Straight from the still
Dear friends, Greetings from Templeton.
Well, we are a month into 2011 and into the heart of the long winter here in Iowa. It seems like most of the country got snow this week, including Templeton with about eight inches. Keith and I had an adventurous trip to Chicago this week. Speaking of Keith, he has been working with Director Kristian Day on a Templeton Rye documentary. If you have any family stories about Templeton Rye please email us at info@templetonrye.com. You might get rich and famous or — even more exciting — you might get to meet Keith if they come to interview you.
We get many questions from folks on our website, Facebook and Twitter, so we thought we'd try to answer them all in one newsletter. So if you are interested in how our allocation works, where you can find a bottle of The Good Stuff, whether you can buy a bottle at the distillery, and so forth, please read on.
Finally, we would like to remember Paul Trostel, who died earlier this week. Paul was a visionary restauranteur, an outlaw, a great businessman and teacher, a huge fan and vocal supporter of Templeton Rye and a loyal friend. He will be missed by the Templeton team.
All the best from your friends at Templeton Rye. Remember only 44 days until Spring!
Cheers,
Scott Bush, President, Templeton Rye
When is Rock & Rye this year?
We have been working on some cool ideas for Rock & Rye this year but have not yet finalized anything. Please watch the newsletter and our Facebook page for an official announcement soon.
Do you sell your used barrels?
We do sell our used, 53-gallon, white oak barrels on occasion to brewers, mixologists, chefs, BBQ teams and fans who want something cool for their office or bar.
If you would like to purchase a barrel, please follow this link:
http://www.templetonrye.com/blog/purchase-a-used-templeton-rye-barrel
The barrels can be picked up in Templeton on February 11th or 12th, or Des Moines on February 13th.
What is your 2011 supply and allocation?
Below is our Dec '10 - Dec '11 preliminary allocation. We will be sending these cases to each market at the beginning of each month. As you can see, we sent nearly 80% of our December allotment to Iowa and will continue to do our best to supply our home state while balancing the future growth for our company. Most people in the industry think we are crazy to allocate this much product to Iowa but it is important to us as Iowa guys and as an Iowa company. Please support us on this fact if you hear folks saying we are "sending all our product out of state."
Why is Templeton Rye so hard to find in Iowa?
Iowa is what is known in the industry as a "Control State", meaning the State of Iowa acts as the distributor for spirits in the State. We sell every bottle of Templeton Rye in Iowa to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division or ABD.
The ABD applies a "mark-up" or tax, and sells the product to Licensees, or Spirits Retailers. Please note that despite serious pressure, we have not changed our price to the ABD. The ABD applies a set mark-up and retailers have the liberty to set the final price charged to consumers. The ABD allocates the cases we send them every month to "uniformly distribute" them amongst Licensees. The ABD decides how many cases each licensee can order every month and they begin to fill orders on a certain day. Iowa Licensees order on either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday with delivery the following day. Depending on what day of the week a Licensee orders and the amount of product sent in that month, they may or may not get any product that particular month.
Each party mentioned above is in a tough spot because of the supply/demand situation. We realize that and truly appreciate their efforts. What we want to make clear is that once we sell product to the ABD we do not control where it ends up or the price on the shelf. We have a lot more influence on those items in other states and quite frankly, if Iowa were not our home state we would probably allocate much less product here.
Where can I find a bottle?
As explained above, once we sell a bottle to the ABD we do not have any information where it will end up so we can not really help find a retailer that has product in stock. Retailers can only sell what they get allocated from the State, which is limited by the amount of product we send to the ABD, so please do not get frustrated with retailers. They are doing the best they can in a tough situation and would obviously be happy to sell you a bottle if they could. The only option is to search various stores the first week or two of each month and hopefully find a bottle in stock. We have also noticed a lot of our fans helping others find bottles on our Facebook page and through the Twitter hashtag #TRspottings, so be sure to watch those channels as well.
Do you sell Templeton Rye at the distillery?
We have legally been able to sell product at the distillery since July 2010. We chose not to sell at the distillery because we did not think it was the right thing to do with our retail partners in such short supply. We thought the Dec '10 allocation would go a long way towards filling the Iowa pipeline and we had planned to start selling at the distillery Jan 1st. Because the December '10 allocation went so quickly, we have since decided not to start selling at the distillery Jan 1st. We honestly do not know if or when we will start to sell Templeton at the distillery. Please watch our newsletter for any updates on this subject.
Do you offer tours of the distillery?
We typically hold open tours a couple of times per month on dates when guests can see all aspects of our operation: fermentation, distillation and bottling. Templeton Rye distillery tours include a guided walk through our production area, barrel warehouse, bottling line and tasting room. Guests may have the opportunity to sit with the Templeton Rye team and help label a few bottles of The Good Stuff. Our tours last approximately 45 minutes and available dates can be found here: http://www.templetonrye.com/tours. We charge $5 to hold your spot and you receive a free Templeton shot glass from our tasting room.
What does your future supply look like?
From Jan '10 - Nov '10 we sold 3,100 cases in Iowa. From Dec '10 - Dec '11 we are set to sell 20,000 cases in Iowa. Our aging stock for 2012, 2013 and 2014 is obviously already in the barrel and each year is a significant increase over the previous year.
Calendar of upcoming Templeton Rye events
Below is a calendar of events that we're participating in across the country. Be sure to stop by and say hello to our team!
Feb 22-24 - Market Visit, San Francisco
Feb 26 - Baconfest, Des Moines
Mar 14-16 - Market Vist, New York
Mar 20 - Cochon 555, San Francisco
Mar 26 - WoW, San Francisco
Apr 4-7 - Market Visit, New York
Apr 9 - Baconfest, Chicago
Apr 15 - Whiskeyfest, Chicago
May 1-4 - Market Visit, New York
May 14-16 - Manhattan Cocktail Classic
Jun 4 - Sip N' Sample Lake View, Iowa
Jun 5 - Cochon 555, San Francisco
Jun 6-9 - Market Visit, New York
Jul 20-24 - Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans
If you have any questions or need more information about any of the events listed in our newsletter, don't hesitate to drop us a line at info@templetonrye.com.
© 2011 Templeton Rye Spirits, LLC, Templeton, Iowa |
