AMERICAN

As American whiskey continues to grow and supplies of some brands tighten , the effects have been felt in the exclusive single barrel programs important to many retailers .

“ We used to do quite a few at one time and we were one of the few distillers who allowed retailers to pick their own barrels from a number of brands , but a lot of that dried up because of the American whiskey boom ,” says Denny Potter , master distiller at Heaven Hill .

He ’ s responsible for producing not only the namesake bourbon , but also Evan Williams , Rittenhouse Rye , Henry McKenna and Elijah Craig ( the only whiskey now available from the distiller in a retailer select program ).

“ We are selling more barrels than ever before , but demand continues to outpace supply on bourbons , so getting your hands on a bourbon barrel is tougher than ever ,” says Harlen Wheatley , master distiller at Buffalo Trace ( where Eagle Rare and Blanton ’ s , as well as the namesake brand , are produced ).

The appeal of single barrel programs for retailers is obvious . For the most part , buyers get to tour facilities , learn more about production processes , and taste a variety of barrel samples to pick their favorite . They receive a lot of personalized bottles , POS materials and usually the barrel itself for display . But it ’ s the personal look inside the distillery to see how whiskey is made today that is a major attraction from the distiller ’ s point of view .

“ One of our favorite things to do is show them one of our oldest warehouses and taste them through the barrels when they come out for a visit ,” says Eddie Russell , master distiller for Wild Turkey , where selections of Kentucky Spirit ( receiving a packaging makeover ) and Russell ’ s Reserve Single Barrel Bourbons are available . “ The retailers come away knowing a great deal about how we make our bourbon from start to finish , and that creates a life-long connection .”

At the Jim Beam distillery , three brands - Jim Beam and Knob Creek bourbon and rye - are available . “ With the rye addition , we are booked until late December as far as people being able to come in and have the experience ,” says Adam Harris , senior ambassador of American whiskey for Beam Suntory . The vast majority of buyers are return customers , he says , with sales on a first-come basis . Buyers receive specialty POS items , bottles are labeled with text provided by retailers , and the bourbon is bottled at 120 proof ( rye at 115 ).

At Heaven Hill , retailers sample 8- to 12-year-old barrels that will eventually become Elijah Craig Small Batch whiskeys , and like them are all bottled at 94 proof , labeled with the serial number of the barrel with space for either a color logo or text of the account ’ s choice . The barrels are kept rustic ( not cleaned ), but are stenciled with the Elijah Craig logo .

“ Single barrel programs are increasingly becoming an important part of many retailer ’ s and on-premise operator ’ s business models . Having a strong barrel selection program is a bragging point , as it shows prowess in the whiskey space , as well as an offering you literally can ’ t get anywhere else ,” Potter says

Buffalo Trace has put an interesting twist on their program recently - customers can now “ boomerang ” their barrels , sending the empty bourbon barrel they select from Buffalo Trace or Barton 1792 Distillery to the Casa San Matias Distillery in Mexico to have it filled with Corazón tequila . Ultimately they receive their own single barrel tequila ( either reposado or añejo ), aged in Buffalo Trace , Eagle Rare , Weller Special Reserve , Blanton ’ s or 1792 Small Batch .

Matthew McConaughey and Wild Turkey ’ s Eddie Russell discussing the new Longbranch .

whiskey is for people who drink whiskey for whiskey ’ s sake and want the purest experience they can get ,” Arnett says . “ Brown-spirits lovers think of single barrel as something special .”

While the Scotch whisky industry pioneered barrel fi nishes , the trick is emerging more and more in the US . Angel ’ s Envy is perhaps the signature success story .

“ At the time it was a pretty novel thing for bourbons to do ,” says Wes Henderson , co-founder with his late father ( and whiskey legend ) Lincoln . “ Beam had its Master Distillers collection finished in Cognac and sherry barrels , but it was before its time . We were the first that have been commercially successful at secondary barrel finishes and we ’ re growing the brand based on that .”

In addition to the port barrel-finished bourbon , Angel ’ s Envy has released a rum barrel-finished rye , and Henderson says they are exploring other finishes . “ We ’ re working on special releases now of different types of finishes , especially limited production barrels - those are really exciting to me because they are special barrels with great stories .”

Even Wild Turkey , where tinkering with the basic recipe hasn ’ t been front and center , has introduced a Texas-Kentucky hybrid whiskey .

“ When Matthew McConaughey and I sat down to create Wild Turkey Longbranch , we talked at length about how to make a product that represents elements of both Texas and Kentucky ,” Russell says . “ Our goal was to make a straight bourbon whiskey with a soft sweetness that was

34 StateWays | www . stateways . com | September / October 2018