GRAIN OF TRUTH

01 Aug 2014 By David Fuhrmann-Lim

Shock! Horror! Is this news to you!?! Where your “craft” whisky is distilled is essentially unimportant…

Where Your “Craft” Whiskey Is Distilled Is Essentially Unimportant: A Rebuttal to The Daily Beast’s Eric Felten

Eric Felten, writing for the Daily Beast, has stumbled upon the worst-kept secret in the liquor industry: much of the craft whiskey, especially rye, that commands high prices comes from a giant, intensely ugly building ten miles west of the Cincinnati airport. Cue the clutching of pearls, the shattering of dropped tulip glasses, the rending of lapels, the wailing of women. How could we all fall for this?

He is correct on the facts: a former Seagram’s distillery called MGP, located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, furnishes much of the American whiskey we see on our shelves. Bourbon and rye flow from the industrial stills. He is correct that when you see a whiskey older than the company selling it, those barrels were bought from elsewhere.

Here is the entire reason MGP exists, in ten words: Our thirst for whiskey has overwhelmed the number of distilleries.

Does it matter? Not really.

Read the rest at OCWeekly.com