by bourbonv » Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:33 pm
Gary,
There are people at Brown-Forman who wanted to keep the Woodford Reserve brand as honey barrels made at Early Times and bottle the pot still as a different brand. That was over ruled by Mr. Brown so they had to put the pot still in the brand. I think that it was a pretty good choice in the short run, since, in my opinion, the first couple of years of Woodford pot still was lacking. I think that once they figured out how to work those stills, they are making some great whiskey. The problem would have been that first couple of years bottled by itself could have killed the potstill brand before it really had a chance. Look at the reaction many people had to the Four Grain. They were expecting some kind of super bourbon and really bad mouthed it when it was not. The same thing would have happened with the less than stellar pot still bourbon. Mixing it in was the only option unless they wanted to turn it into fuel additives.
I know that they have some experimental products in the warehouses today. I know that Chris Morris is always looking for new experimental products. The fact that he turned a corner of his basement into a malting floor has me wondering what he is working on now. I suspect a 100% rye whiskey that can be labeled "Pure Rye". In any case, you will get some pure pot still product in the future.
Mike Veach
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873