By Jack Robertiello

he whiskey business breeds naturally happypeople, the kind who, even as the weekenters its 60

hour, like to refect on theirgood ortune. So, it’s never a surprise when their viewis sunny. But these days, despite overall economicworries, those olks making bourbon and rye seemespecially pleased with their work.

Is American WhiskeyBetter Than Ever?

whiskey

at a peak

“I think we’re making the best stu that’sever been made,” says Harlen Wheatley, mas-ter distiller or Bualo Trace Distillery, homeo multiple whiskies, including Old Charter,the Antique Collection (George Stagg, EagleRare, Thomas Handy) and the Bualo TraceExperimental series. “And that’s not just us;that’s everyone. Whiskies are better today be-cause we have better control, consistency andunderstanding o the processes. Basically, ourphilosophy is that the best bourbon has not yetbeen made and we areconstantly look-ing or the bestever.”It’s a ar cry rom the dark days when vodkaboomed and whiskies struggled to stay alive,when the industry consolidated to the pointthat you can now count on one hand the num-ber o major American whiskey distillers. Butin the past ew years, sales have surged hereand abroad; the quality o American whiskeyis so high, and the prices so low.According to the Distilled Spirits Coun-cil, American whiskey accounts or 11.2%o total spirits market share in the U.S. andAmerican whiskey consumption is up 11.2%since 2003. Within the category (since 2003),high-end premium oerings are up 25.5% andsuper-premiums have seen the most growth(71.1%) in volume.

M a n h a t t a n c o c k t a i l

“We all make good bourbon now andthey are quite a bargain,” says Wild Turkeymaster distiller Jimmy Russell. Russell cites asan example his own Russell’s Reserve 10 YearOld Bourbon, which retails or around $30,the price o many super-premium vodkas.The lower price point or super-premiumproducts allows an entry into the category ornew consumers. “I we weren’t made in theU.S., we’d probably be asking twice the pricewe’re charging today,” says Woodord Re-serve master distiller Chris Morris. “The newconsumers coming into bourbon are beingintroduced to the premium and super-premi-um whiskies which are high quality products– they are getting whiskies that are elegant,highly avorul and nuanced.”

NEW MARKET GROWTH

Prices have played a signifcant part inAmerican whiskey’s resurgence, but qualityhas been the key. The changes in approachthat started with the introduction o spe-cialty, small batch and single barrel bourbonsin the 1990s has helped renew interest andexcitement. This reawakening introducednew consumers to the essential, richly avor-ul qualities o American whiskey, and evenled them to neglected styles, like rye, whichhas recently escalated. The change has rees-tablished old brands such as Rittenhouse Ryeand Four Roses, and helped smaller brandslike Bulleit ignite.“The way Rittenhouse has taken o givescredibility to other whiskies; they work handin hand,” says Heaven Hill’s director o cor-porate communications, Larry Kass. And thegrowth in new whiskies hasn’t been limitedto major cosmopolitan markets; even in thetraditional Kentucky market consumers arewelcoming the new premium products,says Heaven Hill’s master distillerParker Beam.As a result, whiskies at all pricepoints are doing well, and consum-ers are rushing to try them, so muchso that many new products disappearrom retail and restaurant shelvesquicker than suppliers can makethem. Russell mentions that the Rus-sell’s Reserve Rye introduced in 2008was sold out beore the year was over.Things are going so well, in act, thatWhiskeyland is in the midst o a buildingboom. Jack Daniel’s is installing nine moreermenters at its Lynchburg, TN, acility;Heaven Hill, maker o Evan Williams, Eli-jah Craig and many other brands, recentlyboosted capacity by 50% at its distillery inLouisville; Wild Turkey is in the process o expansions that will nearly double its capac-ity in a ew years; Maker’s Mark is preparingor another growth spurt; and Jim Beam, theworld’s largest bourbon maker, is spending$70 million on acility growth.American whiskey makers may have re-sponded slowly at frst to the consumer moveto super-premium products, but opportunitiesstill abound with only about 5% o bourbonvolume at that rarifed level. But they are cer-tainly in the midst o a reocus there; BeamGlobal’s new whiskey, or instance, called, is being positioned as a modern alterna-tive to traditional rye whiskies. “The packag-ing was purposely designed to be modern andsleek and present some intrigue to the brandusing none o the traditional whiskey cues,”says brand manager Mara Melamed.

EXPERIMENTATIONBOOSTS INTEREST

Perhaps as much as price and quality, experi-mentation has helped spur consumer inter-est as well. Distillers like Wheatley, Morris,Parker Beam and others have moved beyondage and strength dierences to play withthe basic elements o whiskey: changing thegrain mix, altering ermentation and distilla-tion methods, using unusual barrels to fnishthe whiskey. New iterations include the limited pro-duction Woodord Reserve Masters Collec-tion, the most recent being the Woodord1838 Sweet Mash while Heaven Hill o-ers the vintage Evan Williams and limited

FROM 2003 - 2007:

25.5%

GROWTHIN HIGH-ENDPREMIUM VOLUME

11.2%

GROWTH IN TOTALWHISKEYCONSUMPTION

Statistics for U.S. Bourbon and Tennessee whiskeySource: Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.