So 'Spray, what's the #2 option...Kirkland 7 year old?
Less Potent Maker's Mark Not Going Down Smoothly In Kentucky
Kentucky is bourbon country. Bar shelves in Louisville are stocked with a crowded field of premium bourbons; the city's Theater Square Marketplace restaurant alone carries close to 170 different brands. So when news trickled out that longtime distillery Maker's Mark plans to water down its bourbon, locals were stunned.
Bourbon has to be aged at least two years — and that's where Maker's Mark got in trouble. Chief Operating Officer Rob Samuels says the company simply didn't make enough.
"The phones have been ringing off the hook over the last three or four months from most every city in the country where Maker's Mark is not available," Samuels says. "As far away as California and as close to home as the package store five minutes from the distillery."
Now, the company says it must spread the remaining supply over more bottles to meet growing demand. The Maker's Mark label will now read 84 proof instead of the traditional 90.
The Samuels family invented Maker's Mark six decades ago and has been distilling in Kentucky even longer than that. The company prides itself on quality and tradition. Its slogan used to be, "It tastes expensive ... and is."
Samuels says keeping that signature taste, despite weakening the drink, was key.
But maintaining flavor is one thing — maintaining the company's image is another. People might not notice a change in the taste, but they are likely to notice that the price isn't going down.
"My initial reaction was, that's how bourbons that are not premium brands would deal with it," says Jason Falls, a marketing professional who has worked with Maker's Mark in the past. Knob Creek had a similar shortage in 2009, he says, "and I believe the way the brand dealt with it was they sent T-shirts to all their ambassadors that said, 'I survived the drought ... of 2009.' "
It's unclear if Maker's Mark's move will hurt the brand's global reach. But in Kentucky — bourbon country — locals aren't too happy with the change.
"It's gotten ... a lot of outrage," says Sara Havens, who writes about the bar scene for the Louisville Eccentric Observer newspaper. "People asking if they're going to lower the price now, [or] just that it's kind of not fair."
Havens says she'll still drink Maker's Mark, but probably less often. "[When] you go to a bar and you know one drink is watered down and the other drink is potent, you always go to the potent one," she says.
To avoid another shortage, Maker's Mark is planning to expand operations — and they're not alone. In Kentucky, there are now more barrels of bourbon than there are people. So even if an old standby like Maker's Mark is hard to find, there'll always be something to drink.
Looks like the bean counters won out as they usually do.
I suppose this 7% watering down won't chance the product enough for anyone to notice, but the word sure as hell will get around and the competition will buttfukk them in the mouf with it.
Have they recently been bought by someone?
Sounds like it.
mvscal wrote:The only precious metals in a SHTF scenario are lead and brass.
KC Scott wrote:They must already have the orders and either water down to fill those PO or cancel, in which case they'll lose the shelf space
Tough decision - no win either way
Bad supply chain management and/or forecasting
The win would have been to jack up the price a bit. This is going to come back and bite them in the ass.
Top shelf hooch cono.....connisewer....conne..... drinkers don't like folks watering down their booze. Maybe they should have just marketed it as makers mark lite.
I suspect they will run some damage control, run a few bazillion dollars worth of ads to say they are sorry and there will be a former bean counter looking for a new yob.
mvscal wrote:The only precious metals in a SHTF scenario are lead and brass.
A contract is a contract. If MM i slocked into a price, it seems to me they are locked into a certain product as well. How can they get away with watering the shit down, but not get away with uping the price. the customer, as you say, would have the option to not pay the higher price.
mvscal wrote:The only precious metals in a SHTF scenario are lead and brass.
mvscal wrote:
The better play when demand outstrips supply is to raise your price rather than adulterate your product.
Or you could do both
WacoFan wrote:Flying any airplane that you can hear the radio over the roaring radial engine is just ghey anyway.... Of course, Cirri are the Miata of airplanes..
KC Scott wrote:As mentioned - The Distributors have a legal right to cancel the PO for the watered down crap if they choose
If the contract locks in a price, it seems to me that it would lock in the quality of the product. I don't see where product is any more or less negotiable than price. If this really is a binding contract, why not tell MM, fukk you, I want what we agreed to, 90 proof, not watered down shit.
mvscal wrote:The only precious metals in a SHTF scenario are lead and brass.
