Bourbon Blunder Down Under?

Yeah, worries, mate! Australian authorities crack down on ‘bourbon’ producer

Federal authorities in Australia are investigating a distiller marketing a spirit as “Bourbon: Made in Australia.” Wanting to abide by trade relations with the United States, officials acknowledged bourbon is a protected geographical term and told the offending distiller to get in line. The producer, however, isn't queuing up.

According to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald, the issue arose following complaints from the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS). The brand in question, Old Number Fifteen Bourbon Whiskey, is produced by Melbourne-based Edgemill Group. Edgemill’s managing director Alex Stavrakoulis said accurate product descriptions are essential to maintaining the integrity of the industry and avoiding trade and labelling disputes. But …

“We do not believe that our spirit contravenes U.S. law, as our production process adheres to the legal requirements set forth under the Australia-U.S. free trade agreement,” he said.

According to the story, there’s actually no single authority in Australia to deal with such cases.

Click here to read further in the story. But keep reading here for additional info ...

Despite not being made in America, Old Number Fifteen Authentic American Bourbon also falls short of bourbon standards with an ABV of 37%. A second “honey bourbon” produced by Edgemill has an ABV of 35%, which is at least labeled as a liqueur that contains “A backbone of quality Kentucky bourbon whisky.”

Whether that means it’s using imported bourbon isn't clear.

If you look at those bottle stories, you’ll see that 15 refers to Kentucky being the fifteenth state admitted to the union. The rest of the story centers on quality bourbon from Kentucky and how this liquid will take you “on a journey through Kentucky’s rich heritage.”

Yawn. Looks like the Aussies want to get in on the contrived brand story tradition also.

As DISCUS makes clear in article, they’ll ride this issue until it’s resolved.

What’ll that take? Apparently, some clarification of Australia’s laws, regulations that apparently weren't tested when I was there in 2004. Back then, the only bourbons I saw were Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark. Granted, I didn’t go all over the country, but we ate every meal out in large cities and saw lots of back bars. As our host said, “Nobody cares much about bourbon over here.”

It’s since become popular Down Under and lots of big brands regularly send distillers and ambassadors there to promote bourbon. Despite having fewer about 23 million people in that massive country, distilleries here see it as a valuable market.