Cases of Whiskey

The image of a buffalo alone might bring to mind the American frontier or Native Americans. But, add in the word "bourbon" and put both on a bottle of alcohol, and many will likely think of Buffalo Trace Distillery and its namesake bourbon, Buffalo Trace, which was introduced back in 1999. In 2014, Fetzer Vineyards, a wine producer, launched its "1000 Stories" brand, a California red zinfandel wine aged in bourbon barrels. Although produced by Fetzer, Fetzer's name was nowhere on the label for 1000 Stories. The wine's bottle prominently featured a large buffalo in the center of the label and smaller buffalos on the bottle's neck. Underneath the large buffalo, and before any mention of wine, appeared the description "Bourbon Barrel-Aged." The bottle also included the term "Small Batch" on the label, a term commonly associated with bourbon but not wine. The label was written in gold and white font. Sazerac Company, which owns Buffalo T...

As whiskey ages in a barrel, some of it evaporates into the atmosphere. The amount lost is called the "angels' share" of the whiskey. Some estimate that heaven gets about two to five percent of the whiskey each year. While the economic (and heartbreaking) toll of the angels' share is well-known by distillers and consumers, the legal consequences are a different story.   Diageo Americas Supply, Inc. ages whiskey in Louisville, Kentucky at the former site of the famous Stitzel-Weller distillery. In 2012, a group of landowners who lived near Stitzel-Weller sued Diageo in federal court in Louisville based on Diageo's angels' share. Specifically, the landowners claimed that the ethanol in the angels' share combined with condensation and caused a "black, sooty" fungus to grow on their property. This fungus is commonly referred to as "whiskey fungus" and can be seen, for example, on Heaven Hill Distillery's white rickhouses where barrels o...