Bad news for Jack Daniels Fans

[Bill, KD0HG]

Sigh...
How about it, Don.

Historic whiskey could go down drain

By JOE EDWARDS
Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Here's a sobering thought: Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.

Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled.

"Punish the person, not the whiskey," said an outraged Kyle MacDonald, 28, a Jack Daniel's drinker from British Columbia who promotes the whiskey on his blog. "Jack never did anything wrong, and the whiskey itself is innocent."

Investigators are also looking into whether some of the bottles had been stolen from the distillery. No one has been arrested.

Authorities are still determining how much of the liquor will be disposed of, and how much can be sold at auction.

Tennessee law requires officials to destroy whiskey that cannot be sold legally in the state, such as bottles designed for sale overseas and those with broken seals.

"We'd pour it out," said Danielle Elks, executive director of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

The estimated value of the liquor is $1 million, possibly driven up by the value of the antique bottles, which range from 3-liter bottles to half-pints.

One seized bottle dates to 1914, with its seal unbroken. Elks said it is worth $10,000 on the collectors market. Investigators are looking into whether the liquor was being sold for the value of the bottles rather than the whiskey.

"Someone was making a great deal of profit," she said.

Tennessee whiskeys age in charred white oak barrels, but the maturing process that gives them character mostly stops when it is bottled. A bottled whiskey can deteriorate over a long period of time, especially if it is opened or exposed to sunlight and heat.

Christopher Carlsson, a spirits connoisseur and collector in Rochester, N.Y., said old vintages of whiskey in their original containers are highly prized.

"A lot of these bottles are priceless," he said. "It's like having a rare painting. It's heavily collected."

The raids, prompted by a tip, were conducted at two warehouses and a home in Lynchburg, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville. Another raid was at a Nashville hotel room where drinks were being served and bottles were being sold.

For now, the whiskey is being stored in a Nashville vault.

Elks acknowledged that pouring out the whiskey would not be a happy hour for her.

"It'd kill me," she said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONFISCATED_WHISKEY?SITE=CODER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Bill, KD0HG]

In an ideal world, I'd enjoy sipping some of that JD while having an eyeball with you and Don. Maybe someday.

[K9ACT]

Associated Press Writer

Tennessee whiskeys age in charred white oak barrels, but the maturing process that gives them character mostly stops when it is bottled.

Typical journalism, repeating nonsense like a parrot.  But he did say "mostly".

When I got divorced in 1975, she of course got the house but I insisted on the wine cellar.  I had absolutely no place to store this stuff so I distilled the entire lot and carried it around in 5 gallon jugs with oak chips for about ten years.  I then bottled them and carried the 50 bottles around with me for the next 20 years.  Well, I should say what remained of them as I regularly sampled them and I now have one bottle left which I am saving till the family drives me off to Happy Village Rest Home.

This stuff continued to improve over the years and the last bottle was without doubt, the best brandy of my life.

Another proof of the pudding is that my now wife brought with her a bottle of Segrams 7 or some other generic old whiskey from her dad's basement which turned out to be from about 1960.  It also turned into a very fine old whiskey just sitting in the bottle.

js

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I still have half bottle of 100% Old Grand Dad bourbon that was given to me as a gift in 1965. Last time I opened that bottle was somewhere about 1976. Brings back a memory or two of nights sleeping on the bed with one foot on the floor.

[WA1GFZ]

Gee, getting to be that time of the year.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Read somewhere recently that J.D. is the #1 whiskey in the world. Would be a shame to lose all that history to the nonsense of bureaucracy. Seems like a collector selling unopened bottles in a manner that clearly shows they aren't a liquor outlet should be obvious. Technically, it's still 'selling liquor', but geez. Where does it end?

At the very least, if the seller is guilty and the stuff has to go, the state should sell it. Then the collector community isn't denied some rare hooch, and the state gets its mitts on more tax money to spend, indirectly as it may be. 

[k4kyv]

And you thought the common practice of dumping a basement full of antique radio transmitters, receivers and parts was bad.

Law Requires Officials Destroy Whiskey That Cannot Be Sold Legally

Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.

The estimated value of the liquor is $1 million, possibly driven up by the value of the antique bottles, which range from 3-liter bottles to half-pints.

One seized bottle dates to 1914, with its seal unbroken. Elks said it is worth $10,000 on the collectors market. Investigators are looking into whether the liquor was being sold for the value of the bottles rather than the whiskey.

Looks like this state, which has some of the weirdest and most absurd alcohol laws in the entire world, is about to shoot itself in the foot once again as usual.  They cry over and over again about the budget crisis caused by their lack of revenue and want to raise taxes on alcohol and levy more taxes on everything else, but if they decide that the whisky is illegal simply because the owner didn't have a licence, why don't they have a public auction and use the proceeds to help reduce the state's shortfall? I suspect that if the estimated market value is $1 million, they could collect at least twice that if they put it on e-Pay.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/14608054/detail.html

[Ed KB1HVS]

OH     MY    GOD!!!!  The humanity of it!!!!! What is going wrong with this world. 

[KC1XF]

Hey Don, remember when they told us that getting a Lottery in TN would cure most of our budget woes!? So we got the Lottery and it cured NONE of our state budget problems!? Wonder where all that Lotto Money is going?

Mack

Mack,

They must have had a thread going on. In 1969 The Rhode Island Governor, Frank Litch stated " We need to raise the Sales Tax from .05 to .07 cts, just until the state lottery takes off."

Thirty Eight years later the State Sales Tax is still at .07 cts, guess the lottery never took off. (HUH)

Fortunately, Rhode Island is so small we can go over to Massachusetts and buy major items, they are still at .05 cts.

About the only place you will find correct spelling of Rhode Island is on a map, up here it's known as Rogue Island.

73,

Fred
KC1XF

[k4kyv]

Politicians seem to be the same everywhere, they're going to spend every dime you give them and claim they need more dimes. We used to sneak over to buy our gasoline in GA because the tax on gas was cheaper there but now the GA folks come to TN because our tax is lower! The GA governor removed the tax on gas for a month while it was at a peak price, when he put the tax back on gas it was much higher and will remain so forever.

Why did you have to "sneak" over?  Were they busting people for purchasing out-of-state gas like they claim to be doing now with cigarettes?  I always thought the USA was one single nation, so anything you legally buy anywhere in the country legally belongs to you, so you should be able to freely take it with you wherever you go, no questions asked, if you don't cross any international borders.  What next, "internal passports" like the ones the Soviet Union required its citizens to carry to travel outside their town or village of residence?

Actually, most of the lottery money is going for university scholarships.  So far, the lottery scholarship has saved my daughter about $12,000, @ $2k a semester, since she has been going to MTSU.  I think of the lottery as a "voluntary tax" that people willingly pay, since the odds of winning a significant jackpot is such a long shot that you have just about as much chance of being hit in the head with a falling meteorite.

I just read in the newspaper this morning that the state is now facing a $100M shortfall in general tax revenues this year.  At its estimated market value, auctioning of that JD instead of dumping it would save the state 1% of the total shortfall (if the state can even prove that the rightful owner is not legally entitled to it).

Those "temporary" taxes have a  strong tendency of becoming permanent. Kinda reminds me of LORAN on 160, which was supposed to be a temporary wartime emergency measure, allocated to that band because it was a convenient stretch of empty spectrum that had been vacated for the duration of the war.  It took nearly 40 years after the war was over for the "temporary emergency" to end.

[KB2WIG]

   "  the state is now facing a $100K shortfall in general tax revenues this year  ""

you guys are pikers....

In 2004,   "Our economy is coming back, and yet today we still face a deficit of $4.15 billion – significantly less than we have dealt with before, but still a formidable obstacle to future prosperity. " Gov Pataki, January

In 2007     "ALBANY, NY -- A decline in tax revenues in a slowing economy will result in a $4.3 billion budget deficit, $651 million worse than projected in July, according to a budget report issued Tuesday.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Well, then sell more JD!
I'm sure it's taxed quite well there.

[WBear2GCR]

Funny thing about that fellow... I've been to quite a lot of concerts over many decades now and while I never hung with him personally, I observed Jack himself at just about all of them! See,s like he's just about everywhere! Quite a fellow! 

Hear his brother Charlie plays pretty good too! 

                      _-_-bear

[k4kyv]

   "  the state is now facing a $100K shortfall in general tax revenues this year  ""

you guys are pikers....

Typo.  I meant $100 million.  That JD, if worth an estimated $1M would make up for 1% of it.

[W1RC]

Everyone has to understand the bureaucrat mentality in order to comprehend why this is so.

Some people hate alcohol in any form and love to impose their morality on the rest of us.  I understand some of those states still are living in the 1920s and prohibition is still very much in vogue.

It doesn't matter what the cause or issue - you have to have some visibility in order for your superiors to see that you are necessary to the hierarchy - and doing your job.  This justifies your existance on the public payroll and you only need to do this once or twice in your entire career if you do it right.  Then you're golden!

Some goes for politicians.

73,

MisterMike

[WA3VJB]

So if a painting gets stolen, they would have to destroy the painting as part of closing out the case ?

I need a drink.

[W3SLK]

Bill said:

Historic whiskey could go down drain

Awwww, the humanity!!!!!!!


Hell around here, you have to go to 'state stores' to get wine, a distributor to get a case of beer, and a bar if you want a six pack or single quart. You can only get two six packs at a time. If you want more, you have to walk in the bar twice. Talk about stupidity.

[k4kyv]

Everyone has to understand the bureaucrat mentality in order to comprehend why this is so.

It doesn't matter what the cause or issue - you have to have some visibility in order for your superiors to see that you are necessary to the hierarchy - and doing your job.  This justifies your existance on the public payroll and you only need to do this once or twice in your entire career if you do it right.  Then you're golden!

Some goes for politicians.

Some of the regulations that help to maintain the job positions of the regulators in this state include such picayune things as making it illegal for customers in a liquor store to use the store's toilet, and prohibition of certain size beer containers.  For example, the small 6 oz containers are illegal, so if you feel a little thirsty when you stop for gas at a quick stop, you have to purchase a full 12 oz size or larger to sip on while you drive instead of one of the tiny sizes, and making it illegal for a liquor store to sell anything non-alcoholic such sodas or a Margarita mix.  The sell wine but not beer, and can't sell corkscrew, although they may give one away free of charge.

This is the same mentality that brought us the p.e.p. bullshˇt.  As part of a published interview in CQ magazine I recall, before the docket was even released, the FCC's attorney said that one of their highest priorities was to 'upgrade' the amateur radio power limit, not because the old DC input rule really was a problem, but because it was so archaic that it was an 'embarrassment' to the FCC.

[Bill, KD0HG]

A long time ago, I asked an FCC field inspector that I was working with on a broadcasting issue.

If someone were to be busted for running overpower, it was necessary to document how much over for any legal proceedings.

He said the *real* issue was they weren't going to jeopardize the safety of FCC inspectors by having them connect their own calibrated meters into the HV circuits of ham equipment. After the advent of inexpensive PEP wattmeters in the 70s, they no longer had to.

This doesn't explain or justify the power hit that AM stations had to take, but the reasoning for the change from a DC measurement to PEP certainly seems to be valid.

[k4kyv]

A long time ago, I asked an FCC field inspector that I was working with on a broadcasting issue.

If someone were to be busted for running overpower, it was necessary to document how much over for any legal proceedings.

He said the *real* issue was they weren't going to jeopardize the safety of FCC inspectors by having them connect their own calibrated meters into the HV circuits of ham equipment. After the advent of inexpensive PEP wattmeters in the 70s, they no longer had to.

This doesn't explain or justify the power hit that AM stations had to take, but the reasoning for the change from a DC measurement to PEP certainly seems to be valid.

What does p.e.p. have to  do with it? 

The issue was one of input vs output power, the subject of debate that had been brought up many times before.  I recall reading in a 1933 issue of R/9 magazine about  a suggestion to change the regulation from input to output power.

Input vs. output power has nothing to do with p.e.p.  Those are totally separate issues.  Output power level could just as easily be defined in terms of average, or mean power, or in terms of carrier power with modes that run a carrier.  The Canadian regulators were evidently smarter than the FCC; they came to the brilliant conclusion that it could be done simply by defining carrier modes like AM, FM and CW in terms of carrier output, and carrierless modes such as SSB in terms of p.e.p., although IMO average (mean) output power would have been more valid.  Pure rocket science!

Johnny Johnston was pushing p.e.p. almost from the time he began his 25+ year tenure as head of the amateur rulemaking division.  There were several unsuccessful attempts at a p.e.p. rule before prior to the infamous power limit docket.  One restructuring docket proposed p.e.p. input!  The worst of both worlds.

Johnston came out in opposition to AM from the outset.  He was the one who unveiled Docket 20777 to the public at the Dayton FCC forum shortly after taking on his new job.  He has claimed to be a RTTY enthusiast.  His p.e.p. rule allowed him to double his power while running his preferred mode, while cutting ("legal") AM power to half.