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Maker's Mark changing/REVERSES DECISION!

94Deac

94Deac

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Yeah, that New Coke thing worked really well. :rulz:

The producer of Maker's Mark bourbon is cutting — likely permanently — the amount of alcohol in each bottle to stretch every drop of the famous Kentucky whiskey. The alcohol volume is being lowered from its historic level of 45 percent to 42 percent — or 90 proof to 84 proof.

"Given the surge in demand outstripping supply, what we've decided to do very carefully is to slightly reduce the alcohol volume."

The recipe and production process will stay the same, except "a touch more water" will be added when the whiskey comes out of the barrel for bottling,
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http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/business/makers-mark-cutting-alcohol-volume-in-its-bourbon/nWL76/
 
Rob Samuels to the Ambassadors said:
Dear Maker’s Mark® Ambassador,

Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores. Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.

We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.

We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago. We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference.

Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.

In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.

By the way, if you have any comments or questions, as always, we invite you to drop us a line at rob@makersmark.com or bill@makersmark.com. Thanks for your support. And if you’ve got a little time on your hands, come down and see us at the distillery.

Sincerely,

Rob Samuels
Chief Operating Officer
Ambassador-in-Chief

Bill Samuels, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus
Ambassador-at-Large
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Makers is my go to mixing bourbon, and the tour I enjoyed the most on the Bourbon Trail. It just means I'll be drinking 3% more.
 
At least New Coke was in response to a declining market share. This guy's basically saying, "we're too shitty to keep up with demand, so we're going to mess with the product that got us that demand in the first place." Sounds like a winning business model to me.
 
I don't really follow the logic of having limited supply of something, so they alter it to produce more of a different product.
 
Since the alcohol is produced by fermentation and distilling, I'm not clear on how reducing the proof expands supply. I can see if you're just cutting the finished product with water- which he admits to- but reducing the alcohol and "not the taste?" I just don't see how that's possible.
 
Depending on the run, the raw liquor comes out between 125 and 140 proof and they cut it down with distilled water to whatever proof they want. By cutting the proof, it just means more water per bottle. I dont know how they'll be able to cut it down and still keep the same flavor profile. Per Kentucky law (at least what they told us on the tour), they cant throw in additives and still consider it Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
 
Jack Daniels cut its whiskey from 90 proof to 86 proof to 80 proof and no one seems to care. The hardcore JD fans still buy/drink it and it still has a cult like following, much like Maker's. I'm sure the larger population either won't pay attention or won't care.
 
True but the reality is your average JD drinker isn't as discriminating as a Maker's drinker. Is this the death kneel for Maker's Mark? No. Their sales will probably increase in the coming 18-24 months if for no other reason than they're simply putting more out there. It's just sad to see yet another product getting diluted (literally) for the sake of profit.
 
meh. i'm not a huge fan of makers mark myself - too sweet
 
tsywake said:
Depending on the run, the raw liquor comes out between 125 and 140 proof and they cut it down with distilled water to whatever proof they want. By cutting the proof, it just means more water per bottle. I dont know how they'll be able to cut it down and still keep the same flavor profile. Per Kentucky law (at least what they told us on the tour), they cant throw in additives and still consider it Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
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My understanding of bourbon production leads me to think that cutting it down shouldn't change the flavor profile one bit since you're just reducing the proof, as you pointed out. Maybe Bears and Deacs can address the finer points of this, but I distinctly remember Julian Van Winkle talk about the tasting process him and his son go through and how heavily they water down the barrels when they are sampling barrels as a way to "taste" the bourbon without subjecting themselves to the full proof.
 
Cheap bourbon like Maker's is amateur hour esp after you learn to drink scotch.
 
Go said:
Cheap bourbon like Maker's is amateur hour esp after you learn to drink scotch.
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Scotch is superior but bourbon can be very good. The two are not all that dissimilar in flavor, especially scotches using little to no peat in the drying process.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
Scotch is superior but bourbon can be very good. The two are not all that dissimilar in flavor, especially scotches using little to no peat in the drying process.
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Oh yes, i agree, I love bourbon but I have champagne taste on a beer budget. Cheap bourbon is just awful, as is cheap scotch (Dewars).

Plus to lose weight I've had to go to vodka drinks, ugh.
 
Go said:
Cheap bourbon like Maker's is amateur hour esp after you learn to drink scotch.
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LOL. The fact that you had to "learn" to drink scotch should tell you something. I drink a little scotch but much prefer the lack of overwhelming peet/smoke in a bourbon. But wear your "I'm not amateur" badge proud if it makes you feel better.
 
94Deac said:
True but the reality is your average JD drinker isn't as discriminating as a Maker's drinker. Is this the death kneel for Maker's Mark? No. Their sales will probably increase in the coming 18-24 months if for no other reason than they're simply putting more out there. It's just sad to see yet another product getting diluted (literally) for the sake of profit.
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Yeah, this sucks ass. Have been seeing Maker's Mark commercials on TV during the past month for the first time ever. Don't like they are aggressively courting new business when they have to change their product to meet new business.

tsywake said:
Makers is my go to mixing bourbon, and the tour I enjoyed the most on the Bourbon Trail. It just means I'll be drinking 3% more.
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To get the same amount of alcohol, wouldn't you have to drink 6-7% more? Actually 6.66% more. Coincidence?
 
DeacinBama said:
At least New Coke was in response to a declining market share. This guy's basically saying, "we're too shitty to keep up with demand, so we're going to mess with the product that got us that demand in the first place." Sounds like a winning business model to me.
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You don't understand the process then. Bourbon isn't something where you can instantly bump production to respond to demand. Bourbon takes time to make and then years to age (5.5-6.5 years for Maker's, much longer for better Bourbon). It's like growing Christmas trees...you've got to spend money and guess at demand years ahead of time.
 
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