Those unfamiliar with spirits (liquor, not ghosts) might not a have a clue what the title of this article means. No, this is not an article about a nearly dry river bed that is now flourishing due to a recent and well overdue rainfall. It’s not the story of how this stream will now quench the thirst of the townsfolk who previously walked around aimlessly with dry mouth as they waited for the drought to end. But, for some people it’s as big of a deal.
Knob Creek, the U.S.’s top selling super-premium Bourbon, completely ran out of their stock of barrels this summer due to fact that this spirit is always in such high demand and because each and every batch has to age in barrels for nine years before it’s up to the standards set forth by the founder of Knob Creek, Booker Noe. His son Fred, a seventh generation distiller of the Beam family now runs the distillery.
This batch was barreled in 2000 and was tapped in a ceremony called “barrel dumping” on October 29th by Noe and Bill Newlands, president of Beam Global Spirits and Wine, U.S.
“We want to thank Knob Creek fans everywhere for their patience and understanding these past months, and promise it was worth their wait,” said Newlands during the ceremony. “Accelerating production and compromising quality, by a few weeks, even days, was never an option we considered. Knob Creek fans have been in touch, many thanking us for doing things the right way. It is very gratifying, and validating.”
Many major news outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times ran stories about the shortage and a the distillery held a live webcast in September so that experts could explain why the shortage happened and answer questions from Knob Creek drinkers who worried that they would never get to taste their favorite Bourbon ever again.
“Dad would have been proud today, seeing his vision for Bourbon’s discovery by a new, sophisticated generation come to fruition,” said Noe. “That was his wish in creating a richer, longer aged Bourbon like Knob Creek, and with it, the entire Super-Premium Bourbon category that’s growing so rapidly. Increased demand wound up outpacing our own very solid 2000 forecasts, and created the shortage that’s on the road to ending today.”
So, a disaster is averted and a great (and reasonably priced) Bourbon is back on the market. Now, if we can figure out a way to get hop prices down and Crystal Pepsi back on the market, the beverage world will finally be at peace.
For more information, visit: www.knobcreek.com.
30 year old freelance writer and The Father Life‘s resident beer columnist and sports editor. He also writes about fine beverages for drinkingmadeeasy.com and Chilled Magazine. On top of that, he writes about college and professional lacrosse for insidelacrosse.com. He’s also written for Genesee Valley Parenting Magazine, the Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper and ESPN.com. “Osburn on Tap” appears monthly in THE FATHER LIFE. For questions, comments, or if you have a story idea for Chris, throw him an email cosburn@thefatherlife.com. Also, follow him on twitter http://www.twitter.com/chrisosburn
Finally tried some Knob Creek recently – impressive stuff! -B
Crystal Pepsi? Really?
Who didn’t love Crystal Pepsi?