brian12069 Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Last night I cracked open a bottle of Henry Mckenna Single barrel 10 yr BIB. On the bottle it says "we have filled this bottle entirely from a single barrel aged through 40 Kentucky seasons"Huh?...isn't a season a year? I know someone here can clear this up for me. By the way...it was VERY good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbuzbee Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Last night I cracked open a bottle of Henry Mckenna Single barrel 10 yr BIB. On the bottle it says "we have filled this bottle entirely from a single barrel aged through 40 Kentucky seasons"Huh?...isn't a season a year? I know someone here can clear this up for me. By the way...it was VERY good! Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. 4 seasons = 1 year. Odd phrasing though.Cheers,Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Well, traditionally there are two seasons in distilling (spring and fall) so that would suggest a 20 year old product. Some of the Elijah Craig 18 year old is 20 years old or more. Is McKenna now produced by HH? I think it is. That may be your answer. In any case, nice marketing.Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Ken, you may be right.Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbuzbee Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Well, traditionally there are two seasons in distilling (spring and fall) so that would suggest a 20 year old product. Some of the Elijah Craig 18 year old is 20 years old or more. Is McKenna now produced by HH? I think it is. That may be your answer. In any case, nice marketing. Hi Gary, yes, McKenna is HH these days. I was a little confused by that 40 seasons verbage when I first read it. Did the math and figured that was what they were going for....cheers,Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian12069 Posted August 14, 2005 Author Share Posted August 14, 2005 Seems kinda silly to me. Can't they just say 10 years old... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 This is advertising.....those people woudn't know distilling seasons if it hit them in the face so they fall back on what the may have learned in school. Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter. 40 seasons is 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNbourbon Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Well, traditionally there are two seasons in distilling (spring and fall)...Traditionally, that's true, Gary -- but Heaven Hill, since its acquisition of the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, has become the only distiller to operate year-'round. So, does it have four distilling 'seasons', the traditional two, or just one?In any case, HH's website says Henry McKenna Single Barrel is 10 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratcheer Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 I will have to look at my bottle. I could swear it does say 10 years old.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Tim, no doubt you are right, as Ken is. I now see this, too, because bonded means from one distilling season (sorry but that's still true!) and therefore this whiskey must be 10 years old not 20. While it is true age expressions generally refer to the youngest whiskey in the bottle, by definition bonded cannot contain whiskey from more than one season (and therefore also, year) so to state (as you said the website does) that it is 10 years old when in fact it is 20 would not be correct and they wouldn't do that (make an incorrect statement) so it must be 10 years old!Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelshare Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 I will have to look at my bottle. I could swear it does say 10 years old. We swore the same thing, but then looked at hours. It says 10 years old prominently on the front of the label "flap" but it has the "40 seasons" remark inside. Is this how the export bottling reads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 but Heaven Hill, since its acquisition of the Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, has become the only distiller to operate year-'round. We have operated "year round" for years and years and years...Even during the bad snow storms. HH management would go to the operators homes to pick them up for safe travel to work The bottling department stayed closed but the distillery always pumped it out day and night <font color="red"> SEVEN </font> days a week (at the old distillery that burned)! I passed on the mash operator once because they didn't get a day off...Only the "hardcore" work-aholic's held those titles...and loved it! Bettye Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Interesting, of course by defination in a single barrel expression all of the bottle contents would have to been distilled in the same 'season' no matter how a season is measured for the simple reason that all the whiskey came out of the same barrel. Assuming there was no topping of course.Regards,Squire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 those people wouldn't know distilling seasons if it hit them in the face so they fall back on what the may have learned in school. I have to defend here----Larry Kass, is in charge of all corporate communications for Heaven Hill...This man, supervises marketing and the advertising department. It's incredible his knowledge of this industry. I've always heard the old saying, "He's forgotten more that I will ever know". Holds true here...Bettye Jo BooneLine MechanicHeaven Hill Distilleries, INC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killerwhale Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Hi,In our neck of the woods(cardiff,south wales,united kingdom)we have 4 seasons to a year. spring,summer,autumn,(fall) and winter. I am going to look out for that fine bourbon,thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesbassdad Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Personally, I find the expression poetic -- in the sense that it evokes mental images beyond its literal meaning. When I read it, I actually visualized the buds of spring, the oppressive heat of Kentucky summer, the changing colors of autumn and the stark, leafless trees of winter. Even so, I understand that language which adds to my romantic image of the product may simply annoy others. I suppose one task for a marketing person is to gauge the effect of such language upon likely purchasers.Yours truly,Dave Morefield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barturtle Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Okay just a question. The way I have always understood the bottled-in-bond act, was that the whiskey had to the the product of one distillation, and not one distilling season. Since I can't seem to find an actual word-for-word text of the act. Seems that if it had to be the product of one distillation, as opposed to one season, then there would be no way to "mingle" different recipes. If anyone has a copy of this text I'd love to read it.Timothy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 The bottling department stayed closed but the distillery always pumped it out day and night SEVEN days a week (at the old distillery that burned)! You sure about that?Either I have some bad information or someone broke the law, Someone at Beam told me it's not legal to run the still on Sunday,I even think he cited a state law banning it. It's fine to have mash in the fermenters, but they aren't allowed to run any off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boone Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 I am absolutely positive ... There used to be a law that ya couldn't bottle on Sunday but I don't know if that's still in place... Bettye Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratcheer Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Try a search of this site's forums. I am sure the exact language has been posted, before. There was a long, long thread about the exact meaning of the term "bottled in bond" a couple of years (or more) ago.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillman Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 It's one season, Chuck Cowdery, sadly absent from these boards of late, wrote a definitive article on it reproduced on his website. Input "Cowdery" plus "bottled-in-bond" in Yahoo, it should come up pretty fast.Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barturtle Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Thanks,Found it www.straightbourbon.com/25cfr5.pdfpage 29Ichecked to see where I had seen it the other way as well,apparently The Book of Bourbon was where I had seen it before. Oh, well, even the Regan's can't be perfect, but the rest of the book MORE than makes up for that one small mistake.Timothy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratcheer Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Excellent.BTW, prodded by this thread, I had a healthy pour of my HMcK 10-yr SB, last night. It was nothing short of delicious.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian12069 Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 It is good stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Weber Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 I second the notion that Larry is a very intelligent, responsible gentleman! I also know that at BTD, we have Weller Special Reserve. Really, what is so special about this 7 year old bourbon; it is the youngest expression in the Weller line. Hancock's Presidents Reserve was never selected by the president of the company; just another marketing gaffe. To say something has seen 40 seasons is very poetic. Is it misleading, maybe. But then again, my bottle clearly states 10 years old on the label, so perhaps it is much ado about nothing.Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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