Dear Lord, What Have I Done?

[Joe_Blowe]

Friday, July 22. I receive my first order from Binny's. One bottle each of Rittenhouse Rye BIB, AAA, and BT. None of which are available in California. Spend the weekend sampling back and forth, to and fro.

Spend hours pondering Ancient Ancient Age -- how do they sell this for 14 bucks! If this was sold in my area, it would easily be the main, go-to, house pour.

And Rittenhouse? Jeez, is this possibly the best bang-for-the-buck in all the whisk(e)y world? Twelve dollars?!

Buffalo Trace. Hmmm, first impression not up to par with the other two. Try again the next night. Try again one more time. Ahh, now I'm getting it! To me, it's like the EWSB '95 -- at the bottle's halfway point I'm going to realize that I must have this in the cabinet. It's like nothing else in my (limited) stash...

I can only hope one day that one of these will make it to L.A. Fifteen bucks in shipping is the only thing that left a sour taste in my mouth...

[Ken Weber]

Thanks for the compliments about Buffalo Trace and AAA! I really appreciate the service that Binny's provides, however, living on the west coast, you want to try www.applejacks.com. They are in Colorado and their shipping may be less. Still, Binny's is hard to beat.

Ken

[clayton]

Ken - You might want to verify that URL. Unless Kellogg's has started adding bourbon to their cereals (and let me say that it's a fine idea), I believe you probably meant http://www.applejack.com/

[Ken Weber]

You are right, no s on the end! Guess what I had for breakfast the day I wrote this? Yep, Applejacks (stole my sons favorite cereal!).

Ken

[LeNell]

And Rittenhouse? Jeez, is this possibly the best bang-for-the-buck in all the whisk(e)y world? Twelve dollars?!

I definitely agree. I'm elated that it's finally available a bit more easily here in NYC. It makes an amazing Manhattan if you ever tire of just drinking it on it's own.

[AVB]

You might want to call www.wineandliquordepot.com for thier prices. They are in Cali but don't have their bourbons on the web.

BTW, I don't think $15 for 3 bottles is that bad, it costs me $25-30 to get one from the UK.

[Joe_Blowe]

You might want to call www.wineandliquordepot.com for thier prices.

Oh, I tried all of the majors in my area before ordering: Wine and Liquor Depot, Duke of Bourbon, Hi-Time, Beverage Warehouse, etc. Even asked BevMo about special ordering.

The problem is not with the retailers, but with the distrutors (e.g. Young's Market Co.). If a local store can't order out of a California-approved catalog or from a Calif. dist., then you're SOL. California sucks in that regard, but at least I can order over the Internet. Counting my blessings...

Maybe someone like Mr. Weber has some ideas on what path to take to get my locals to stock something like BT?

[bluesbassdad]

Maybe someone like Mr. Weber has some ideas on what path to take to get my locals to stock something like BT?

[Joe_Blowe]

Oh yes, I'm aware of the scarcity of BT. That was a bad example, I suppose. But you see my point -- it's a "control" state in the sense that I can get anything I want, as long as it's on the list! Otherwise, it's up to the Internet...

Since we're on the topic of BT, I've been meaning to ask a question. I see a lot of references to BT as the distillery, as in BT makes Eagle Rare, Blanton's, Weller, etc. Is Buffalo Trace the "accepted" service mark or tradename for Sazerac? Why not say that everything shown at http://www.greatbourbon.com/ is made by Sazerac? Will there be an eventual corporate name change for the parent company?

[Ken Weber]

The Buffalo Trace Distillery is owned by the Sazerac Company, which is owned by Magnolia Marketing, which recently changed its name to Republic something or other. The bottom line is that a single gentleman owns the whole shooting match. Some of the companies are into production (Buffalo Trace), some into marketing (Sazerac), some into distribution (Republic Distributing), and some into selling agency brands and wine (Monsiour Henri).

We don't mention that Buffalo Trace Distillery makes Eagle Rare, Weller, Van Winkle, etc., because we have chosen to retain the original names of the now closed distilleries.

The Sazerac name has been around since the early 1800s and I doubt it will ever go away.

Ken

[BourbonJoe]

Ken,

I'll drink to that, only those darn DBA's are driving me nuts. It's just too hard to figure out who makes what.

Joe