VOB Label Change

[John B]

I noticed on a visit to my local liquor store today that the VOB 100 bottle label no longer states BIB, just Crafted.  I wondered what is up with that...first the 6 yr. and now BIB?  I checked the bunker at home and the 3 bottles I have are all BIB with the last purchased a month or so ago at Binny's.  Will have to try a bottle of the "new" label to see if I can tell a difference.  I use it as a mixer, so maybe not that important??

 

John B

Potomac, IL

[kevinbrink]

It's a mix of distillation seasons now so it no longer meets the requirements for BIB. 

[PaulO]

Sad to hear this, but thanks for the heads up.

It's a favorite of mine.

I will have to check the unopened bottle in the cabinet.  I'd say a trip across town is in order. 

[cdcdguy]

Could this be the result of the warehouse collapse?

[kevinbrink]

19 minutes ago, cdcdguy said:

Could this be the result of the warehouse collapse?

I wouldn't think it was a factor, the change from 6 years to NAS happened prior to the collapse so things were headed in this direction. Barton had, it seems from some internet sleuthing, 29 warehouses with around 2,000,000 barrels and if every single barrel from that rick house wasn't salvageable the loss was estimated to be between 18,000 and 20,000 barrels so around 1% of the total. Barton stores more than bourbon in their rick houses so it is even less likely to have had a substantial impact.

[cdcdguy]

3 minutes ago, kevinbrink said:

I wouldn't think it was a factor, the change from 6 years to NAS happened prior to the collapse so things were headed in this direction. Barton had, it seems from some internet sleuthing, 29 warehouses with around 2,000,000 barrels and if every single barrel from that rick house wasn't salvageable the loss was estimated to be between 18,000 and 20,000 barrels so around 1% of the total. Barton stores more than bourbon in their rick houses so it is even less likely to have had a substantial impact.

That's a very good point. I am going to guess just distilled in different seasons may not make a huge difference in taste. Still, we have lost 3 affordable BIB in the last year or so. HH6, Old Fitz went upscale, up price, and now VOB. 

[kevinbrink]

5 minutes ago, cdcdguy said:

That's a very good point. I am going to guess just distilled in different seasons may not make a huge difference in taste. Still, we have lost 3 affordable BIB in the last year or so. HH6, Old Fitz went upscale, up price, and now VOB. 

Well VOB went a little less upscale with 1792 BIB, I would guess they may have also done this to differentiate the two products more.

[kcgumbohead]

Didn't make it to KY in'18 and my last VOB bib handle just ran dry so I was looking forward to restocking in April. VOB bib is a favorite of mine and I really wish Saz wouldn't f**k with it. Its not a sought after expression, its limited in distro, a totally under the radar bottle, c'mon dammit, leave it alone!! Enough with the "brand extensions" already!  I'll just buy more WT and OGB bib until this fetishized market comes back to earth, and  since 101 & OGD are by no means concessions Saz can keep their "crafted" distillate, I will shop elsewhere.

[cdcdguy]

4 minutes ago, kcgumbohead said:

Didn't make it to KY in'18 and my last VOB bib handle just ran dry so I was looking forward to restocking in April. VOB bib is a favorite of mine and I really wish Saz wouldn't f**k with it. Its not a sought after expression, its limited in distro, a totally under the radar bottle, c'mon dammit, leave it alone!! Enough with the "brand extensions" already!  I'll just buy more WT and OGB bib until this fetishized market comes back to earth, and  since 101 & OGD are by no means concessions Saz can keep their "crafted" distillate, I will shop elsewhere.

I understand how you feel. I am afraid my favorites EWBIB and JTSBIB will go Kentucky only, or just go away period. I now buy a case of each every few months just for piece of mind.

[kevinbrink]

16 minutes ago, kcgumbohead said:

Didn't make it to KY in'18 and my last VOB bib handle just ran dry so I was looking forward to restocking in April. VOB bib is a favorite of mine and I really wish Saz wouldn't f**k with it. Its not a sought after expression, its limited in distro, a totally under the radar bottle, c'mon dammit, leave it alone!! Enough with the "brand extensions" already!  I'll just buy more WT and OGB bib until this fetishized market comes back to earth, and  since 101 & OGD are by no means concessions Saz can keep their "crafted" distillate, I will shop elsewhere.

Limited distro bottles seem to be the ones on the cutting block these days. Will be interesting to see how far off profile the non BIB strays you would think less of a difference from this to the recent version, than the recent version to the 6 year but time will tell. 

[kcgumbohead]

18 minutes ago, kevinbrink said:

Limited distro bottles seem to be the ones on the cutting block these days. Will be interesting to see how far off profile the non BIB strays you would think less of a difference from this to the recent version, than the recent version to the 6 year but time will tell. 

Maybe I am just getting cranky(er?) in my advancing age but dammit the increased production thats been aging over these last few years is only now starting to appear as bottles like Weller reappear, smaller quantities, but positive signs certainly. Rather than repopulating core brands the proliferation of "extensions" like 1792 bib or that  Weller CYOB appear and further dilute an already strained inventory whose recovery is in its infancy. Limited distro like VOV bib and HH bib are such small volume expressions relative to nationally distributed brands that it irks me that they are being targeted. They can't have that much of an impact so leave em to the niche audience thats been supporting them and throttle back the vomitting of x,y,z versions of the various brands until you have enough stock to selectively release something limited or different or extended or whatever the hell they are trying to do until such time that the inventory can support it.

 

Yeah, its a rant :). 

[PaulO]

So, I scooped up a couple extras.  I left two on the shelf.  It's interesting the "bottled in bond" is so lightly printed it's barely readable.  The letters are red on top of the shiny gold part of the label.

Also, I noticed the plastic top changed at some point recently.  Newer ones seem like a harder type of plastic.