I've been asked a lot recently, with the opening of the Michter's Distillery in the historic Fort Nelson Building in Louisville, about my thoughts on the current owners of the brand. My thoughts have evolved over time- mellowed a bit over time. I never felt the need to address my thoughts on the Kentucky operation since my love and concentration of what I do lies solely with the little distillery outside Schaefferstown, PA. But here we are, and I will lend my thoughts.....
I am going to start out by saying I appreciate what Mr. Magliocco and his company have done with Michter's. The expanding popularity of American whiskey has allowed Michter's to travel further and gain more exposure than the terrible market conditions and small budget Michter's in Pennsylvania had to deal with. The modern product lineup is excellent, and the brown label Sour Mash is a great modern day representation of what once flowed from bottles and decanters made in Pennsylvania (I did a review on it a few years back and can be found on this blog.). I am glad to see the original Michter's pot stills again used to make Michter's whiskey- and on display in what looks to be a beautifully restored building. I plan on making a visit some day. I also encourage others to find Michter's whiskey on the shelf and give it a try. It's worth the price.
Now I'll try and break down a few of my thoughts individually about various aspects of Michter's that have been brought up:
-HISTORY- There are unverified rumors floating around that the folks in Kentucky, at times, have claimed some of their older bottlings are left over whiskey from PA and/or they are the same company and people from PA. I had one person tell me the distillery in Schaefferstown was once referred to as "...our old distillery..". I cannot verify any of this and all Michter's publications and interviews I have seen it is noted that they purchased the name after the PA distillery closed. I can find no verification anywhere of a claim that it was old PA whiskey either. While the wording can be a little tricky, it is clear that Mr. Magliocco and Mr. Newman "resurrected" the old brand and it is not a linear continuation. Reading the "Legacy" portion of the Michter's website, you will see what I mean. Initially, when I heard reports of claiming they are one and the same as the original Michter's, I was quite upset. But upon investigation, it seems most, if not all, reports were false and they never outright claimed to be Michter's from Schaefferstown.
-BOMBERGER'S AND SHENK'S- Here's a fun topic. Mention Bomberger's and immediately everyone brings up the topic of Heritage Spirits Distillery (Now Stoll & Wolfe Distillery) in Lititz, PA. I will preface the following comments by flat out saying I am friends with the owners of Stoll and Wolfe and the Stolls, but again, these comments are my own opinions and not theirs. I don't know the intricate details of the situation, but for those not in the know at all- Heritage Spirits released a whiskey at nearly the same time Michter's released a special bourbon. Both were called Bomberger's- in honor of the distillery in Schaefferstown. A lawsuit ensued and in the end, Heritage Spirits became Stoll & Wolfe. Stoll & Wolfe Distillery has gone on to release a wonderful line of spirits including a bourbon and rye blend, rye whiskey, bourbon whiskey, gin, and vodka. Like with Michter's, I encourage you to pick up a bottle. Did it bring me frustration to see Michter's in Kentucky to get the Bomberger's name and begin also using the Shenk's name (Another former owner of the distillery in Schaefferstown)? Yes. Of course it did. I would have loved to see the names stay local. With the hiring of Dick Stoll by Stoll & Wolfe, it would have been great to see them have at least one product linking them to the distillery in Schaefferstown. After all, they do have the distiller from that distillery now working with them. But, does it really matter? It's a name. And I think Stoll & Wolfe will do just fine, regardless of what name is on the bottle. It doesn't change who made it and the quality of what's in the bottle. And, though I have never had any myself, I understand the Bomberger's and Shenk's releases from Michter's are very good as well.
-WINNING DISTILLER OF THE YEAR- Several years back, before Michter's in Kentucky was distilling for themselves and were having whiskey distilled for them by another distiller, they were given the award of Distiller of the year. Chuck Cowdery, who is 1000x more knowledgeable in American whiskey that I am, and a prolific whiskey writer, covered the subject perfectly in a blog entry of his own a few years back: https://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-can-non-distiller-be-distiller-of.html Michter's is now a distiller with two distilleries. Now would be a more appropriate time to bestow that award on them.
1753- Ok, here's me being a nitpicker a bit. The modern Michter's in Kentucky uses the year 1753 and talks about Michter's heritage since 1753. To me, this is false. The Michter's name was created in the 1950's by Lou Forman, by combining the names of his two sons- Michael and Peter. It was the distillery in PA that dated back to 1753, not the Michter's name. In my opinion (I know, I'm not the guy in charge...) the 1753 link died with the closure of the distillery in Schaefferstown in 1990. My only real rub there. Here's where a lot of people like to point when accusing Michter's of fudging history a bit. And they aren't entirely wrong. Potentially deceptive? Maybe. But on the other hand, if you buy your whiskey based simply on the founding date of the company, you are crazier that I am. And that's impressive.
To keep this short, I'll close here. Sure, there are things I wish were done differently and there are things I wish stayed in PA. But that's just not reality. And what is reality isn't hurting anything either. Michter's honors the name well and I hope that continues in the future. In the meantime, I'll stick to collecting stuff from the original Michter's here in PA. Sometimes it's easier and more simple to just live in the past and not worry so much about the present and future.........
Obligatory Michter's (The one in PA, of course!) stuff. An article from 1978 with a little distillery history:
