20160923

Major change for Knob Creek 9-year-old

If you're a Knob Creek bourbon drinker, you may see something different about the label in the coming months. The lack of an age statement on the 9-year-old expression.

The noted spirits journalist Chuck Cowdery broke the news on Thursday that the change is in the works. He quoted Knob Creek's master distiller, Fred Noe, as saying, "We have good inventories, but with the growth we’re seeing we are going to take the age statement off so we can keep the taste profile the same."

The development is more than simply a labeling change. Knob Creek actually has an abundance of whiskies more than nine years old that Noe and his crew can mix with younger Knob bourbons with the aim of maintaining the current flavor.

The other Knob Creek whiskies are not affected by the change. The Single Barrel Reserve will continue to have an age statement, and the rye never has had one.

Who will decide -- before it goes to market where consumers ultimately will judge -- whether the flavor profile of the affected whiskey is correct? As Noe told Cowdery, "I will taste every batch. It won’t be Knob Creek unless I say it’s Knob Creek.”

We shall see.

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