Belle Meade Sherry Cask

[Jamie76]

I recently ordered a couple bottles of Belle Meade Sherry finished bourbon.  It was advertised as the "9" year bottle along with a picture showing the age on the bottle.  When I received the bottles, neither had a "9" on them.  Should I assume these are not the 9 year old bottles?  

[CB.]

The website says 9+ yr old. I would assume its atleast 9. It needs to be for the price

[DeepCover]

Can you post a pic?

[Jamie76]

It was my understanding the Cognac and Madeira bottles had no age statement.  However the Sherry did.  So don't know.

[Jamie76]

Interestingly, the store just changed the bottle description on their site removing the "9".

[Jamie76]

And to place the cherry on top.  I call them today and they inform me, this bottle I have is the new bottle as Belle Meade no longer guarantees a 9 year product.  "Oh but if you want a refund, you can return the bottles you received."  Yeah ok.

[Jamie76]

Received an email from Austin at Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery.  The bottles are indeed 9 year old bourbon.  He said they needed to make a labeling change and remove the 9. 

 

Sorry for the multiple posts...

[tanstaafl2]

I don't know if the NAS bottle is still a 9yo product but I certainly have my concerns that it is not. It is most certainly different batches though and there is no indication if they are using new sherry barrels with each batch, reusing the original ones or doing some mix of the two. Also if they are true older sherry barrels or the ones that have just been soaked in sherry that was subsequently dumped. Not sure I could tell the difference between the two. I would like to think I can but probably not!

 

I am sure however that I thought the original age stated one was quite good. The non age stated, not so much (tasted SBS by several different people with essentially the same opinion). I would buy another age stated bottle but I have no interest in the non age stated one, especially given the premium cost.

 

I did not care for the Cognac and Madeira versions either (both NAS) and I am one who is a fan of finished bourbon and whiskey in general. A shame because I know they have picked pretty decent whiskey in the past. But I suspect the rapid increase in cost of sourced whiskey has taken a toll. Not even sure it is all MGP any more.

[lcpfratn]

 ...
I did not care for the Cognac and Madeira versions either (both NAS) and I am one who is a fan of finished bourbon and whiskey in general. A shame because I know they have picked pretty decent whiskey in the past. But I suspect the rapid increase in cost of sourced whiskey has taken a toll. Not even sure it is all MGP any more.

I’ve got a Cognac XO finished Belle Meade that I bet you’d like. It’s from a PS barrel that was a joint selection between Lincoln Road Package in Hattiesburg, MS and Carothers Wine & Spirits in Franklin, TN.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tanstaafl2]

2 minutes ago, lcpfratn said:

I’ve got a Cognac XO finished Belle Meade that I bet you’d like. It’s from a PS barrel that was a joint selection between Lincoln Road Package in Hattiesburg, MS and Carothers Wine & Spirits in Franklin, TN.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Now that would be worth considering! Don't think I have ever seen any of the finished whiskey as a store selection!

[Jamie76]

38 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I don't know if the NAS bottle is still a 9yo product but I certainly have my concerns that it is not. It is most certainly different batches though and there is no indication if they are using new sherry barrels with each batch, reusing the original ones or doing some mix of the two. Also if they are true older sherry barrels or the ones that have just been soaked in sherry that was subsequently dumped. Not sure I could tell the difference between the two. I would like to think I can but probably not!

 

I am sure however that I thought the original age stated one was quite good. The non age stated, not so much (tasted SBS by several different people with essentially the same opinion). I would buy another age stated bottle but I have no interest in the non age stated one, especially given the premium cost.

 

I did not care for the Cognac and Madeira versions either (both NAS) and I am one who is a fan of finished bourbon and whiskey in general. A shame because I know they have picked pretty decent whiskey in the past. But I suspect the rapid increase in cost of sourced whiskey has taken a toll. Not even sure it is all MGP any more.

Indeed.  I can only go by what GB said.  However, one has to wonder why the need for the removal of the age statement.  I decided to go ahead and order some age stated from another source.  At least I'll be able to do a side by side.

[cdcdguy]

Great question. If it is 9 years, why take it off the label? Why make the labeling change? My guess, if your bottle really is 9 year, the next batch won't be.

[lcpfratn]

Now that would be worth considering! Don't think I have ever seen any of the finished whiskey as a store selection!

From what I was told by Carothers W&S, it is the first one that Belle Meade has done. It wasn't cheap, but after a very generous tasting pour, I couldn't leave without one.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[WhiskeyBlender]

2 minutes ago, cdcdguy said:

Great question. If it is 9 years, why take it off the label? Why make the labeling change? My guess, if your bottle really is 9 year, the next batch won't be.

Here's a little food for thought as to why that change might have occurred. Either scenario #1: since they are using sourced stock for it, it was probably 9 years old when they bought it, or at least when they first started bottling it. When sourcing whiskey, it usually comes on the market at one particular age so that you'll buy, say, 800 barrels of 9 year old bourbon. As you use that sourced whiskey up over the next few years, it is no longer actually 9 years old, but 10, 11, 12, or more. Thus, the stock is actually much older than what is purported on the bottle. Some producers will then prefer not to have an age statement on the bottle because of that, which might sound odd because you certainly don't want people thinking it is actually YOUNGER than that, but I've seen it happen. 

 

Scenario #2: they didn't initially source enough of the current 9 y.o. stock and have to seek out new sourced barrels as a supplement. Maybe this is only 6, 7, or 8 years old, so they can no longer have 9 years on the bottle. 

 

Although I don't know what is actually going on with Belle Meade, as I haven't worked with them, I will say that I've seen the above 2 scenarios play out many times, so one of the above could be a reason for it. 

[tanstaafl2]

I certainly don't know for sure and defer to your experience in the industry that, as you note, companies could use older whiskey and for some reason not want that on the label of the bottle.

 

But it is not what I would choose to do. There have certainly been occasions where the age stayed on the bottle even when older whiskey was used. For example I would not be surprised if that was the case for KCSB 120 proof which still carries a 9yo age statement but would seem likely to have whiskey older than 9 years given how many older KC store selections there are. VWFRR was labeled as a 13yo for years when it was all but certain it was all a much older whiskey, even before it was finally tanked.

 

But I am inclined to think that scenario 2 is much more likely and that as sourcing of older whiskey continues to get more and more difficult and expensive they are having to buy younger whiskey and perhaps blend it with the 9yo+ whiskey if they still have access to some.

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by tanstaafl2

[Clueby]

I saw the sherry cask in 2 different stores tonight. One store's bottles had the 9 yr, one didn't.