Orphans

While we're discussing interesting things that the Wall Street Journal has published recently, I should mention an article in yesterday's Pursuits section about orphan brands of liquor and beer and how they can become the successful basis for niche players in the drinks business ("In Praise of 'Orphan Brands'" by Eric Felten, p. P6). Felten defines an orphan brand as one that at one time had a substantial following but that got lost in the waves of consolidation and brand shuffling that have roiled the drinks business over the past couple of decades. The three brands that he discusses are Sheep Dip, a vatted malt Scotch whisky that had a good deal of popularity in the '70s and '80s but that fell on hard times until a former Genmorangie marketing executive named Alex Nicol bought the brand and revived it as the centerpiece of the tiny Spencerfield Spirit Company; Lone Star beer, currently owned by Pabst, currently the orphan brand king in the beer world, and brewed by contract by Miller; and Plymouth Gin, a legendary gin brand dating to the 18th Century that almost retreated into oblivion until it was rehabilitated at the turn of the 21st Century.

It's a pity that Felten didn't discuss the Bourbon industry in general, with its huge number of orphan brands (Old Crow, Old Taylor, Yellowstone, Ten High, Tom Moore, JTS Brown, JW Dant, and Old Fitzgerald, to name just a few); or about Heaven Hill in particular, which has largely built its business around buying up orphan brands. Still, it was an interesting article, not just because it brought Sheep Dip to my attention. It's apparently a very high-quality vatted malt, of which we could use more. I'll have to give it a try sometime.