I don’t often put on my rant-hat, but this is worthy and relevant to the Magnificent Bastards. If you recall, in the last newsletter I mentioned I was going to have 3 things for you.
An exciting opportunity
A scary possibility
A way to get FREE shipping on the Whiskey Tribe’s new merch store (launching this fall).
Rex and Daniel gave lots of context and details in last week’s podcast episode here:
Texas liquor law has always prevented distillers from shipping their products directly to you.
Successful examples of countries and states safely shipping whiskey have been ignored in favor of protecting the status quo - and campaign contributions.
People who visit distilleries are limited to a maximum of 2 bottle purchases every 30 days, which strangles tasting room income.
Current co vid restrictions have closed tasting rooms, making that limited revenue stream disappear.
Liquor stores are cutting back on their meager craft selections, in favor of big brands with marketing budgets.
For many of your favorite craft distilleries, the situation is critical.
Fortunately, two common sense solutions can save the craft spirits industry.
Direct-to-consumer shipping and age-verified delivery.
Waiver of arbitrary sales caps and bottle limits.
The Whiskey Tribe has stepped up and put their distillery on uncommonly secure footing. THANK YOU. But this situation reaches beyond Crowded Barrel Whiskey Co. If nothing changes, you’ll soon see a wave of talented whiskey makers closing their doors for good.
In the midst of this pandemic, the veil has fallen from antiquated prohibition era liquor laws. As you may expect, the two common sense solutions are at odds with entrenched interests and deep pockets.
Nonetheless, we have an opportunity for real change here.
Whiskey lovers are waking up to the anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices that have plagued the industry for years. The beer, wine, and spirits makers are rallying together to make the regulatory changes that people are asking for, but we have to fight for it - and that fight requires funding.
Every Magnificent Bastard that contributes at least $50 to Crowded Barrel’s #StillStrongTX effort will get 12 months of FREE shipping on Whiskey Tribe’s new merch store (FREE for the U.S. 48)
Use this link, and we’ll use that email address to send you 12 months of FREE shipping when the store launches this fall.
Exactly ZERO of those dollars are coming to us. All of the contributions are being handled by the organizations listed on that page.
Frankly, the odds (and the big money) are against us. But this is the best shot we’ve ever had to fix a broken system - and patience isn’t a luxury that distillers can afford right now. Worst case scenario, your contribution will at least get you FREE shipping when the Tribe’s new store launches.
The beer makers are with us.
The winemakers are with us.
The spirits makers are with us.
The people are with us.
Are you with us?
~ Magnificent Bastard
YOU MEME THE WORLD TO ME
THE VAULT OF TRIBES
Check Out This Past Weeks Videos From Our YouTube Channels Whiskey Tribe and Whiskey Vault.
In this video, Rex and Daniel talk about The Whiskey Tribe - a big, salty and ridiculous community of whisk(e)y loving MB's. They've raised a whiskey freak-flag...
Is your inner bastard Magnificent enough to salute?
This is it. The Whiskey Tribe’s First-Ever… Challenge Coin.
On one side, the mighty bear and eagle whisk(e)y spirits ferociously defend your whiskey from the ravages of evaporation. On the other side, a celtic maze - filled with Magnificence and Shenanigans.
The coin’s recessed edge perches nicely over your glencairn - because science, MB… Because science.
Ian Piggott is our whiskey article curator - he gives us a glimpse of what’s happening with whiskey (and our whiskey brethren and sistren) around the world.
The rapid growth of online shopping may be the dominant retail storyline of the past decade, but e-commerce in the liquor industry remains something of an exotic curiosity…
Fifty years ago, a bourbon like Jim Beam’s Old Tub would have found itself on the bottom shelf of most liquor stores. In the decades after the repeal of Prohibition, bottled-in-bond whiskeys like it (a designation meaning it had been aged at least four years in a federally supervised warehouse and was bottled at 100 proof) had met a similar fate…
For a percentage of people who go out on the town with friends, having an alcoholic beverage in hand is something they, for whatever reason, do not want to have. Until recent times this thus meant either having some kind of basic “mocktail” or a soda of some type. This gap in the market created an entry point, and thus was born the world of non-alcoholic spirits…
