January 2021 in Review

Welcome to the January 2021 recap. If you are looking for more ways to interact and share your love of bourbon, please tell a friend.

Also, be sure to sign up for emails on the front page (must be in web version to sign-up, there is a link to switch to web version at the bottom if on mobile). You'll get an email the day after anything is posted with the full article. No spam and the email address is not passed on to me in any way.

This month I posted 8 articles. The site saw over 21,000 page-views. Down from the record of 34,754 views set in December and up over 150% from the 7266 views in January of 2020. 

 

Miss Fiona Staying Ever Vigilant

Thank you to everyone for your continued support. 

Month in Review

January 04 - First and Only African American-Owned Distillery in Kentucky Opens Its Doors - Brough Brothers Distillery

January 05 - 2020 Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Lottery Results Posted

January 08 - Alberta Premium To Sell Whisky In U.S. For The First Time

January 13 - Luxco Distillers Introduces Ezra Brooks 99

January 15 - Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Review

January 19 - Ohio Updates Some Liquor Laws with House Bill 674

January 20 - 2020 State of Ohio Pappy & Buffalo Trace Debrief

January 26 - Indiana Based MGP Acquires Luxco, Inc.

Indiana Based MGP Acquires Luxco, Inc.

Indiana based company MGP Ingredients, Inc has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Luxco, Inc., and its affiliated companies for an estimated $475 million dollars. Luxco is maker of such brands as Ezra Brooks® Bourbon Whiskey, Daviess County® Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Yellowstone® Bourbon Whiskey, El Mayor® Tequila, and Everclear®.

2020 State of Ohio Pappy & Buffalo Trace Debrief

With the 2020 State of Ohio Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Lottery winners announced, I want to do a quick debrief. I reached out to the State to ask how many entries they had for each lottery and was told that all-in, they received 99,836 entries overall. The breakout to each lottery was 98,923 entries for the Pappy lottery and 94,608 for the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. This puts the final odds of winning at 0.0036% for the Pappy (around 1 in 300) and .0052% for Buffalo Trace (around 1 in 200). 

Ohio Updates Some Liquor Laws with House Bill 674

Recently, Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 674 into law that updates some of the liquor laws in Ohio. The bill is 29 pages and has a lot of crazy stuff in it not related to liquor (e.g. You are exempt from being a licensed retail food establishment if you are a  person who annually maintains five hundred or fewer birds, on the condition that the person offers the eggs from those birds directly to the consumer from the location where the eggs are produced or at a farm product auction). 

The highlights we care about include:

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Review

Welcome to the review for Woodford Double Oaked. This is a product that has always been one of my favorites so I'm excited to give it a formal review. 

Let's get started with the basics. 

Manufacturer: Woodford Reserve

Luxco Distillers Introduces Ezra Brooks 99

Luxco (whom I've always known as Lux Row Distillers) has announced a new product in the Ezra Brooks lineup called Ezra Brooks 99. 

Alberta Premium To Sell Whisky In U.S. For The First Time

Alberta Premium, a Canadian company, has announced that they are taking their Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye Whisky to the United States in limited quantities (note: I'm spelling it whisky in this article because that is how it is spelled in the press release). 

2020 Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Lottery Results Posted

The Ohio Department of Liquor has posted the results of the 2020 State of Ohio Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Lottery. Sadly, there was a Mark R and a Sarah R on the winners list, but it wasn't anyone in my family. Thankfully, a nice man in Nigeria emailed to let me know I won a lottery there... fingers crossed. 

You can click here to see the entire winners list. I've reached out to OHLQ for additional details on how many entries were received and will have more analysis when I hear back. 

Congrats to all the winners. 

First and Only African American-Owned Distillery in Kentucky Opens Its Doors - Brough Brothers Distillery

Brough Brothers Distillery, the first and only Black-owned distillery in the state of Kentucky, has opened in Louisville. The new 2200 square feet distillery was founded by brothers Victor, Bryson, and Christian Yarbrough with the goal to 'produce quality bourbon whiskey in an industry that has thus far remained largely inaccessible to minority entrepreneurs.'