The Age of EC 18

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The Age of EC 18

Unread postby angelshare » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:08 pm

We bought (Dave's) dad a bottle of EC 18 for Father's Day from our VA ABC store. In our experience, EC 18 moves quickly. Last November I went to buy one for his birthday, and they were out.

This bottle says that it was barreled (if I'm reading correctly) in 1980. It MAY be a sloppy 1986, but I don't THINK so. I also noted that there is no dump date.

Which made me wonder - how old is it really?

Did I just get an old bottle? Or is some EC 18 20 or even 25 years old?
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Unread postby bunghole » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:09 am

:wow: Keep us posted, Dave, and let us know how it tastes. Please compare and contrast with another bottling of EC18 if practicable.

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Unread postby cowdery » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:18 pm

Those are all possibilities.

The EC18 may turn over fast in that store but maybe not in all VA ABC stores, and it wouldn't surprise me if they cleared some old stock from one store and moved it to another. That's fairly easy to do when one entity owns every store in the state.

While I can imagine some 19 or even 20-year-old barrels being used for a bottling of EC18, I find it hard to believe there is much of that, or that they are going much older, if for no other reason than for the current shortage of extra-aged whiskey. I think an explanation that involves the bottle drifting around some before reaching your store is the likeliest explanation.

Something like EC18, as a small brand, may only be bottled once or twice a year. In other words, 18 months to two years could easily pass from the bottling date until a particular bottle from that batch hits a retail shelf. Add to that some kind of diversion, like a special order that didn't get picked up, and something like that could easily be out of the pipeline for a while. Since there is no "freshness" issue, years can slip away pretty easily.

Then there is the sterling efficiency we expect from all government agencies.
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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:01 pm

At HH's visitor center last year with John and others John first noticed the EC 18 year old served to us seemed 23-25 years old when bottled. This was an inference from the kind of label markings Dave was referring to (not the taste as such) and the recent look of the container. Also, wouldn't HH serve recently bottled stock? They wouldn't hang on to older bottles, one would think. John may wish to add more information.

EC 18 has always been my favourite HH pour. Each bottle varies somewhat but at its best it is very fine. Doesn't matter what the actual age is, this whiskey has a certain taste or profile and one I like.




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Unread postby angelshare » Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:44 pm

cowdery wrote:While I can imagine some 19 or even 20-year-old barrels being used for a bottling of EC18, I find it hard to believe there is much of that, or that they are going much older, if for no other reason than for the current shortage of extra-aged whiskey. I think an explanation that involves the bottle drifting around some before reaching your store is the likeliest explanation.


Good point about VA ABC. As with most other things bourbon related, I suspect you are right! On the issue of extra-aged whiskey-

I assume (maybe incorrectly) that this shortage varies significantly by distillery. Given the price point and seemingly reliable supply of EC 18, can I infer that there is less of a shortage at HH?
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Unread postby OneCubeOnly » Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:20 pm

Dave--that bottling date seems about right for EC18. I only have one bottle on hand right now, but here's the info:

(BTW, add me to the list of people who disagrees with the bad press that EC18 receives! There are young, lively bourbons and there are the oldies. I happen to appreciate both!)
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Unread postby cowdery » Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:04 pm

angelshare wrote:I assume (maybe incorrectly) that this shortage varies significantly by distillery. Given the price point and seemingly reliable supply of EC 18, can I infer that there is less of a shortage at HH?


Whiskey aged 8+ years is in short supply throughout the industry. With Heaven Hill, they give top priority to supplying their own brands (as does everyone), so the people who suffer from the tight supply primarily are people who buy bulk whiskey on the spot market.
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Unread postby Brewer » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:36 am

Due to the relative increase in demand for bourbon over the past few years, have distilleries begun to ramp up production?

I know this is tricky...I have trouble figuring out tomorrow, let alone what demand would be 4+ years down the road. But, given bourbons resurgence, as well as what's happened with Single Malts, I'd think the distilleries would be cookin' a hell of a lot more corn. Of course, there is the lag time between increasing production and catching up with demand. Actually, I bet they'd want to be slightly behind the demand curve; leaving them without a lot of excess capacity as well as an ability to command a good price for their product.
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Unread postby cowdery » Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:33 pm

Because it's so difficult to predict what demand will be like several years down the road, production has been ramping up, but modestly. Industry-wide, production is increasing at a rate of about five percent per year. (By "industry," I mean American whiskey.)
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Unread postby Brewer » Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:49 pm

I figured they HAD to have increased production at least somewhat to meet up with the demand. On the other hand I knew they wouldn't overproduce, because they've been burned by over-supply before. Consumers can be so fickle!
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