MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

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WIski
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MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by WIski »

Found this entertaining...…..

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/the-lies- ... 675699?v=a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
WithOrWithoutU2
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by WithOrWithoutU2 »

Great find.

Thanks for posting.
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kiwi Bruce
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by kiwi Bruce »

Well well well...the story of three holes in the ground. Distilling v Marketing v lying through your teeth. If the "powers that be" could only see huge steps forward we would have if they took their greedy, tax grabbing, sticky fingers out of the hobby end of the whiskey trade. There's the rub... stop over regulating everything...just because you can, don't mean you should. Give us SOME Liberty!
Very good video...more than just entertaining...frosts my nipples, SOBs.
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by Max_Vino »

I was shocked to read Lost Spirits Distillery was importing their Scotch, shining a light on it and calling it their own. It does make sense however when you consider a micro distillery sells mostly out of their show/tasting room. A quick check on the Internet and I found the prices of aged whiskeys to range at a low of 2 to 5 dollars per bottle to a high of $10. This certainly makes it affordable for a distillery to provide a full range of products to their customers at a profit.

A wise man once told me you can have the best product in the world, you can have all the patents you want but in the end you have to sell it.

Max
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by zapata »

Anybody who doesn't know what High West is doing is trying hard to not pay attention. Unlike many they have been incredibly upfront about everything they do.
(Disclaimer, didnt watch whole video, just saw HW bottle in the opening shot)
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by kiwi Bruce »

Max_Vino wrote:A wise man once told me you can have the best product in the world, you can have all the patents you want but in the end you have to sell it.Max
And if you have an excellent marketing team you can produce sows ears and sell them as a silk purses. Is "Spin" more important than good product?
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WIski
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by WIski »

This is surely proof the "Traveling Whiskey Show" is alive and well...…… It was especially interesting that the MGP representative listed the product quality as the last thing that a satisfied customer looks for. :crazy:
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by zapata »

That may well be true, but I've had plenty of quality MGP whiskey. I despise the dishonest business practices of a lot of the bottlers, but a lot of them are "making", selecting, blending, finishing, bottling good booze. A bit on the high side for value for sure, but good booze.

High west, redemption, Angel's envy, whistle pig....ya'll gonna turn your nose up at 'em then you've got a more refined pallatte than I do and I want some of whatever you've got that is so much better.
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by bluefish_dist »

kiwi Bruce wrote:
Max_Vino wrote:A wise man once told me you can have the best product in the world, you can have all the patents you want but in the end you have to sell it.Max
And if you have an excellent marketing team you can produce sows ears and sell them as a silk purses. Is "Spin" more important than good product?
Unfortunately, yes. There are many products that suggest this is true. Good marketing can overcome a poor product.
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by WIski »

Zapata, Totally respect your thoughts and your views of the whiskeys mentioned. I have had them all. I'm not going to disagree or dispute the quality of MGP products. I would suggest trying Eagle Rare or Buffalo Trace bourbons. Both of these are available for less money ($30ish) than all you have mentioned and I have found them to be of higher quality and from one stop shop. I think the conversation here is more about the less than honest businesses practices and hoodwinking of the unknowing common folk. Not every out there has the knowledge of the booze hounds that lurk here at HD. Again, no disrespect brother. :thumbup:
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by zapata »

It's all good bro :) I gotta agree with the eagle rare, good stuff there and definitely a better value than a lot of the "craft" stuff for sure.

You know this thread got me thinking. High West sold a year or 2 ago for what, $150 million? Probably got started for a couple hundred k? That's a pretty good return for a business that did a lot of business packaging a commodity product. Made me wonder if I could do the same in another industry.... rebrand charmin toilet paper as artisanal toilet paper and make a fortune? Craft iphones? I dunno, it seems like their market timing was as good as their marketing.
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I can see from both sides. In large commercial operations what’s the difference? I’m sure MGP has different product ranges to purchase in barrels at differing price points then as mentioned blended proofed and bottled - maybe further aging or conditioning if desired. How different is that from distilling it yourself and then working with the product out of barrels? In the High West example how many barrels per month is this guestimated? And they do distill some of their own right? I mean I would like to procure 60 barrels of corn, 15 wheat, 15 rye, 15 barley, 15 oats then experiment with some blending and further barreling using different barrel protocols and a resting period. With those kind of #’s I’d certainly be barrel testing smaller batches too as part of the purchase and decision matrix. I could still use my small scale basement distillery to produce test batches (R&D) then ramp it up for production batches and selecting / purchasing / testing the MGP product to further work with. Does it really matter whose rickhouse it sits in to age?

It feels a little like we’ve been deceived but how much does it really matter? We still make our own small batch.

Cheers!
-j

EDIT:
MGP’s site says minimum order is four barrels but they can also supply tankers and railcars.
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by Max_Vino »

Made me wonder if I could do the same in another industry.... rebrand charmin toilet paper as artisanal toilet paper and make a fortune? Craft iphones? I dunno, it seems like their market timing was as good as their marketing.
Trump Whiskey ?
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by Antler24 »

zapata wrote:That may well be true, but I've had plenty of quality MGP whiskey. I despise the dishonest business practices of a lot of the bottlers, but a lot of them are "making", selecting, blending, finishing, bottling good booze. A bit on the high side for value for sure, but good booze.

High west, redemption, Angel's envy, whistle pig....ya'll gonna turn your nose up at 'em then you've got a more refined pallatte than I do and I want some of whatever you've got that is so much better.
Couldn't have said it better. Smooth Ambler is another who's been putting out some amazing MGP Bourbon while they wait for they're own distillate to come of age
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Re: MGP, Sourced Whiskey, & Marketing

Post by zapata »

Max_Vino wrote: Trump Whiskey ?
You joke, but I had a bottle of Trump Vodka. Gaudy gold packaging (imagine that?). Similar to Popov or Aristocrat would be a generous description. It was in a swag bag from some function near one of his properties pre-potus, never would've bought it myself. Took years to get rid of it by just leaving it out during parties for other people to drink.

Based on that I imagine his whiskey wouldn't be close to MGP quality.
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