The Removal of the Age Statement

[Guinny_Ire]

Several bourbons are going this route and you can argue over the reasoning as to why but it pisses me off that I bought Old Charter 8 yesterday thinking it was 8 yr old and not the new no age statement 8. Personally I think the trend will be to upcharge eventually for an age statement, because it has an age statement. So I personally will not buy bottles that have no age statement.  The other thing I will be interested to see is the amount of Bourbon, and which ones, that occupies the shelves after the holiday season. I'm hoping we're seeing a peak in the trend. If you truly love bourbon, you'll want this, you'll want the posers to move onto the next "excitement".  Lord I hope it's wine again. 'nuff said.

[Flyfish]

Keep in mind, though, that some quite good bourbons have not lost their age statement because they never had one. How old is BT or 4RSmB or OGD114 or even Larceny? Still, I appreciate your disappointment. My regular pours once included AAA10YO that no longer exists even without an age statement.  VOB6YO is now just VOB6. EC12 moved the 12 to the back label and then just forgot to print it at all. WT went from 12 or 8 to NAS. Beam Black went from double aged (8YO) to "extra aged."  Whatever that means. KC9YO is soon to be just a fond memory of SB geezers who get all nostalgic about how good Old Crow was back in the day. Still, as my old Pappy used to say, if you're not with the girl you love, love the girl you're with. 

[BDanner]

The disappearing age statement does not trouble me as much as the deception that goes into it. If Very Old Barton is not 6 years Old anymore, stop putting a "6" on the neck of the bottle. When JB Black went NAS, the first label design for the "Extra Aged" placed a "B" in a stylized font that looked suspiciously like an "8" at a casual glance. When I saw and picked up my first bottle of VOB this past week, when I saw the 6 without the words "aged" and "years" I knew it wasn't a 6 year product, but a less knowledgeable consumer might decide to purchase it over another similarly priced product based on believing it was 6 years old. Not to mention the fact that the store clerk that rang up my purchase congratulated me on being able to pick up a 6 year old handle of bourbon for $25. But, I agree with Fly..."If you can't be with the one you love? Then love the one you're with."

Edited September 27, 2016 by BDanner

[Guinny_Ire]

It is leaving the number on the bottle that is pissing me off. Good news is Total Wine in St. Louis had a case of Weller 12 last Friday. Was gone in 40 minutes according to the manager I spoke to.