Master Distillers at Micros ...

[Bourbon Boiler]

Gaining the respect of the big boys?

http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3406&pid=19401&st=0entry19401

I thought it was interesting that Sazerac was advertising a master distilling position on a web forum for microdistilleries. It's not that it doesn't make perfect sense, it's just the lingering idea that micros don't have the talent/experince might be changing.

[VAGentleman]

Surprised Sazerac doesn't have any internal candidates. I guess no one wants to move to Virginia. Could be interesting to see who it ends up being, especially if a Micro MD decides to jump ship to a bigger company with more resources.

[squire]

Who says they don't?

[Josh]

I'm sure they do. I'd like to go on record as saying that Sazerac trying to position Bowman as a micro-distillery is less than completely honest.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Josh

[TomH]

I'm sure they do. I'd like to go on record as saying that Sazerac trying to position Bowman as a micro-distillery is less than completely honest.

Josh, normally I would agree with your skepticism, however having raised the ire Truman on more than one occasion when I questioned Bowman being a Micro/craft operation I would have to say that at least when Truman was MD, he truly believed he was going to operate as a Micro.

[cowdery]

Well, is Alltech a micro? Do deep corporate pockets disqualify you? If they weren't moving in the direction of being grain-to-bottle at Fredericksburg, I would agree, but that was the objective and that, to me, on that scale, is a micro.

As for posting the job opening on ADI, any large corporation today casts a wide net. There are definitely some people in the micro-distillery community who are qualified. I'm amazed at how many, really, and being several hundred miles from the mother ship is a big deal. It's at least 50% a management and marketing job. If nothing else, it was a nice gesture to post it there, a sign of respect. Nothing wrong with that.

I found it very interesting to see how they view the job.

I was also momentarily taken aback too because that's Truman's job, but life goes on.

Edited April 11, 2013 by cowdery

[Josh]

Well, is Alltech a micro? Do deep corporate pockets disqualify you? If they weren't moving in the direction of being grain-to-bottle at Fredericksburg, I would agree, but that was the objective and that, to me, on that scale, is a micro.

[squire]

Well, at least they're open about who made it.

[VAGentleman]

And at least they do distill it again at the distillery in Virginia

[squire]

Are they still doing that? I thought they were but haven't checked on it in awhile.

[VAGentleman]

Yes they still distill a third time when the distillate arrives in Fredericksburg. They then barrel and age on site

[Josh]

Yes they still distill a third time when the distillate arrives in Fredericksburg. They then barrel and age on site

I know that's what they do with the bourbon, but do they do that with the rye too? I though I read somewhere that the rye or at least a certain release of it wasn't redistilled there.

[VAGentleman]

I was told by Truman that the rye was a one off and that they wouldn't be doing anymore of it going forward. Whether that was redistilled in Virginia I don't know. It's possible they will do more rye at some point but it wasn't in the cards as of a year or so ago.

[cowdery]

Your points are well taken, Josh. In their case, as opposed to some of the Potemkins, I judged Truman to be a man who didn't go there to redistill Frankfort's white dog, and Mark Brown to be a man who does what he says he's going to do. They never shared a detailed plan with me but I'm sure there is one. Also, the evidence before us, the job posting, doesn't sound like they're looking for a rectifier.

[MacinJosh]

I was told by Truman that the rye was a one off and that they wouldn't be doing anymore of it going forward. Whether that was redistilled in Virginia I don't know. It's possible they will do more rye at some point but it wasn't in the cards as of a year or so ago.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Your points are well taken, Josh. In their case, as opposed to some of the Potemkins, I judged Truman to be a man who didn't go there to redistill Frankfort's white dog, and Mark Brown to be a man who does what he says he's going to do. They never shared a detailed plan with me but I'm sure there is one. Also, the evidence before us, the job posting, doesn't sound like they're looking for a rectifier.

[cowdery]

I was with Truman last year about this time when I heard he got the job and immediately asked if he was going to turn it into a full blown micro-distillery. He said that was the plan, but it wouldn't happen immediately.