Angel's Envy Cask Strength

[smokinjoe]

You do realize that every variation of Bingstein falls under the license I sold to michaelturtle, so you are just lining his pockets to fund more dusty hunting extravaganzas.

[bingstein]

Steen, or "stayun" in Kentucky

[sutton]

I thought it was BING-stine! (at least, that is how I've been saying it in my head ...)

[bingstein]

I thought it was BING-stine! (at least, that is how I've been saying it in my head ...)

The rules are not set in stone. Say what feels natural. Of course, michaelturtle has the final say.

[Yeti]

I thought it was BING-stine! (at least, that is how I've been saying it in my head ...)

I'm a BING-stiner as well.

[Kalessin]

BING-steen, in my estimation.

Igor: Dr. Frankenstein?

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Fronkensteen.

Igor: You're putting me on.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No, it's pronounced, 'Fronkensteen'.

Igor: Do you also say Froaderick?

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No... 'Frederick.'

Igor: Well, why isn't it 'Froaderick Fronkensteen'?

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: It isn't, it's 'Frederick Fronkensteen'.

Igor: I see.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: You must be Igor. [he pronounces it ee-gor.]

Igor: No, it's pronounced 'eye-gor.'

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: But they told me it was 'ee-gor'..

Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?

Edited November 19, 2013 by Kalessin

[michaelturtle1]

Ha! This is as good a time as any, and now that Bingstein! is firmly entrenched in the official SB Lexicon...Is Bingstein! pronounced Bingstine!, or, Bingsteen! ? :crazy:

T-shirts and Glencairn slings are in the works

[smokinjoe]

T-shirts and Glencairn slings are in the works

[MyOldKyDram]

A car flag? So we can fly the #jollybingstein on the way to Btown!

[michaelturtle1]

With your permission, I'd like to get a Flag made up?

[Painkiller]

I don't know, guys. Still several bottles here. Two I could have......

DAMN !!

[LostBottle]

I just checked out the Angel's Envy website for the first time and was shocked at exactly how misleading the Henderson's are. They have not distilled a drop and yet in the "How We Make It" section use sentences like "we oversee every step of the process, carefully guiding each batch's distilling, aging, and finishing". Why aren't the Henderson's getting more scrutiny and being called out for their obvious shenanigans?

[AaronWF]

Why aren't the Henderson's getting more scrutiny and being called out for their obvious shenanigans?

Unfortunately, seems to me that the days of 'being called out' are largely behind us. This sort of BS has hit a critical mass in the 'craft' distiller/NDP world. Everybody does it: the primary audience doesn't know any better and those who do are sick of pointing it out to no effect.

[LostBottle]

Wow, it gets worse. The Henderson's seem to go from simply misleading, to outright lying! This is from their rye page:

"When we decided to distill a rye, we approached it with the same painstaking attention to detail that we give every micro-batch of our bourbon, insisting on the highest quality."

This rye is sourced from LDI. How does a company without a functioning still distill anything?!

[wadewood]

I just checked out the Angel's Envy website for the first time and was shocked at exactly how misleading the Henderson's are. They have not distilled a drop and yet in the "How We Make It" section use sentences like "we oversee every step of the process, carefully guiding each batch's distilling, aging, and finishing". Why aren't the Henderson's getting more scrutiny and being called out for their obvious shenanigans?

I'll join you on that bandwagon. That statement is extremely misleading. The thing about is I think it is so unnecessary. I don't know why the try so hard on their website to fool people into thinking they distilled this. I've meet Lincoln and Wes and in person they are upfront about what it is. There is nothing wrong with being a rectifier (or blender or whatever else you want to call it). They add value with the additional aging in port barrels and that should be enough. Call it what it is and be proud of it.

[ChainWhip]

Oversee and guide are such imprecise actions though...

[squire]

People who are speaking the truth don't need imprecise words.

[LostBottle]

People who are speaking the truth don't need imprecise words.

Edited November 29, 2013 by LostBottle

[conecuhridge]

Friends,

Even though I don't post very often, I spend a great deal of time on the site.

Anyone who knows us, or who has heard me, Kyle, or Dad speak, knows FULL WELL that we are always open and honest about our products. In fact, we normally go way beyond what is customary in this industry, often providing details that dance along the lines of our trade secrets. To top it off, we also involve our friends and customers in the actual creation process. These are hardly the hallmarks of a company that intentionally misleads.

Regretfully, I have spent more time in the field, in production, designing a distillery, and addressing the death of Lincoln over the last few months, and not laid eyes on the brand website, which is the work of some very talented, and in this case, some very ambitiously creative MARKETING folks. Admittedly, these are not great excuses, but after reading this thread, and looking back at the content on the rye page, there is one word which seems to be inaccurate, and I can assure you that by the end of the weekend, it will be corrected. Furthermore, I intend to go over the entire site and check for anything that may be overzealous. Many marketing pieces are created by people who don't understand how the addition or deletion of one word can make a huge difference. It is my ultimate responsibility, as the COO of the company, to make sure these things are correct.

These things said, every person on this board knows our story, how our product has been sourced, and the incredible things we have done with this sourced product. Everyone also knows that as a family, we don't float around bullshit stories. Quite honestly, from this group of people I consider friends, it would have been nice to receive an email or a "heads up" about this inaccuracy, as opposed to suggestions that we have been purposely misleading. I think we have earned that much respect.

My direct email is whenderson@louisvilledistilling.com and my phone number is 502-241-6064 if anyone would like to discuss further.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Wes Henderson

[jaycamm]

Thank you Mr. Henderson.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[LostBottle]

Thanks for the reply, Wes. I am glad to hear the website is being updated to more accurately reflect the true nature of the products so that consumers can make better educated choices.

That said, I think the issue goes well beyond one word on the rye page. While some of the other wording that was pointed out is not patently false, it seems willfully ambiguous. I respect that you try and be open and truthful with people you are in contact with, whether on board or in person, but please keep in mind these are usually groups of enthusiasts and industry professionals who are in the know on much of this information, so there is probably little choice. However, for the average consumer who may browse your website, the carefully constructed wording seems designed to lead them to believe that the Angel's Envy operation creates the base whiskey, rather than sourcing and finishing it. I understand marketers, and yours seem to be very good at what they do. Unfortunately, the stories they have woven do not seem to be in the spirit of true transparency - if true transparency is the goal, I would encourage revisions more sweeping than the changing of a single word. Cheers.

[squire]

Thanks Wes, that was a refreshingly honest post. Those who would mislead us rarely acknowledge our comments much less responsibly reply to them. In the future if I have a question I'll ask you directly and quote you here if you like. To our discredit we occasionally are a bit overzealous in our criticism but we have been intentionally mislead so often it's the twice burned syndrome.

Having spent a career speaking for others I fully understand painting ideas with words and nuances of meaning, what I don't understand is why marketing folks don't realize that in the tradition bound world of distilling the real story is often far better than something they can make up.

[ChainWhip]

Thank you Mr. Henderson.

[conecuhridge]

Thank you Squire.

One thing I did not mention in my last post is that i honestly believe our brand would not be in the great place we are today without the support of this group. I know it may sound patronizing, but it is a fact, and the passion behind my post relates to how highly I regard the opinions found herein.

After sleeping on it, I am grateful that I now have the opportunity to make some corrections, and totally support the efforts of the group to call out erroneous information, but in a way that does not call into question the integrity of the producer, unless there is a track record of irresponsible representations.

Hope you are having a great weekend, and I hope to visit with as many SB folks as possible at our upcoming Cask Strength events.

Cheers!

[bjhowell]

Wes, are you going to be at the Cask Strength event in South Florida?