The Intoxicologist

Paul Pacult: What have been the biggest positive changes in the whiskey profession in the last decade?

Bill Samuels:  In what the customers look like.   You couldn’t have done this 15 years ago.

Harlen Wheatly: “People aren’t going to the bars as much.  Whoever heard of a 10 to 12 year old bourbon?  It caught on. We aren’t a big distillery.”  They work with quality. 

Tom Bulleit: “Bill invented the industry.”  Build chemistry from the back of the bar and bartenders bring it to the front of the bar.  Bill says they are ‘seasoned’ in the business.  The most mixable of spirits is bourbon.  “Bill and I are lawyers so we can go on and on…”  - crowd laughs.

Fred Noe:  “People are very open to bourbon now.”  Fathers and grandfathers drank it.  Now people are open and they are teaching about it.  We are approachable about it.  “We are real people and put our pants on like everyone else.  Once people meet us they get intrigued about bourbon.”

Paul Pacult: What’s different’ about customers today?

Fred Noe: Used to drink with water.  Now they mix it in cocktails with juices and fruit.  It used to taste like whatever.  Now it is mixable.  Now it brings something to the cocktail.  You can play with them. 

Paul Pacult: What about consumers themselves?  How are consumers different? 

Tom Bulleit: Consumers know a great deal. With the collective knowledge they know a great deal.  “I am officially older than dirt.”  Back in the day you could order beer.  You could order bourbon or beer or you could order bourbon with beer.  Three things.  Three things. 

Paul Pacult: How has the consumer affected the process?

Harlen Wheatly: Stay ahead of the curve.  We have a list of a hundred things and reprioritize.  There are a lot of people thinking about what is to come.  It is good for the product.

Bill Samuels: His father said they needed a visitor program.  He said why did they need a visitor program.  50% of them had blue hair.  Vistor numbers were at 1500 last Saturday and most of them were under 30.  When we talk about when whiskey gets better we have to talk about when it when it became bad.  It’s when accountants got in the biz.  When distilleries started taking shortcuts.  Stainless steel with vapor.  The minute the companies saw the future of the craft it was a step up. About 25 years ago. 

Paul Pacult:  is there a turnaround where other markets are gaining respect for bourbon in US.

Fred Noe: Traveling and education has helped.  We give the scotch guys wearing their skirts a hard time too.

Harelen Wheatly: Bourbon is big in the UK. The last time I was there I was telling them how old we were and this old guy got up and said I’d just walked in on a street 2000 years old.  They may be missing something in what he was teaching, but they like the spirit.

Bill Samuels: Tennessee showed us how to come out of prohibition sensibly.  We figured it out.  American Rye is making a big comeback.  Bourbon is strong as a category. 

Paul Pacult: I am a huge fan of rye.  In 2000 there were 2000 case sold through the us.  In 2008 there were 50,000 sold.  Is this going to be around for a long time?

Fred Noe:  In Wisconsin a few weeks ago and there were several cases set up. 

Tom Bulleit: We have one it isn’t much.  It doesn’t go anywhere.

Harlen Wheatly: For us it was a matter of survival.  Meet consumer demand.  We started with premium rye.  A lot from New Orleans with the Sazerac 18.  I don’t think it’s a fad.  I think it will be slow and steady without ballooning as long as the cocktails continue. 

Paul Pacult: Jim Beam Red Stag. Buffalo Trace Experimental Collections.  Experimentation; how far should it go? Is it hallowed ground?

Harlen Wheatly: We generate talk and enthusiasm in the category.  The best bourbon may have not been made yet.  We can learn from experimentation.  The best may be there and just have not been launched to the public yet.  We could launch a bad bourbon so people could know what one tastes like.  I guess you’d have to come to the distillery to know. 

Fred Noe: I was the biggest hurdle to jump with Red Stag, but bringing people into the bourbon into the category is important.  I tasted an Arnold Palmer with this and it’s good, but moderation.  It is opening doors.  Times are changing.  We are doing some good stuff, playing with different grains.  Dad did experimentation no one knew about.  We are never satisfied.  Always want to try something different.  We have nothing to talk about if we don’t have something new to talk about.  We can’t get stagnant.

Paul Pacult: Looking forward.  Who are the new faces?

Harlen Wheatly: I’m a lot younger than dirt, I can tell you that.  We don’t have a lot of turnover, but we do hand over the baton. 

Tales of the Cocktail on Twitter: @totc

The Intoxicologist on Twitter: @intoxicologist

Copyright 2009 Cheri Loughlin – The Intoxicologist – All Rights Reserved