Another week, another lawsuit, another whiskey brand.
The above video features Bulleit Bourbon and covers the labeling and legal controversies swirling around the whiskey industry.
Bloomberg did a good job with the video, published a few days ago. It needs more views than the 1,250 as of this writing. The images are beautiful. The video avoids the sensationalism and oversimplification common to so many other mainstream media stories about whiskey. The shots of whiskey bigshots like Chuck Cowdery and Jim Rutledge are a bonus.
Bulleit got sued June 1, five days after the video surfaced. The complaint relies in large part on the Bloomberg video. Once again, as with Tito’s, Maker’s, Angel’s, Tincup, Beam, Templeton, the lawsuit alleges deceptive labeling. This one is noteworthy, though, because Bulleit is owned by Diageo, “the world’s largest liquor conglomerate” as per the video. The label is above, and a recent label approval is here.
In a rather stunning example of the pot calling the kettle black, the complaint prattles on and on about how the whiskey is actually made by the Kirin Brewing Company, god knows where, even though it is fairly easy to see that the whiskey is made by one of the finest whiskey producers in the world, right where claimed. TTB records show two and only two distilleries in Lawrenceburg, KY. One is Wild Turkey, the other is Four Roses. Neither one is hard to find, or is a slouch when it comes to making fine whiskey.
To the extent this issue grabs you, and you care about the intersection of alcohol beverages, labeling and the law, you should not miss the webinar set out here — later this week.
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