Lancet Jades
03-01-2004, 11:12 AM
Jack Daniel selling whole barrels of 94-proof whiskey
Published in the Home News Tribune 2/29/04
By RICHARD LAWSON
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
LYNCHBURG, Tenn. -- In a cold warehouse poking over the trees atop a hill, the smell of whiskey and charred wood aging hangs in the air, reminding visitors of the building's purpose.
The long rows of ricks, or wooden planks, stored over seven floors, hold more than 20,000 barrels of Jack Daniel's whiskey in various stages of aging. Some of the barrels have last year's date written on the top. Others go back several years.
For about $9,000, you can buy one.
That's right, the whole barrel of Jack Daniel's premium brand Single Barrel for you and 239 of your closest friends. Each barrel averages about 240 bottles, all of them 94-proof.
When you do buy a barrel, your name can be burned onto wood panels on a distillery wall. Country singer George Strait has bought one. Military bases around the country have bought them. Then there's a buyer identified only as "The Immortal Head Bubba."
For Jack Daniel's owner -- Louisville-based Brown-Forman Corp. -- selling its finest aged whiskey by the barrel is another way to build the company's leading spirits brand and its upscale image.
"This is the talking program," said Jimmy Bedford, master distiller at Jack Daniel.
Brown-Forman plans to infuse more marketing dollars into the "buy the barrel" program to boost that end of the brand. Brown-Forman started selling by the barrel four years ago because consumers demanded it, and sales have risen each year. So far, about 1,600 barrels have been purchased.
"A lot of it has been word of mouth," said Mark Grindstaff, brand manager for Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. In the months to come, Grindstaff said the Single Barrel brand could be touted via more event sponsorships and partnerships with magazines such as Cigar Aficionado and Robb Report, all in an attempt to reach higher-income whiskey lovers.
Single barrel sales are all about status. A bottle of Single Barrel premium whiskey typically carries a retail price of $39.99. Buying a barrel reduces the price per bottle by no more than a couple of bucks.
"People really don't buy it to get a better price," Grindstaff said. Instead, it's the cachet of buying a barrel that contains whiskey unique to that particular batch.
Single Barrel gets extra special care in the warehouse. Aging takes place in the warehouse's top rick, known as the "buzzard roost." According to Jack Daniel's officials, the whiskey ages best at the top of the roost because of the extremes in temperatures. It's colder in the winter and warmer in the summer.
The warmth opens up the wood more, letting it soak up the whiskey. Cold weather forces the barrels to constrict, pushing the whiskey and its unique flavors back out of the wood.
Big spenders who buy a barrel get special treatment. The distillery often puts buyers up for the night in the swanky Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville.
Bedford pulls samples from four barrels for tasting, and the buyer chooses one. The "rejected" whiskey is bottled and goes to retailers.
Once a buyer picks a barrel, its whiskey is bottled, and each bottle carries an engraved medallion around its neck commemorating whatever the buyer wants.
Commemorative bottles have been popular with rallies of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners. Rick Osgood, a Harley enthusiast and chief compliance officer for U.S. Auto, a Nashville-based car insurance company, said he bought a bottle at a Harley rally two years ago and never drank the stuff.
"I made sure everybody at home knows that this bottle is not be opened but to sit there," he said.
© 2004 Gannett New Jersey Group
Published in the Home News Tribune 2/29/04
By RICHARD LAWSON
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
LYNCHBURG, Tenn. -- In a cold warehouse poking over the trees atop a hill, the smell of whiskey and charred wood aging hangs in the air, reminding visitors of the building's purpose.
The long rows of ricks, or wooden planks, stored over seven floors, hold more than 20,000 barrels of Jack Daniel's whiskey in various stages of aging. Some of the barrels have last year's date written on the top. Others go back several years.
For about $9,000, you can buy one.
That's right, the whole barrel of Jack Daniel's premium brand Single Barrel for you and 239 of your closest friends. Each barrel averages about 240 bottles, all of them 94-proof.
When you do buy a barrel, your name can be burned onto wood panels on a distillery wall. Country singer George Strait has bought one. Military bases around the country have bought them. Then there's a buyer identified only as "The Immortal Head Bubba."
For Jack Daniel's owner -- Louisville-based Brown-Forman Corp. -- selling its finest aged whiskey by the barrel is another way to build the company's leading spirits brand and its upscale image.
"This is the talking program," said Jimmy Bedford, master distiller at Jack Daniel.
Brown-Forman plans to infuse more marketing dollars into the "buy the barrel" program to boost that end of the brand. Brown-Forman started selling by the barrel four years ago because consumers demanded it, and sales have risen each year. So far, about 1,600 barrels have been purchased.
"A lot of it has been word of mouth," said Mark Grindstaff, brand manager for Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. In the months to come, Grindstaff said the Single Barrel brand could be touted via more event sponsorships and partnerships with magazines such as Cigar Aficionado and Robb Report, all in an attempt to reach higher-income whiskey lovers.
Single barrel sales are all about status. A bottle of Single Barrel premium whiskey typically carries a retail price of $39.99. Buying a barrel reduces the price per bottle by no more than a couple of bucks.
"People really don't buy it to get a better price," Grindstaff said. Instead, it's the cachet of buying a barrel that contains whiskey unique to that particular batch.
Single Barrel gets extra special care in the warehouse. Aging takes place in the warehouse's top rick, known as the "buzzard roost." According to Jack Daniel's officials, the whiskey ages best at the top of the roost because of the extremes in temperatures. It's colder in the winter and warmer in the summer.
The warmth opens up the wood more, letting it soak up the whiskey. Cold weather forces the barrels to constrict, pushing the whiskey and its unique flavors back out of the wood.
Big spenders who buy a barrel get special treatment. The distillery often puts buyers up for the night in the swanky Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville.
Bedford pulls samples from four barrels for tasting, and the buyer chooses one. The "rejected" whiskey is bottled and goes to retailers.
Once a buyer picks a barrel, its whiskey is bottled, and each bottle carries an engraved medallion around its neck commemorating whatever the buyer wants.
Commemorative bottles have been popular with rallies of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners. Rick Osgood, a Harley enthusiast and chief compliance officer for U.S. Auto, a Nashville-based car insurance company, said he bought a bottle at a Harley rally two years ago and never drank the stuff.
"I made sure everybody at home knows that this bottle is not be opened but to sit there," he said.
© 2004 Gannett New Jersey Group