The craft cocktail trend has spurred an explosion of new
whiskeys on the market, many of them claiming to be small-batch,
hand-crafted products. But are they really what they seem? NPR's
The Salt talks to a blogger who believes that many of
these small potatoes distilleries are actually
buying whiskey from a larger conglomerate. The blogger,
Steven Ury, is an attorney by day but follows the world of spirits
in his spare time. He estimates that over 50 different labels
actually purchase their product from one source: Midwest Grain
Products (MPG), a large alcohol producer in Indiana.
Ury says that one way to tell if your whiskey really comes from
an independent producer rather than a larger distillery is to look
at the label. "Does it say it is 'distilled' by that company,
or does it say it's 'bottled by' or 'produced by' that company?
That sounds like a small difference, but it has a big legal
meaning." He also looks for the recipe, because the distillery in
Indiana uses 95% rye in its formula.
While Ury likes some of the brands that are bottling the Indiana
product under their labels, he also thinks the deception hurts the
small distilleries that are making their whiskey in true small
batches. "It's not so much a matter of its tasting better or worse,
it's more a matter of the consumer knowing what they're getting,
and understanding why something might taste a certain way, and why
something might taste differently," he says.
Photo of Whiskey
on the rocks from Bon Appétit Magazine and the
EYB Library.