Last night, I (Dave) had a dream that HH decided to bottle Tina's favorite bargain bourbon EW 1783 at 100 proof. In my dream, it was part of a marketing campaign that included the line "More whiskey, less water." (Maybe Bunghole had gotten a job in the marketing department - sounded like one of his lines! )
After awakening and grieving that this was just a dream, I wondered if such a campaign would have a chance of working. I know that the economics of raising a product 14 proof points would likely be cost prohibitive, but even a current 86 proof product could market itself this way against the big guys (IE, Jim Beam and Jack Daniel).
But would it matter? Is our comparatively small group of enthusiasts the only contingency that pays attention to such differences in proof?
Or maybe this HAS been done in the past? Has WT gone after JB and JD directly on proof? I know "101 proof" has long been a WT marketing thing to some extent, but do you think it has effectively conveyed how different it is than Jim and Jack in this respect? Or has it conveyed the message, but the average consumer isn't moved by it?