cowdery Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I don't know. I'd certainly be curious to know how the folks at BF analyzed it. They can be cold-blooded, in the best sense as rational business people, about letting a brand die when it has outlived its usefulness, managing it profitably all the way to the bottom. Early Times was a workingman's bourbon for a time when all workingmen drank bourbon. More than anything else, they expected it to be cheap. When a brand like that starts to lose volume it's hard to keep it profitable. ET's loyalists got old and died and the brand personality had nothing to offer the younger drinker. So instead of investing a lot in trying to revitalize ET they created Woodford Reserve. Looked at that way, it doesn't seem like a bad decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billie o Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Became a member a day or so ago. This is how I remember ET, in late 50's and early 60's it was the popular well drink. I grew up in Pittsburgh and it was a shot and beer. It was called "squirrely time". Cowdery had it right when he said it was a workingman's drink. To me everything with Old in the label was the expensive stuff. As I recalled ET was 86 proof. I drank it until they changed the label on the bottle as well as adding caramel to make it look darker. I then switched over to Scotch. Ran across this site and now going to try to reacquire the taste for bourbon. I have Maker's Mark and Evan Williams in the house. Going to go out and buy sample size of others. To me trying to get a taste of something over 90 proof is a waste of time--it is more of a burning sensation that a taste--its me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Welcome aboard billie o., lots of good information here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighHorse Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Our barrel group was at BF last week and we were told that ET is "going crazy" overseas .. especially in the Asian markets. I think their sales on this product may be as strong, or stronger, than ever .. it's just going overseas. And .. it sells for a pretty penny over there! It's pretty obvious that their approach is .. make it as cheap as you can. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TunnelTiger Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 There's a lesson but no assurance the current decision makers are willing to listen.Unfortunately at my age I see this repeated over and over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Did they mention that, outside the U.S., Early Times is and always has been bourbon? It's only 'Kentucky Whisky' in the U. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Did they mention that, outside the U.S., Early Times is and always has been bourbon? It's only 'Kentucky Whisky' in the U. S.But is it actually bourbon or do they just use the same stuff and call it bourbon since the new barrel requirement doesn't apply to exports? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 It is bourbon according to U.S. rules. Brown-Forman, it should be noted, bottles everything for export in the U.S. They don't export in bulk and bottle locally. All products comply with U.S. standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Mike Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I'd have to trawl through Google Books again for this, and maybe I will over the weekend, but B-F definitely had full page magazine ads in the late 1940s and early 1950s showing their entire tiers: Old Forester, the Bottled In Bond flagship; Early Times, the 90 proof popular-priced table bourbon, and then one blended whisky called King and there might have actually been a second blend. There were two versions of the King blend: Black Label which was 40% straight whiskey and 60% gns, and Red Label which was 30% straight whiskey and 70% gns. Both were at 86 proof. The ad pictured is from 1949. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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