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Saz sued over Old Charter "8"


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While it does seem like it might mislead an unwary consumer, the price (under $23) isn't wholly unreasonable for the liquid within the bottle.     The fact that it isn't the bargain it had been when the bottle contained Bourbon aged at least 8-years, doesn't change the current value of the contents.      I don't personally find the 'new' Charter #8 to be very satisfying to my palate; but, I wasn't a huge fan of the brand, even before the practice of aging this Bourbon for at least 8-years was discontinued.    That is of course only my peculiar preference. 

I am of two minds on this lawsuit.    On one hand I hate to see the blatantly misleading labeling, and wonder if a lesson for Sazerac and maybe by extension others watching, might be a good thing.    On the other hand I hate to see any quality Bourbon distiller de-funded to enrich someone (or maybe many people) who really haven't been harmed to any great degree.   It is, of course the American Dream to find someone with deep pockets and successfully sue 'em to enrich oneself; rather than earn a living in some productive manner.    So I guess this is pretty close to standard practice for many pursuing that dream.     It'll be interesting to see where this leads.

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Bourbons have always played numbers games...WT 8 year, EW 10 year, JB 8 year, etc. While it may be deceptive, I think the intent is to subtly change while keeping you drinking. If you follow Bourbon at all you should know about these changes before they even hit the shelves. 

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This might not be a bad thing.  I doubt the class action wins, at least I hope they don't.  Pretty much a money grab by some lawyers.  

 

On the other hand this will cost Sazerac some money to defend and may change how producers label their whiskey, which would be a good thing.  There are plenty of examples in the bourbon world.  AAA "10 Star",  VOB BIB "8", etc.  This could make those numbers go away and that would be good.

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This is good. I like most of Sazerac's bourbons, but it's deliberate deception especially in this case and in the case of VOB. It's time for it to stop.

Edited by Josh
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I agree it's time to stop, take the number off. I always hated the fact that bourbon that was aged for a certain number of yrs. -example: EC12, KC 9 yr. can remove the age statement, put in younger bourbon and STILL sell it for the same price! But that's just the way the world turns nowadays. I just seen an advertisement about certain products that you buy in the grocery store, where they changed the shape of the container ---very deceiving like -- thinner box, or an indented bottom vs. flat, decreasing volume and still charging the same price.

 

Buyer beware!

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Yep, I'm totally being taken advantage of by OC8, VOB6 BIB and JD #7.  I get the rationale for the suit, but it's not like anyone is paying top dollar for these brands and/or being misled to ever think that any of these are (or ever were) a 'top shelf' product.

 

In all seriousness, I think the larger problem lies within the NDP's. 

 

But that's another thread... 

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Along these lines, I've always found it interesting that a bottle of Wathen's Single Barrel has the word "eight" in huge letters and in the vicinity is the word "years," but the jumble of words and fonts actually read: "Eight Generations; 230 Years."  Maybe I'm just looking for conspiracy where none exist...

 

Jason

wathens_single_barrel_bourbon.jpg

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I really liked OC10 and was disappointed that it was discontinued.  However, I would be even more disappointed to have my name linked to a lawsuit concerning my belief that OC8 is no longer the quality whiskey it was in 2014.  :lol:

 

 

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4 hours ago, jp_stargazer said:

Along these lines, I've always found it interesting that a bottle of Wathen's Single Barrel has the word "eight" in huge letters and in the vicinity is the word "years," but the jumble of words and fonts actually read: "Eight Generations; 230 Years."  Maybe I'm just looking for conspiracy where none exist...

 

Jason

wathens_single_barrel_bourbon.jpg

Benchmark also has a big 8 on the bottle. One of the Dickel products also has a number on the label that has nothing to do with the age of the whiskey

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Lawyers and lawsuits are ruining this country, that's where we get all this politically correct BS i today's world. 

I don't like being misled by labels either, but I refuse to support litigious bullcrap.

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21 minutes ago, Bourbonmakesmepoop said:

Lawyers and lawsuits are ruining this country, that's where we get all this politically correct BS i today's world. 

I don't like being misled by labels either, but I refuse to support litigious bullcrap.

 

Feel free to say exactly how you feel. Don't worry about your anonymous audience who may be in the group you are stereotyping and blaming for your troubles and who is just here to discuss bourbon. What is your ethnicity and sexual preference? I'd like to make a few generalizations about groups of individuals based on my limited interaction and experience with unrelated individuals. 

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10 minutes ago, Charlutz said:

 

Feel free to say exactly how you feel. Don't worry about your anonymous audience who may be in the group you are stereotyping and blaming for your troubles and who is just here to discuss bourbon. What is your ethnicity and sexual preference? I'd like to make a few generalizations about groups of individuals based on my limited interaction and experience with unrelated individuals. 

Didn't mean to stereotype friend, no offense was intended. Maybe you're right and I spoke out of turn after a few too many pours. My apologies

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28 minutes ago, Bourbonmakesmepoop said:

Didn't mean to stereotype friend, no offense was intended. Maybe you're right and I spoke out of turn after a few too many pours. My apologies

 

Apology accepted. As a lawyer, believe me, I've got a thick skin and I have 20 years' experience listening to lawyer jokes and other jabs. I worked hard and invested a lot of money in my degree, my career and my profession. I'm pretty sure I haven't ruined the country. The world economy seems to have been in a decade long slump so I'd put that somewhere ahead of the lawyers on the coaches' poll of who ruined the country, if indeed the country is ruined, which I don't think it is. I just live everyday trying to do right by my family and a lot of my earning power comes from my profession. I sleep well at night. I hope you do too, truly.

Edited by Charlutz
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At least you're not a pencil pusher, oh wait that's me. We get blamed for every cost cutting move that's made whether it's good for business or not. "Michael Thigpen, Certified Public Accountant"

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9 hours ago, Paddy said:

Yep, I'm totally being taken advantage of by OC8, VOB6 BIB and JD #7.  I get the rationale for the suit, but it's not like anyone is paying top dollar for these brands and/or being misled to ever think that any of these are (or ever were) a 'top shelf' product.

 

In all seriousness, I think the larger problem lies within the NDP's. 

 

But that's another thread... 

I'm with Paddy. I just can't get that worked up about this. 

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At least you're not a pencil pusher, oh wait that's me. We get blamed for every cost cutting move that's made whether it's good for business or not. "Michael Thigpen, Certified Public Accountant"

Sailing in the same ship as you......

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

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9 hours ago, Thig said:

At least you're not a pencil pusher, oh wait that's me. We get blamed for every cost cutting move that's made whether it's good for business or not. "Michael Thigpen, Certified Public Accountant"

Hold on dammit! I'm in sales & marketing, and I ruined the country!!!!  I lie, steal, cheat, and unethically get my customers as well as my own company to do things they don't want to do through subterfuge and chicanery!!!  

 

Peopje just don't realize how hard it is to live each day with such power...:P

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1 hour ago, smokinjoe said:

Hold on dammit! I'm in sales & marketing, and I ruined the country!!!!  I lie, steal, cheat, and unethically get my customers as well as my own company to do things they don't want to do through subterfuge and chicanery!!!  

 

Peopje just don't realize how hard it is to live each day with such power...:P

Joe, I live and awe, if not outright admiration, for all you accomplish from your spot outside the production sector of the company; and mainly from your perch high atop the GBS!    Heee-Ha!    You are my hero!    Keep ruining 'The Country', Dude!   Happy Holiday to you and yours.

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4 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

Hold on dammit! I'm in sales & marketing, and I ruined the country!!!!  I lie, steal, cheat, and unethically get my customers as well as my own company to do things they don't want to do through subterfuge and chicanery!!!  

 

Peopje just don't realize how hard it is to live each day with such power...:P

 

As long as you're not putting misleading numbers on whiskey labels, I guess we can all agree to look the other way.

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In fairness, I disagree with the practice and am all for transparency but if you don't like it, don't buy the product, your dollar is your vote. In all cases, they never actually lie about the age of the whiskey so it is difficult to complain too much. If you are knowledgable about whiskey you should have a good understanding of the labeling practices and not be too concerned about bottom shelf product with meaningless numbers on the packaging. If you are not knowledgable about whiskey it probably makes no difference to you anyway. Also it would literally take about 2 minutes for the average consumer to educate themselves about what whiskey, bourbon, age statement etc. mean.

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Wathen's used to be 8 years old.  I bought just one bottle after it became 8 whatever.  To me, the NAS version was not as good.  I stopped buying it.  Companies have every right to drop an age statement.  Take the number off the bottle too.  Have no number, or what number does correspond to contents.

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