Sam Houston

[tmas]

Does anyone know if this bourbon is still being bottled? Haven't seen it around my environs for about a year until I went into a small liquor store I hadn't been in before last week and found a couple on the shelves for $30.00. I think it's a pretty fine drink for $30.00 so I picked one up, but I wondered if it's still bottled. I understand from a previous inquiry that it's provenance is not known. Tom V

[TNbourbon]

The newest Sam Houston iteration, which I've seen only over the past couple of months, does not carry a batch number and is in slightly dressier trade dress (the bottle and the label seem to have received slight updating).

To me, this signals a likely change in the whiskey inside the bottle. There is a persistent shortage for well-aged bourbon for non-distilling bottlers -- Sam Houston has been a 10yo; the age statement was on the batch label, so I suspect (though don't specifically remember) that that's gone, too -- and I suspect McLain & Kyne, which does not distill, has had to change the whiskey that goes in the bottle, just as occurred when their Jefferson's Reserve 15yo became the comparatively inferior Jefferson's Reserve "Very Old".

[tmas]

Hi Tim, Thanks for that info, I must say I am not surprised that you are the one who knew this! The one I picked up the last week is the one I remember from the past with a batch # on it (22) so I just may have to go back & collect the last 2 if they're still there! Tom V

[RedVette]

This is disturbing. The 10 yr old Sam Houston is one of my top 10's. It is not as easy for me to drink whiskey I like that I cannot replace, as it is to drink whiskey I like that I can replace. I wanted to be able to drink my three new bottles with frivolity, but now I will have to shift to a hoard mentality. Darn.