I can't taste the alchohol!!!

I love a good bourbon and for a long time my go-to brand has been Maker's Mark.   I like the way you can feel it as it entices the taste buds as its warming properties slowly creep down the throat and esophagus.  When it finally hits the end of the trail the small explosion within your gullet tells you that indeed you've experienced craftsmanship and distilling mastery.   Its a balancing act of mash and alcohol that has been aged in special wooden barrels.  Its not cheap- but its not expensive either.  It was just plain good.

Now- I've learned that the demand has become such that the fine folks in their Kentucky Distillery have lowered its proof from 90 to 84.   "Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it," wrote Maker's Mark executives Rob Samuels and Bill Samuels Jr. in an email to clients.   

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!   I remember when I would be made fun of because I liked bourbon.  I was told it was an old-man's drink.   Now- its so popular that the distillery has to water it down???   That's not right on so many levels.  Its one thing when some wannabe bourbonite waters his drink down.   You know that person- the one who like's good booze and diet coke mixed.  But the makers of Maker's Mark?  How can that happen.  Wasn't watering down drinks something that happened only in the speak-easy and that was only to keep the patrons from going blind.   

My father kept a bottle in the cabinet...way in the back behind the Comet cleanser and the scrub brushes.  Once in a while I'd steal a nip and add water to replace what I took.   He actually had the doctor run tests on him because he thought he was losing his sense of taste.

This was a great sipping whisk(e)y.  

I guess Knob Creek will now be my go-to.  But don't tell anyone.  I'd hate for it to become so popular that their distillers begin to water it down too.

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