Quality in Bond.

I love whiskey. That's right, whiskey with an e. Whisky without the e is fun too, but I do tend to favor the one with more vowels. It makes me feel like I'm getting more for my money. As a bourbon/rye lover, I’m often asked the question “what would you recommend at a bargain?” When asked this, I’m reminded of my time living in Germany, where this practice was taken to the extreme. It was very common to go to parties where my friends were discussing (and tasting) the merits of wine "deals" found at Aldi. It wasn't uncommon to hear things like "I purchased this for 25 pfennig (let's just call that 12 US pennies), and it's not gross at all!!". This quite often accompanied by "Ja Klar!" ("yes, clearly").

My quest for a good whiskey at a bargain has recently taken me back to the words "Bottled in Bond" so important to my GrandPappy and Great GrandPappy. In the day (the day being the late 19th century), whiskey was a wee bit um... let’s just say unregulated. Most people didn't care if Whisk()y was spelled with an e or no e, and the US certainly hadn't quite embraced the concepts favored by my friends in Germany under "Rheinheitsgebot" (German beer purity laws). In this unregulated time, less than "High Quality" Bourbon and Ryes were flooding the market (keep in mind, pre-prohibition, ryes were king in America, not Bourbon). A bit of brown coloring along with some similarly brown flavoring (tobacco, iodine, turpentine, or some other equally yuckyness) added to grain alcohol/non grain distillates (i.e.Methanol)? Poof! Now that’s some fine Hooch! That and some effervescent brain salts’ll do ya. It was so prevalent in fact, that these “Rectifiers” were putting quality whiskey companies out of business. Lower price? Dude :) ! Lower quality? Dude :| ? Lower tax revenues? Dude :( !?! With the backing of the Treasury Department, the Feds stepped in (partially due to lobbyists like E.H. Taylor Jr. of Buffalo Trace fame), bringing about the “Bottled in Bond Act of 1897”. Please note, Bernheim, a well known Rectifier, fought on the opposite side (this becomes interesting later).

So, what was Bottled in Bond? Like the Rheinheitsgebot, it was (and still is) a collection of state defined regulations regarding the protection of the quality of booze. In this case, the bottling and marketing of bourbon whiskey. The Bottled in Bond Act ensured that any bourbon bottle labelled “Bottled-in-Bond” contained bourbon bottled at 100 proof (that’s 50% alcohol), aged at least 4 years (under government supervision at secured government bonded warehouses), and produced by a single distiller, at a single distillery, during a specific year. To top it off, the cork was wrapped in green, because no-one could possibly counterfeit a green wrapper. The effect? Bourbon of a significantly higher quality.

In the years following came prohibition. Then its repeal with the 21st Amendment. The use of Rye, a very expensive grain, declined in favor of corn. Corn whiskey became king (controlling over 74% of liquor sales). Corn whiskey being Bourbon whiskey and that other whiskey from Tennessee. Then, sometime in the 60’s or 70’s (I blame James Bond) clear spirits took control. To preserve profit, and to make whiskey “lighter”, whiskeys were watered down to 80ish proof (No longer bottled in bond). This also helped prevent Qiana shirts (those ugly fake silk shirts from the 70’s) from being solubilized at bars. No longer subject to the quality regulations of the 1897 (80 proof sure ain’t 100 proof), “Bottled in Bond” fell out of favor.

Now, in the 21st century (and oddly enough partially driven by the retro 60’s show… “Mad Men”) whiskey is booming again. The few truly good Bourbons and Ryes, that up until Mad Men aired, were relatively cheap and easy to procure (i.e. Buffalo Trace’s Pappy van Winkle, Buffalo Trace’s Antique collection, and Heaven Hill’s Parkers Heritage Collection, a corporate grandchild of Bernheim) are impossible to find. To fill the void, “craft distilleries” and other “non distiller producers” (i.e. “Rectifiers") have entered the market. Uncontrolled. Unsupervised. Where is the quality? Where is the bargain? Perhaps we should return to our “Bottled in Bond” roots. That’s why tonight I’m doing a private tasting of Old Forester 1897 Bottled in Bond… and I give it a right handed thumbs up (‘cause I drink with my left hand).

Mark Cahall is an experienced SAP QM consultant and Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years’ experience implementing SAP QM in over 75 countries. He is also Senior Partner at The Chiroptera Group, and a self proclaimed lover of that superior liquid made of Rye and Corn (and yes, sometimes Wheat).