NEWS

Should Templeton Rye labels include Indiana?

Josh Hafner
jhafner@dmreg.com

From its beginning, Templeton Rye rooted itself in a great story: that of a bootleg whiskey, distilled in Iowa, enjoyed by Al Capone and resurrected in 2006.

The Templeton Rye seen on store shelves today, however, is distilled in Indiana, not Iowa — a distinction The Des Moines Register and others have noted before.

But that distinction has prompted discussion in whiskey circles in recent weeks, including suggestions that the company's labeling may skirt the law.

The line between the mythos of Templeton Rye and the reality of how and where the whiskey is produced gained attention last month when national website the Daily Beast published an article titled "Your 'Craft' Rye Whiskey is Probably Made From a Factory Distillery in Indiana."

In it, writer Eric Felten explored what the article called a "big secret" of the business: Dozens of craft whiskey companies, including Templeton Rye, sell whiskey made not with their own stills but those of MGP, a food and beverage ingredient company that runs a whiskey factory in Lawrenceburg, Ind.

The Daily Beast also published an accusation of particular note: that the rye whiskey distilled and later bottled as Templeton Rye is made from a "stock MGP recipe," not one tied to Templeton, Ia.

What's more, industry and legal experts question whether Templeton Rye may be violating a federal regulation requiring whiskey companies to disclose the state where their whiskey is distilled if it occurs in another state.

The company acknowledges its use of an Indiana distillery on certain pages of its website, but its bottles mention nowhere that the whiskey is distilled in Indiana. Instead, the labels mention only Iowa: "PRODUCED AND BOTTLED BY TEMPLETON RYE SPIRITS, LLC, TEMPLETON, IOWA."

Templeton, distiller don't clarify process.

The Register's inquiries to MGP about the distillation of Templeton Rye were directed to Shanae Randolph, a representative for the company. Randolph did not respond to multiple requests for comment. MGP has stated to others that what producers who use MGP disclose is their choice.

Reached by phone, Scott Bush, Templeton Rye's president, agreed to comment via text message. "I really do not know and can not comment on anyone else's recipe," he said when asked whether Templeton has ever used a stock MGP recipe.

Asked a rephrased question about whether Templeton Rye instructs MGP on how to distill the whiskey that ends up in Templeton's bottles, Bush responded: "MGP produces our whiskey with Mash Bill (sic) [ingredients] that contains the maximum amount of rye possible. At our distillery in Templeton we do quality control to ensure consistent high quality product by using our own proprietary process."

Additional messages seeking clarification of Bush's comments weren't returned.

Lew Bryson, managing editor of Whiskey Advocate magazine, said Templeton Rye's lack of clarity about its distillation process has been an issue since the company started.

"The problem most whiskey geeks have with Templeton (Rye) is they aren't really forthcoming with the fact that they are buying whiskey from MGP," Bryson said. "They imply it's made in Iowa, and when people say it's made in Iowa, they don't correct them."

Whiskey companies sometimes use contract whiskey as a placeholder until they can afford to distill their own product and wait years for it to age. Bush said in a text that he hopes to do the same and is in the process of working with engineers and architects to plan a new distillery in Templeton.

Construction is expected to begin within two years, the Carroll Daily Times Herald reported last week.

As for Templeton Rye's labeling: The Federal Code of Regulations, in Title 27, Section 5.36, states that "the State of distillation shall be shown on the label of any whisky produced in the United States if the whisky is not distilled in the State given in the address on the brand label."

Printing on a label where a whiskey was distilled is significant, because many consumers make purchasing decisions while scanning labels on store shelves, said Wade Woodard, a certified spirits specialist. That's the whiskey world equivalent of a sommelier.

In his hometown of Houston, Woodard often saw store customers being directed toward "Texas bourbons" that weren't actually distilled in Texas, while other brands making whiskey locally from scratch got ignored.

It didn't seem fair, Woodard said. In April, he reported to the federal government more than 50 whiskeys from around the country that he believes do not comply with the labeling rule, including Templeton Rye, he said.

Enforcing the whiskey labeling regulations falls to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. When asked whether Templeton Rye met federal rules or was under investigation, agency spokesman Tom Hogue said he was unable to comment.

For his part, Woodard said the bureau sent him an email thanking him for his reports and promising "appropriate action as needed." Since then, he's heard nothing and has seen whiskey brands that are distilling out of state continue using labels without disclosure.

"I can't say that my confidence is high that the TTB is actually doing their job," he said.

Lawyer: Promotions imply made in Iowa

Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer from Seattle with knowledge of labeling rules, questions Templeton Rye's compliance.

"Clearly, the implication is that it's made in Iowa," Marler said. "If I was Templeton (Rye) or (its) lawyers, I would be concerned that somebody who's been buying this stuff for a long time finds out it was made in Indiana and files a class-action lawsuit against them for false labeling."

The lack of information on Templeton Rye's bottles about its distillation wouldn't be a big deal if it were named "Bob's Rye" instead, Marler said, but the brand's ethos is entrenched with a historically Iowa-distilled product.

"I assume (during Prohibition) they didn't distill it in Indiana, then ship it to Iowa, then ship it to Al Capone," Marler said, "because Al Capone would probably get pretty pissed about that."

According to the company's promotional materials, the story behind the modern incarnation of Templeton Rye goes something like this: Meryl Kerkhoff, a co-founder of the company who's now deceased, learned how to make Prohibition-era Templeton rye from his father, Alphonse.

"The most difficult task when we started this company was identifying a distilling partner who was interested in working with us and who could produce a product to Dad's exacting standards," says Keith Kerkhoff in a video on the company's website in which he travels to Lawrenceburg.

"Dad and I worked with them on our recipe and got comfortable that they could consistently produce a product worthy of being called the good stuff."

"The implication — more than implication" — behind the marketing materials, Marler said, is that what you're drinking is heavily influenced by, if not the same recipe as, what Alphonse Kerkhoff produced during Prohibition.

Journalists covering America's whiskey industry note that careful semantics and spinning tales are second nature for the industry going back to Prohibition.

"A lot of these companies will say we found our grandpappy's recipe and decided to make a whiskey out it," said Fred Minnick, an industry journalist who's toured MGP's distillery. "That's usually (B.S.), and you're looking at a long line of (B.S.) in the whiskey industry. This is not an industry run by choirboys."

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TEMPLETON RYE'S EFFECT ON CRAFT SPIRITS IN IOWA

For competing whiskey producers in Iowa, Templeton Rye's popular perception as an Iowa-made product has proved helpful, said Kolin Brighton. He works as production manager at Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery, a Swisher company that distills its spirits on-site.

Brighton credits Templeton Rye with helping open the door for producers that do distill in Iowa. "They were helpful for putting Iowa whiskey on the map, whether or not they were making it themselves," Brighton said.

Buying someone else's distilled product and selling it as one's own isn't new to the traditional whiskey industry, Brighton pointed out. But Americans' rapidly changing attitudes about food and drink have put the nation's new breed of craft distillers on a different playing field with consumers when it comes to product sourcing.

"The craft distilling movement is following the craft beer movement, which followed the local food movement," Brighton said. "I think a lot of guys just weren't ready for the backlash."

Greater interest in disclosure has led to greater transparency among distillers, Brighton noted, like the Illinois-based Blaum Bros. The company's description for its Knotter Bourbon (pronounced like "not our bourbon") readily explains the company didn't distill it — "not a drop" — before explaining that the business plans to switch to its own house-distilled bourbon when it's feasible.

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A HIGH-PROFILE YEAR FOR TEMPLETON RYE

Several events have produced a year of heightened interest in both Templeton rye, the historical whiskey, and Templeton Rye, the modern-day brand.

Both a book and documentary on the historical Templeton rye debuted this year.

The book "Gentlemen Bootleggers" by Iowa native Bryce Bauer provides a written account of the small town's whiskey history. Bauer compiled archived federal documents and other original source materials to brace up the town's oral traditions. The research in turn informed "Whiskey Cookers," a companion documentary with Dan Manatt now being submitted to film festivals.

Last December, Templeton Rye shipped its millionth bottle, labeled by Gov. Terry Branstad. The governor recently returned to Templeton to celebrate the grand opening of the town's community center, a $1.7 million facility to which Templeton Rye donated $250,000.

At the gala, the company also announced plans to build a museum "showcasing the rich and colorful history of the rye trade," Douglas Burns of the Carroll Daily Times Herald reported.

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HOW AMERICAN WHISKEY IS MADE

Grinding: First, distillers measure and grind grains such as corn, barley and rye.

Mashing: The grains are then combined with water and cooked, a process that converts starch to sugar.

Fermenting: Yeast, a microorganism that eats sugar and produces alcohol, is added to the mixture.

Distilling: Days later, the process produces a beer that is sent to stills, vaporized and condensed to create whiskey.

Aging: After that, the whiskey is stored in oak barrels. Over time, the oak barrel affects its contents' flavor as the whiskey absorbs components, including sugar, from the wood.

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ABOUT THE BELOW DOCUMENTS:

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) oversees federal laws and regulations regarding alcohol in the U.S., including product labels.

Every alcohol product a company intends to sell must first receive a Certificate of Label Approval, or COLA, from the TTB. COLAs for registered labels are publicly available on the TTB's COLA Registry, https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/publicSearchColasBasic.do.

The database lists at least three COLAs for Templeton Rye products. These include the standard Templeton Rye label most commonly seen on store shelves as well as a "Quasquicentennial" spirit marking the 125th anniversary of Templeton's founding. Also registered is the label for a "Kerkhoff Recipe of Templeton Rye" described as "handed down through generations" and "now available legally for the first time."