by Squire » Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:38 pm
Changing times and public tastes in the social upheavals of the 1960s. Truman and Eisenhower drank Bourbon but our new president Kennedy preferred the more sophisticated Daiquiri. When James Bond said shaken not stirred he wasn't talking about scotch and soda. Bourbon/Rye sales slumped and the extended family members of distilling dynasties decided to pull their equity out of a dying business and invest their money more profitably elsewhere.
What to do? The small distillers could no long compete or even stay in business so they sold out to the Nationals which along with ongoing production meant large stocks of aging Bourbon sat unsold in warehouses. Even NAS brands like Kentucky Tavern were blending 10 year old stocks into their regular labels. In short, there developed a glut of aged, unsold Bourbon so much so that even into the last decade there was plenty of aged surplus Bourbon for sale on the bulk market.
Not so now and it's unlikely we will see that scenario again. Big players like Diageo are rummaging through the rackhouses to identify any remaining old stock which now sells for big bucks to folks who believe older is better.