Flavored American whiskeys, a category that almost didn’t exist five years ago, is now selling at the rate of 1.3 million cases a year, with no end to growth in sight. Rye whiskey, which had been but a blip in overall statistics, more than doubled in the last two years, growing from 125,000 cases to 275,000. Case sales went from 13.3 million to 16.7 million for Bourbon. Shanken Communications that tracks sales of spirits. Sales have been steadily expanding, with American straight whiskeys increasing more than 25 percent from 2007 to 2012, according to Impact Databank, a publication of Cigar Aficionado publisher M. “Eight years ago nobody imagined the demand we have today,” says Rob Samuels, who became COO when his father, William Samuels Jr., stepped down as CEO in 2011.ĭemand, of course, drives the explosion. It takes years to mature in oak barrels, and that means producers must predict a market that doesn’t exist during the planning stages. “We can’t even supply Kentucky.” The whiskey supply problem is easy to understand if you recognize that it can’t be just turned on as if from a spigot. “We can’t supply the whole world,” says Kris Comstock, whiskey brand manager of Buffalo Trace distillery, speaking of his rye. Hirsh Bourbon, Old Potrero Single Malt Rye and Old Rip Van Winkle are always in short supply. A few years ago, Knob Creek availability was slowed for a number of months while its parent company, Jim Beam, waited for enough whiskey to reach the stated nine years of age to fill orders. This wasn’t the first time American whiskey lovers have faced such a dearth. Protests were so vehement that the company reversed its plans even before the low-proof version (which it was convinced tasted exactly the same) was ever fully rolled out. No sooner had Maker’s announced its dilution plans than a public outcry arose. The once tiny brand had already doubled its distillery size in 2002 and had added Sunday hours to its production schedule, but nevertheless found itself selling on requisition in some markets, especially over the holidays. In February, Maker’s Mark, already remarkable in having grown 8.5 percent a year since 1980, had experienced such a growth spurt (13 percent) over the previous 18 months that the distiller announced it would reduce its alcohol strength from 90 proof to 84 in order to stretch its supply. Just as some cigars were impossible finds during the cigar boom, whiskey makers big and small have struggled to meet the consumer thirst for their products, leading to shortages and the occasional drastic measure. Not only would he have to explain that he has 54 Bourbons on the menu, classified by such taste subsets as tobacco, leather and chocolate, but there are also 25 ryes, a handful of Tennessee Whiskeys and a whole passel of craft whiskeys, all made in America.Īnd demand for such spirits couldn’t be hotter. Try that approach in New York City’s Rye House today, and it would give the bartender pause.
Our hero would gulp it down in one slug, and the subtext was that American whiskey was the rough stuff for tough guys and it didn’t much matter which they ordered.
The barkeep would pour a shot of something or slide an unlabeled bottle over with an empty glass. There used to be a standard scene in film noir and Western movies that had a hard-bitten private eye or a cowboy dusty from the trail walking into a bar and ordering a Bourbon or a rye or maybe simply whiskey.
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