Mike,
I've come to the conclusion long ago that age isn't the same as maturity, (for proof, try dating LOL) - although
hopefully with age comes some maturity.
That said, it is essentially my belief that less attention is paid and devoted to old cheaper staples. In reality every American whiskey maker is chasing Jack Daniels... not for taste of course, but for sales.
What seems to be the trend is to create new higher-end expressions. If you can't sell [x] million cases like your competitor, maybe you can sell 500,000 cases at 3 x the price and still come out rosey.
You are also right about the standards being altered. As I said, change is inevitible. Haven't the standards changed for just about everything else though? To me, food doesn't taste quite as good as it did when I was a kid.
It's like the airlines when a fare war starts... a couple of airlines compete and all the rest have to try to follow suit - in the whiskey trade it doesn't surprise me that most distill and barrel as high as possible... sort of like expecting corporations not to be interested in cutting costs (lowering wages / benefits) possibly sacrificing the quality of the employee attracted, while maximizing profits.
I guess the question I mean to ask is:
Is the whiskey industry any different from most other inudstries at large?