, any day but Sunday.

[StraightNoChaser]

I got the Small Batch BMH one time and it was pretty terrible. No way I'm dropping the coin for the 16 yr.

However I'd probably consider some of those older ryes they put out...

[Happyhour24x7]

huh, just one more proof that everyone's tastes are different- I love the Small Batch, and the 16YO is one of my top two or three whiskeys of all time; the only other thing that comes close is the 4R 120th and a particular Willett bottling called Suspension Bridge here in the DC area.

[Happyhour24x7]

as a matter of fact, now that we're talking about it, I'm thirsty....might have to go break into some.

[BFerguson]

Every bourbon has a story behind it. It's just that some stories are better than others.

Sadly, it seems that many stories nowadays just lack a whole lot of hard facts or straight truths. Too many are just shrouded mysteries or works of fiction.

Even sadder is that it generally seems the latter generally makes a better story.

But wh doesn't love a great story from time to time.........

B

[ebo]

Not sure if the story is true, but I can see the parallels with PVW, as far as the "cult following", "gotta have it" thing. I like PVW, and I think it's a great whiskey, but there is no reason for the circus it has become. I understand what the writer is saying about how the "circus" gets started.

[Restaurant man]

So the story is, it's not special. Snoozer or a story for a snoozer of a whiskey

[White Dog]

BMH 23yr Rye was special. The rest of it is spotty. I think he hurts his credibility by showing such love for the NAS Bourbon.

[MyOldKyDram]

It told me a story tonight. Not a classic, but not Twilight either. It's a good enough yarn.

[BradleyC]

I have a few friends on the retail side of things and they echo the same sentiment as Dave. BMH sells very well and sales keep going up. Marketing is a powerful factor when it comes to sales. BMH has done a good job at that just like the Van Winkles have. Some of the BMH releases have been quite good. They used to be priced much lower than the most recent 16 year, so that helped them sell. The 2 14 years that I have had were good and I really liked the 21. The ryes were excellent. I don't think it is fair to knock BMH for their lack of transparency. I believe it is the producers who don't want them to mention their sources for each given bottling. I can't imagine BMH is tremendously profitable. They just can't do enough volume for that to be the case. That being said, I think Mr. Joseph is just a like minded bourbon nut who runs the BMH line alongside the rest of his portfolio due to his own personal interest in the product. To his credit, he also started doing this before "bourbon was cool." I think he deserves a slight bit of credit for that since he isn't simply trying to cash in on the recent bourbon boom. BMH has put out some worthy bottlings in the past and I fully expect they will continue to do so. Other than the recent price jump the 16 year saw, I am a fan of BMH.

[petrel800]

How is the 16 year BMH? I've seen a few bottles lately, but have been mighty reluctant to plunk down $150 especially since $150 could buy you multiple bottles of great bourbons. I may be a sucker ever now and then for some of the tougher stuff to find, but $150 better be heaven in a bottle.

[BradleyC]

How is the 16 year BMH? I've seen a few bottles lately, but have been mighty reluctant to plunk down $150 especially since $150 could buy you multiple bottles of great bourbons. I may be a sucker ever now and then for some of the tougher stuff to find, but $150 better be heaven in a bottle.

To tell you the truth I have not tried the new 16 year small batch. I had the older 16 year single barrel and thought it was great. I don't remember the price I paid for that one, but it was much less than the current small batch 16. As I mentioned earlier I think the new pricing scheme is too high. BMH used to be priced much better than it is now. Someone please correct me but I think the 11 year was roughly $39 and the 21 year was $79-$89. I remember buying an 18 year rye for $79 and the 23 was $125ish. I would for sure buy any dusty age stated BMH's should I find more (especially the ryes).

[smokinjoe]

A good job at marketing? Really? Where? Honestly speaking, I wouldn't give most bourbon distilleries better than a "D-" in their marketing efforts, and BMH wouldn't even get a grade.

[BradleyC]

Their good job is their do nothing approach, limited distribution, and small production numbers. As human nature states, we want what we can't have. If something is limited or discontinued and it has a fancy label, people flock to it. Look at what sells vodka. I think this is the same consumer group that buys up the BMH Small batch. I'm all for it. Lead the sheep to these products so that the producers have more money to throw specialty barrels at us. It's a win win.

[smokinjoe]

The "do nothing approach...???" Hmmm.

[BradleyC]

The "do nothing approach...???" Hmmm.

It works wonders sometimes. I heard it on the internet so it's gotta be true!

[smokinjoe]

It works wonders sometimes. I heard it on the internet so it's gotta be true!

Well, Michael J. Flynn is going to be a Smash, then!!!

[David D]

Jeez, you guys can just email me, rather than speculate. At K&L, I sell 60 bottles of BMH in a day every time I get it back into stock. Then it's gone for weeks and weeks. The mystique of not knowing where it was made really gets to people - both positively and negatively. While we think that our little blogosphere and message boards influence overall whiskey sales, they don't. We could start an SB.com thread about how it's the worst whiskey in the world and it wouldn't make one bit of difference. If anything, it would only make people curious to try it. The word on the street in CA is that you need to get this Bourbon. Then you go to a store like K&L and, guess what, you can't get it. It's sold out. You go from store to store and everyone is out of stock. That makes people want it immensely. Maybe not on this forum, but we're not influencing overall sales here. We're all just passionate guys talking about whiskey. Just because it's an NAS whiskey doesn't make it a bad either. Weller Antique no longer has an age statement and I still think it's the best deal in Bourbon.

[White Dog]

Jeez, you guys can just email me, rather than speculate. At K&L, I sell 60 bottles of BMH in a day every time I get it back into stock. Then it's gone for weeks and weeks. The mystique of not knowing where it was made really gets to people - both positively and negatively. While we think that our little blogosphere and message boards influence overall whiskey sales, they don't. We could start an SB.com thread about how it's the worst whiskey in the world and it wouldn't make one bit of difference. If anything, it would only make people curious to try it. The word on the street in CA is that you need to get this Bourbon. Then you go to a store like K&L and, guess what, you can't get it. It's sold out. You go from store to store and everyone is out of stock. That makes people want it immensely. Maybe not on this forum, but we're not influencing overall sales here. We're all just passionate guys talking about whiskey. Just because it's an NAS whiskey doesn't make it a bad either. Weller Antique no longer has an age statement and I still think it's the best deal in Bourbon.

No one said NAS=bad. We could all rattle off many good NAS Bourbons. I only knocked this particular NAS, which many of us do feel is over-priced for what it is.

[David D]

No one said NAS=bad. We could all rattle off many good NAS Bourbons. I only knocked this particular NAS, which many of us do feel is over-priced for what it is.

Gotcha. I'm so used to the anti-NAS mindset that I assumed you meant in general. However, do you think people who like BMH lack credibility, as in they can't decipher quality?