What bourbon are you drinking today?
- Thread starter Magnolia Tom
- Start date
allmanbros
Well-Known Member
If you want to have some show horses, you need to have some work horses...most, but not all, retailers will profit more from selling Fireball than from selling a few bottles of allocated bourbon...I have experience in allocating Buffalo Trace bourbons, and every retailer thinks they deserve more than anyone else...there were 110 retail stores plus 800 or so on-premise accounts in our market, so how do you allocate a 12 (or less) bottle allotment of Pappy 23?...got to have a pecking order.
allmanbros
Well-Known Member
I like watching the bourbon tasting vids on YouTube. I just watched this one. "Wild Turkey vs Jim Beam"
These guys have a pretty-nice Father/Son channel. The Father is a Turkey fan and the Son is a Beam fan.
They have a great basement bar too. I'd love to have a bar as nice (and as well-stocked) as they have.
I think their results would be very close to mine but as you'll see if you watch the video, they are all so close (and so good) that it's like splitting hairs picking which one you like better in a blind test. Another thing to note is if they were to do this same test a few says or months from now, the results might be different. That's why I like bourbon. There are so many awesome choices out there and with the exception being a few of the ultra-cheap ones, they are all pretty-good.
These guys have a pretty-nice Father/Son channel. The Father is a Turkey fan and the Son is a Beam fan.
They have a great basement bar too. I'd love to have a bar as nice (and as well-stocked) as they have.
I think their results would be very close to mine but as you'll see if you watch the video, they are all so close (and so good) that it's like splitting hairs picking which one you like better in a blind test. Another thing to note is if they were to do this same test a few says or months from now, the results might be different. That's why I like bourbon. There are so many awesome choices out there and with the exception being a few of the ultra-cheap ones, they are all pretty-good.
whoaru99
Epic Member
I take this as a confirmation it's true?
allmanbros
Well-Known Member
LOL, let me try this another way and as a disclaimer I am 8 years removed from being in the wholesale business...say you have one bottle of Pappy 23 and three retailers all wanting it...one account does 100k worth of business of BT brands per year, another does 50k, and the third does 5k...which one do you least want to piss off?...what criteria would you use to make this determination?...allocations by their nature require a pecking order.
If I won the Powerball I'd try some Pappy Van Winkle. As it is though, I highly-doubt I ever will have the opportunity unless someone offers me a drink. Once a bottle of bourbon crosses the $150 line, I start to flinch (and usually at a line a lot lower than that). I did see the huge gap between MSRP and the retail markup price though. Talk about price-gouging.
whoaru99
Epic Member
Yup, I understand cater to the cash flow, big picture, total package. Hard to imagine much difference for just about any business.
The question was specifically related to Fireball though. Since I would struggle to think of a place where I haven't seen Fireball, but something like Wheatley Vodka I don't see too often, Fireball isn't the only thing but probably the single biggest contributing factor in the equation.
allmanbros
Well-Known Member
Sazerac has over 450 brands in their portfolio so yes there are many brands they could use as "leverage"...not every brand is a fit for every market obviously...if memory serves, Fireball started out as a Dr. McGillicudy Cinnamon Schnapps, didn't gain any traction, so it was re-created as Fireball and boom off it goes...my thought is that Fireball is a high volume high profit brand which makes up for the many low profit brands they sell such as several low end vodkas...interesting about Fireball is that its consumers range from college kids to little old ladies wanting a snort before bedtime....Sazerac tried to follow-up the success of Fireball with a brand called Tequila Monster, also a shot drink. but it never caught on.
I thought Kentucky, but you're right Alabama.
Find a nice bottle of Weller, it uses the Pappy's old mash. 12 yr is $59 at my local, but like I said my little store is special with allocations.
I'm sitting here right now watching the Colorado Rockies vs St. Louis Cardinals ball game with a glass of Wild Turkey 101 on one side and a glass of Wild Turkey Rare Breed on the other doing a little testing. They are both awesome and they didn't cost a fortune.
Erik Tracy
Everyone's happy when the wizard walks by
You must declare a winner.
Forced to pick - I'd have to give the nod to Rare Breed.
Yes the Rare Breed is the winner but they were both delicious. The Cardinals won too which was a plus.
Tomorrow night... Wild Turkey Rare Breed vs Russell's Reserve Single Barrel.
Tomorrow night... Wild Turkey Rare Breed vs Russell's Reserve Single Barrel.
allmanbros
Well-Known Member
I assume you mean that Pappy and Weller share the same mash bill, and that is correct...however it is Pappy that uses the Weller mash bill as Weller is an older brand than Pappy...WL Weller and Pappy Van Winkle owned Stitzel-Weller distillery together and their main bourbons were Weller and Old Fitzgerald...When the distillery was sold Pappy retained some of the aging barrels with the Weller mash bill and used that whiskey to bottle Old Rip Van Winkle...Pappy Van Winkle and Family Reserve labels came later when Julian Van Winkle took over.
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Anyone try this yet? I see the MSRP is $400 but it doesn't look like you can actually buy it for that price.
The reserve is not good imo, but yes to the others.
I think I'd go for the Wild Truely gold foil before the Wellers. I mean Wellers makes good soldering irons but I don't know about bourbon?
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