No Batch Numbers on 375ml Joseph Magnus Straight Bourbon Whiskey?

[IamMatt]

In my limited experience, it appears that Joseph Magnus (Triple Cask Finished) Straight Bourbon Whiskey has a batch number on the label of the 750 ml bottles but no batch number on the 375ml bottles.  Coppercraft told me that the 375ml and 750 ml have the same juice in them and that the 375s are discontinued.  I didn't ask about the batch numbers, though.

 

Anybody have any insight on this?  Any way to know what batch is in a 375ml?  And are the batches different enough to care?  Thanks.

[smokinjoe]

I don’t think there is Anyone here that could possibly shed any light on this, whatsoever.  

[IamMatt]

I'm Not sure ANyone here Could likelY Find the ReAL reason theEY are labeled that way.

[smokinjoe]

8 hours ago, IamMatt said:

I'm Not sure ANyone here Could likelY Find the ReAL reason theEY are labeled that way.

Cute.  

[FasterHorses]

Not to hijack but another peculiarity about magnus .. there is no age statement on their single barrels. I asked em about it and i got an interesting response. I’ll see if i can dig it up…

 

here it is.. and i hope it is not uncool of me to post.  Besides I havent seen any single barrels in a while.

 

”We do not place age statements on any of our products. When we re-established the company in 2015, our founders made the strategic decision to produce only NAS products so that our Master Blender would have the flexibility and freedom to work with a range of ages and flavor profiles. Additionally, the TTB approval type for our labels dictates that we cannot legally add an age statements to our labels, however, we are free to reference the ages of whiskies in our products in our sales collateral, social media posts, etc. “

 

 

[WhiskeyBlender]

Hey Fellas @IamMatt @smokinjoe and @FasterHorses, Nancy here. Sorry I'm just now seeing this post from last month. Wow, the 375's have been discontinued for quite a long time now. I'm not sure why we didn't put batch #'s on the 375's- maybe it was just too much work to do on those small bottles? An honest mistake or oversight? Unfortunately I don't know the answer. 

 

That said, those would have come from the Magnus Washington D.C. era (2015-October 2020), and probably more in the 2017 to 2019 year range. For the life of me, I don't remember where we would have been in the batch numbers around then, but I can say that the Bourbon in those bottles ought to be about 11 to 12+ years old, maybe even a little more than that . Does that help at all @IamMatt? And have you seen any JMB 375's still out there in the wild recently? 

 

By the way, I had a good laugh at your post with the letter caps! 

 

@FasterHorses, that's right, the Magnus single barrels have never had an age statement on them. I don't know about the TTB approval type for those labels, but what I can say is that when the single barrel program existed, the ages of the stock were in the 11 to 14 year old range. There were about 10 or 15 barrels that had been sourced from Dickel (which on a tangent, to set the record straight, was never used in any Magnus whiskey product. I insisted that all of that stock either be used/buried in cocktails in the Murray Hill Club Lounge & Bar at the distillery, or sold off as single barrels for those that like it. I'm not a fan of Flintstones chewy vitamins, so I didn't want it contaminating any of the other products! ), but with majority of the single barrels coming from the MGP 21% BBN "V" yeast profile. A few single barrels out there came from the MPG 21% BBN "Q" yeast profile. I hope that helps give a little deeper insight into that program, my friend! 

 

Cheers!

Nancy

Edited October 19, 2022 by WhiskeyBlender

[IamMatt]

3 minutes ago, WhiskeyBlender said:

That said, those would have come from the Magnus Washington D.C. era (2015-October 2020), and probably more in the 2017 to 2019 year range. For the life of me, I don't remember where we would have been in the batch numbers around then, but I can say that the Bourbon in those bottles ought to be about 11 to 12+ years old, maybe even a little more than that . Does that help at all @IamMatt? And have you seen any JMB 375's still out there in the wild recently?

Thanks for the info, Nancy.  I have not had enough experience with JAM to have an opinion about the various batches so my question was mostly out of curiosity.

 

To your question, A liquor store here in SoCal was having a sort of July 4 party/tasting event and a gentleman named Mitch provided tastes of the Straight Bourbon, Cigar Blend, and Murray Hill Club.  I don't think he works for Magnus; I think maybe he works for the distributor (?).  The store only had the Straight Bourbon, and only a 375.  Tasting them convinced me to buy the only 375 they had on the shelf. 

 

In September they still had the 375s listed on their website so I went in and bought the two 375s they had on the shelf.  Their website now shows it "Out of Stock" so I am guessing I bought their last 3 bottles in July and September.  The new owner bought the store in the last year or two and is turning it from a discount liquor store to more of a destination store, with store picks from many distilleries (he just got back from Kentucky), tasting events, etc.  Next time I see him I'll ask about the history of his 375s.  Cheers!

[IamMatt]

The wife and I attended LA Magazine's Whiskey Festival in Long Beach last night and the same Mitch--who I now know is the West Coast Area Manager for sales and marketing company Blue Ridge Spirits--was there representing so I got to revisit the three Magnus expressions.  I told him what you said, @WhiskeyBlender , and he opined that my 375s are "almost collector's items" but I think they are drinking and sharing items.  Yeah it was fun to name drop,  "well, Nancy Fraley told me..."  Cheers.