This Just In: Medley Has Been Sold and You Won't Believe Who Bought It

[cowdery]

I have a report from a reliable source that the Charles Medley Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, has finally been sold. You'll never guess who bought it. These guys!

Charles Medley is the distillery that was Medley Brothers in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It was last owned and operated by Glenmore. United Distillers (now Diageo) closed it in 1992 when they bought Glenmore, and sold it to Charles, who had been the last master distiller there. He kept it in good repair but never fired it up. In 2007 he sold it to Angostura, which started restoration, but then collapsed in the 2008 financial disaster. Angostura parent CL Financial has been peddling it ever since.

So this is a weird development, to say the least.

[GaryT]

Ooook . . . I skimmed over their "educational materials" and watched the 3 min video at the end . . . and wow, I am SO GLAD they are here!I mean, all these years I thought that stupid process of aging a distilled spirit in a barrel was to add flavor, rather than to filter out bad stuff! So - are they going to be selling "bourbon-flavored" vodka?

[Paddy]

I'm afraid it will only get worse, before it ever gets better! Every TD&H wants a piece of the boom (and it's the best thing that's happened in American spirits since prohibition).

[sku]

I have a report from a reliable source that the Charles Medley Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, has finally been sold. You'll never guess who bought it. These guys!

Charles Medley is the distillery that was Medley Brothers in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It was last owned and operated by Glenmore. United Distillers (now Diageo) closed it in 1992 when they bought Glenmore, and sold it to Charles, who had been the last master distiller there. He kept it in good repair but never fired it up. In 2007 he sold it to Angostura, which started restoration, but then collapsed in the 2008 financial disaster. Angostura parent CL Financial has been peddling it ever since.

So this is a weird development, to say the least.

Whoa. Very odd. My understanding of Terressentia is that they bottle MGP whiskey mostly for private labels or small regional labels.

[mbroo5880i]

Am I correct in thinking that the Medley brands are owned by other companies?

[cowdery]

Janet Patton reporting in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Charles Medley still owns the old Medley Brothers brands. No brands go with the distillery.

Edited May 9, 2014 by cowdery

[OscarV]

Janet Patton reporting in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Charles Medley still owns the old Medley Brothers brands. No brands go with the distillery.

That's good because those old labels would give these guys street cred.

[Phil T]

Pretty cool that both Medley and Taylor have found new owners willing to invest millions to revitalize them. I'll wait to comment on the distilling aspect until they start doing so.

[sutton]

Perhaps this works with vodka but my understanding is whiskey is a more complex soup of congeners than the few they mention on their website. They appear to show a few positive effects from what looks like a mass spec output on a few of the known bad congeners and a few that seemed to accelerate ester formation, but I'd like to see the same before/after analysis on whiskey's more diverse congeneric content.

[squire]

Well, it's refreshing to hear their lab folks are so adroit at cleaning up cheap hooch and adding flavors. If their new whisky products prove successful on an industrial scale I'm buying stock in the company that makes liquid smoke.

[shoshani]

Ridiculous corporate name, even more ridiculous website that takes large amounts of space to say pretty much nothing of substance.

Why yes, I am a curmudgeon.

[MyOldKyDram]

What was that again, Oscar?

[OscarV]

What was that again, Oscar?

[HighInTheMtns]

Not the browser, just the site.

[dementedavenger]

Whoa. Very odd. My understanding of Terressentia is that they bottle MGP whiskey mostly for private labels or small regional labels.

They're responsible for some garbage bottled under the Winchester Bourbon name and sold at Total Wine. Awful stuff that Total pushes alongside no-name Sazerac brands like Chestnut Farms and Black Ridge.

[LCWoody]

That could be the most generrral, non inforrrmative web site I have everrr seen.

[Gillman]

I'm not sure what this company is really doing. The YT video states that liquor is aged for years in barrels to remove some of the congeners mentioned and this new process does it in a matter of "days", yet highly efficient multiple and extractive distillation systems can render grain neutral spirits to the point of only trace elements of the congeners deemed bad-tasting. So what exactly does this new system do that is "more" than that? Does it get rid literally of all those traces and is that why their vodka is "smoother"? And how is this related to barrel-aging, which is a system applied to liquors distilled at a much lower proof than GNS?

Perhaps as speculated here this company is devising a way of quick aging of bourbon which will mimic what the barrel does over time. Yet, the spirit can't taste like bourbon since wood flavour and sugars won't enter the barrel - unless they intend to use permitted additives: wood treatment and the like. They couldn't call it bourbon of course but perhaps the spirit will be intended as a bourbon substitute.

One thing I admire is the can-do attitude of these entrepreneurs, they never give up, despite the 100's of years of column and pot still distillation history they feel they can improve on what what know to date. I wish them well and hey, you never know.

Gary

[squire]

Bourbon Substitute, I like that, yeah, let 'em put that on the label. Or even better, Imitation Bourbon.

[squire]

That could be the most general, non informative web site I have ever seen.

[sailor22]

Bourbon Substitute, I like that, yeah, let 'em put that on the label. Or even better, Imitation Bourbon.

Quivering with anticipation.

[cowdery]

It's telling that not one of these outfits with a 'fast aging' system has ever done a tasting, with independent but recognized tasters (me, for example), in which they simply provide to taste the before and after. What went in, what came out? Without that, you have no idea what effect their system is having. That's why I regard all of these systems as scams unless they prove otherwise. Sad to see a venerable old distillery degraded in this way.

[Gillman]

Well, I don't know Chuck, the way the man spoke in the youtube video bespoke his faith in something. He looks to be the age when most would put their feet up, yet he is going great guns to get this thing going. I am not saying he is right (in fact I'm as dubious as you are about the likely benefits), but would like to know what he is intending to do and why, exactly. Give him a call maybe?

It would be interesting to talk to him about what exactly this is all about.

Gary

[OscarV]

Good idea Gary.

It wouldn't hurt Chuck, give'em a call.

[squire]

We don't need to call him Gary, it's about money.

[sutton]

He may be wrong, but he seems earnest. I agree with Chuck, whatever your theories and processes, just present your result in a blind tasting to experts. If it passes that test, you are a multi-millionaire.