A BT scarcity rumor...

[smknjoe]

...and I can go to 200+ local stores and get BT, ER, and Weller 12, by the case any time I want...

[squire]

Exactly, the BT marketing staff must be loving this.

[KyleCBreese]

In NJ, I have never had any trouble getting any BT product. BT, ER, Blantons, etc... So, I can't say that I have experience any shortages.

[cowdery]

What did Sazerac do? They issued one press release that announced tight supplies of certain products and explained allocation. Since then, Mark Brown and other executives there have done interviews when asked. The "whiskey shortage" story is not something Sazerac is hyping.

Jim Beam and Wild Turkey did hype it a bit when they announced there was no shortage of their fine products.

The hysteria has come about because so many writers and editors find the words "whiskey shortage" irresistible. It's the press pack mentality. They get pissy with me when I tell them there's nothing much to it. Then they go find some microdistiller with six months under his belt who gives them a good quote or two because he wants to get his distillery's name in the paper.

One unhappy writer said to me, "If there's no whiskey shortage, why are all these stories being written about it?" To which I replied, "Why are you writing one?" That ended the conversation.

They especially don't like it when I tell them we're as likely to have a glut as we are to experience a worsening shortage.

Sazerac is pretty much going about its business as usual. As a cats-and-dogs company, their business model is to flood the marketplace with brands, something for everyone. They spend very little marketing them. Their product line is massive and they're constantly tweaking it. Drop an age statement here, clean up a label design there. And sometimes prices go up. It's all tweaks, not 'massive' anything. Just normal, day-to-day business.

The only thing different is that they're producing like crazy. That distillery has probably never in its history produced as much distillate as it is producing now. I haven't been to Barton recently, but I don't think that's true there, so they've still got unused capacity.

With all of the additional whiskey they are making, if demand continues to exceed supply, Mr. Goldring (Sazerac's owner) will be a very happy man.

Edited July 9, 2014 by cowdery

[TunnelTiger]

In NJ, I have never had any trouble getting any BT product. BT, ER, Blantons, etc... So, I can't say that I have experience any shortages.

Haven't noticed any shortage of any BT products (Weller 12 doesn't count because Texas buys it all) in NWGA.

[zillah]

Chuck, it is unfortunate that a writer can't capitalize on the truth either.

There is no Whiskey Shortage still contains the buzzword Whiskey Shortage.

I am sure someone will come around eventually.

[PaulO]

... Sazerac ... a cats-and-dogs company ... something for everyone...

I love it. They should put that on a big billboard.

.

[squire]

Heyyyy, I like cats and dogs.

[jburlowski]

What did Sazerac do? They issued one press release that announced tight supplies of certain products and explained allocation. Since then, Mark Brown and other executives there have done interviews when asked. The "whiskey shortage" story is not something Sazerac is hyping.

Jim Beam and Wild Turkey did hype it a bit when they announced there was no shortage of their fine products.

The hysteria has come about because so many writers and editors find the words "whiskey shortage" irresistible. It's the press pack mentality. They get pissy with me when I tell them there's nothing much to it. Then they go find some microdistiller with six months under his belt who gives them a good quote or two because he wants to get his distillery's name in the paper.

One unhappy writer said to me, "If there's no whiskey shortage, why are all these stories being written about it?" To which I replied, "Why are you writing one?" That ended the conversation.

They especially don't like it when I tell them we're as likely to have a glut as we are to experience a worsening shortage.

Sazerac is pretty much going about its business as usual. As a cats-and-dogs company, their business model is to flood the marketplace with brands, something for everyone. They spend very little marketing them. Their product line is massive and they're constantly tweaking it. Drop an age statement here, clean up a label design there. And sometimes prices go up. It's all tweaks, not 'massive' anything. Just normal, day-to-day business.

The only thing different is that they're producing like crazy. That distillery has probably never in its history produced as much distillate as it is producing now. I haven't been to Barton recently, but I don't think that's true there, so they've still got unused capacity.

With all of the additional whiskey they are making, if demand continues to exceed supply, Mr. Goldring (Sazerac's owner) will be a very happy man.

Well said, Chuck. And, in case one hasn't noticed, the uber-bottom-shelf Benchmark brand has been largely shifted into the red-hot flavored bourbon segment.

[BootsOnTheGround]

...because that particular market wasn't moving their products (fast enough)...

Bingo. Similar to food. I love this certain bacon that's only sold at one co-op in town. I've asked 'my store' to carry it, but they won't because they couldn't sell it quickly enough and the cooler is only so big. But guess what, it's all good because those that really do want it just go to the other store.

yip. nothing makes something sell faster than telling people they cant have it

You could also tell everyone your cost is going up 30-50% and stoke the anxiety and propagate the shortage meme at the same time.

[petrel800]

yip. nothing makes something sell faster than telling people they cant have it

It's the old Cartmanland marketing technique.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmanland

[393foureyedfox]

It's the old Cartmanland marketing technique.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmanland

exactly. i miss that show, since it vanished from Netflix a while back

[callmeox]

exactly. i miss that show, since it vanished from Netflix a while back

Topics, we have them here.

If you want to talk about missing television shows of yore, open another thread.

[JGriff]

Seen a bunch of BT in Atlanta in the last couple of weeks. Very little Eagle Rare and no Weller in sight. Capital City Package. Good selection and nice folks.

[RepTucker]

In MS it went from being a commissioned stock item at the state to Special order only. Only a few cases left floating around on the shelves around me. No word on when it will return here.

[RepTucker]

In MS it went from being a commissioned stock item at the state to Special order only. Only a few cases left floating around on the shelves around me. No word on when it will return here.

[WhiskyRI]

I had a conversation with a retailer and was told that they can only order 2 bottles a week from the distributor because the priority for BT is to keep the limited quantities available for on-premise. So maybe the "shortage" is being exacerbated by BT's growing presence in bars - I know I can find them a lot easier now then I used to be able to. Bars or hotels that in the past usually only had the Beam "Small Batch" bourbons along with JD, now seem to have a few BT choices alongside the Beam small batch.

[p_elliott]

I haven't been able to get Blanton's in months.

[TunnelTiger]

Blanton's is on all my dealers shelves. Prices range from $51.99 to $59.99 depending how close the store is to I75.

[393foureyedfox]

Blanton's is on all my dealers shelves. Prices range from $51.99 to $59.99 depending how close the store is to I75.

yeah, Blantons and BT was everywhere in FL and GA last week. no signs of shortages there

[SBOmarc]

I just moved from Pennsylvania, a control state, To Las Vegas... Not only are BT products scarce in Liquor Stores, but also hard to find in the bars I have visited. Before any locals jump on this post, I've only been here for a couple of weeks.

[HighHorse]

There's more demand right now than they have product to supply. They can't fill every order they get. It's really no more complicated than that. I was up there picking barrels with a retailer and we were limited. That's not really unusual. They try to keep all of their "regular" retail customers happy. Allotment makes sense. That way you can still find it.

Form a relationship with your retailer. Get notified when your favs arrive. Drink. Enjoy!

[beerfactory]

I am in KS, my local liquor store owner made sure to tell me he had gotten an allocation of Wellers when I was there yesterday. Had I read this thread beforehand, I would have paid more attention. I was there to order a different bourbon.

[JDSmith619]

There's a number of places around KC that are discounting BT (750 and 1.5). It's getting harder and harder to find Blantons and ETL

[EagleRiver]

What did Sazerac do? They issued one press release that announced tight supplies of certain products and explained allocation. Since then, Mark Brown and other executives there have done interviews when asked. The "whiskey shortage" story is not something Sazerac is hyping.

Jim Beam and Wild Turkey did hype it a bit when they announced there was no shortage of their fine products.

The hysteria has come about because so many writers and editors find the words "whiskey shortage" irresistible. It's the press pack mentality. They get pissy with me when I tell them there's nothing much to it. Then they go find some microdistiller with six months under his belt who gives them a good quote or two because he wants to get his distillery's name in the paper.

One unhappy writer said to me, "If there's no whiskey shortage, why are all these stories being written about it?" To which I replied, "Why are you writing one?" That ended the conversation.

They especially don't like it when I tell them we're as likely to have a glut as we are to experience a worsening shortage.

Sazerac is pretty much going about its business as usual. As a cats-and-dogs company, their business model is to flood the marketplace with brands, something for everyone. They spend very little marketing them. Their product line is massive and they're constantly tweaking it. Drop an age statement here, clean up a label design there. And sometimes prices go up. It's all tweaks, not 'massive' anything. Just normal, day-to-day business.

The only thing different is that they're producing like crazy. That distillery has probably never in its history produced as much distillate as it is producing now. I haven't been to Barton recently, but I don't think that's true there, so they've still got unused capacity.

With all of the additional whiskey they are making, if demand continues to exceed supply, Mr. Goldring (Sazerac's owner) will be a very happy man.

You can't really be living in Illinois? Sazerac shortages have been going on drastically here since last year. Wirtz has BT, all the Weller, Elmer T, Sazerac Rye, Eagle Rare, Blants and several others all on super limited allocation. I'm not saying you can't find stuff at all, but to think there aren't some serious shortages going on from BT you must really have your head in the sand. They wouldn't be giving up sales left and right if there wasn't a shortage.