Eagle Rare 10 - 101

[Bourbon Joe]

I know early bottles of this stuff were from Old Prentice-Lawrenceberg. Then there were bottles from Old Prentice-New Orleans (with UPC 88004 - BT) and finally bottles from Frankfort (UPC 88004- BT). Does anyone know the timelines or stories behind these various bottlings. I know that Seagrams owned the label and that probably explains Lawrenceberg, but how and when did the rest happen?
Joe

[cowdery]

Eagle Rare was created by Charlie Beam for Seagram's in the early 1970s, or thereabouts. It was one of the last new Bourbon brands created until Booker's and Blanton's came along in the late 1980s. Charlie was master distiller at what is now Four Roses, which was owned by Seagram's at the time. Eagle Rare was a Wild Turkey knock-off, hence the bird theme and 101 proof. Sazerac acquired it in 1989. "Old Prentice" was one of the names the Four Roses Distillery used at one time and continues to be associated with Eagle Rare.

It's possible that some of the New Orleans bottles were actually Heaven Hill whiskey. Heaven Hill was supplying most of Sazerac's whiskey until Sazerac bought what is now Buffalo Trace.

[angelshare]

Just clarifying - ER 10/101 labeled "Old Prentice Lawrenceburg" was distilled at what is now Four Roses in the early to mid 1970's?

[cowdery]

Longer than that. Eagle Rare would have been made at Lawrenceburg until the brand was sold to Sazerac in 1989. But it only moved there in 1983, when the Louisville facility was closed. It probably was made at Louisville from its inception until that plant shut down. Truth be told, any given bottle of Eagle Rare from that earlier period might have been distilled at any Seagrams-owned plant or even at several of them. The location statement on the label really doesn't tell you very much.

[angelshare]

Truth be told, any given bottle of Eagle Rare from that earlier period might have been distilled at any Seagrams-owned plant or even at several of them. The location statement on the label really doesn't tell you very much.

Did this create a bigger challenge in keeping flavor profiles consistent from bottle to bottle or year to year compared to today?

[cowdery]

No necessarily. Look at how Four Roses makes whiskey now (10 different bourbons). Seagram's, more than any other company, built its flavor profiles by mixing different whiskeys.

[mozilla]

Sorry to bump this old thread....But when I searched on the TTB website, it appears that BT was supplying most of the whiskey for ER once it left Four Roses. It seems like it was even being bottled in Dallas and somewhere else like Nebraska. There is not alot of details on the individual acceptence sheets, though.

[mozilla]

I went to check my info and Omaha is not one of the places that ER was bottled. There is a place DAL-RB-5 that ER was bottled in 1990 with a source code of La. and a vendor code of 88004. Hope this helps.