Above: A YouTube message from Scott Bush and Keith Kerkhoff, addressing Batch 4 availability and some common misconceptions.

Greetings from Templeton. We wanted to share our 2011 allocation update with you as well as various other facts in light of some rumors flying around Iowa. We have always tried to openly communicate with our partners and customers and want to make sure you have good information.

As many of you know, our product is aged in new charred oak barrels for more than four years, so we are only able to sell today what we had distilled in 2006/2007. We refused to rush our product or sacrifice quality, which has led to a long game of hurry-up-and-wait. We started to expand production at the end of 2006 and that product began to come online in December 2010. However, demand for Templeton Rye has expanded right with this increased supply. We sent 5,000 cases to the State of Iowa in December and were as shocked as anyone that they were all sold in a week. We honestly thought that 5,000 cases would go a long ways toward filling the Iowa pipeline. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

2011 Supply and Allocation

Below is our December 2010 – December 2011 preliminary allocation. We will be sending these cases to each market (Iowa, Chicago, New York City and San Francisco) at the beginning of each month. As you can see, we sent nearly 80% of our December allotment to Iowa and will continue to do our best to supply our home state while balancing the future growth for our company. In fact, the Iowa allocation below is 33% higher than the allocation we shared with the state back in June. Most people in the industry think we are crazy to allocate this much product to Iowa, but it is important to us as Iowa people and as an Iowa company. Please support us on this fact if you hear folks saying we are “sending all our product out of state.”

Iowa Allocation and Procedure

Iowa is what is known in the industry as a “Control State,” meaning the State of Iowa acts as the distributor for spirits state-wide. We sell every bottle of Templeton Rye in Iowa to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (also known as the ABD). The ABD applies a “mark-up” or tax, and sells the product to licensees (spirits retailers). Please note that despite serious pressure, we have not changed our price to the ABD. The ABD applies a set mark-up and retailers have the liberty to set the final price charged to consumers.

The ABD allocates the cases we send them every month to “uniformly distribute” them amongst licensees. They decide how many cases each licensee can order every month and they begin to fill orders on a certain day. Iowa licensees order on either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday with delivery the following day. Depending on what day of the week a licensee orders, and the amount of product sent in that month, they may or may not get any product that particular month.

Each party mentioned above is in a tough spot because of the supply/demand situation. We realize that and truly appreciate their efforts. What we want to make clear is that once we sell product to the ABD we do not control where it ends up or the price on the shelf. We have a lot more influence on those items in other states, and quite frankly, if Iowa were not our home state we would probably allocate much less product here.

Selling at the Distillery

We have legally been able to sell product at the distillery since July 2010. We chose not to sell at the distillery because we did not think it was the right thing to do with our retail partners in such short supply. We thought the Dec 2010 allocation would go a long way towards filling the Iowa pipeline and we had planned to start selling at the distillery on January 1st. Because the December ’10 allocation went so quickly, we have put those plans on hold. We honestly do not know if (or when) we will start to sell Templeton Rye at the distillery. Please watch our newsletter for any updates on this subject.

Where to Find a Bottle?

Once we sell a bottle to the ABD we do not have any information as to where it will end up, so we can’t really help find a retailer that has product in stock. Retailers can only sell what they get allocated from the state, which is limited by the amount of product we send to the ABD – so we ask that you please do not get frustrated with retailers. They are doing the best they can in a tough situation and would obviously be happy to sell you a bottle if they could.

One option is to search various stores the first week or two of each month and hopefully find a bottle in stock. We have also noticed a lot of our fans helping others find bottles on our Facebook page and through the Twitter hashtag #TRspottings, so be sure to watch those channels as well.

Future Supply

From January 2010 through November 2010 we sold 3,100 cases in Iowa. From Dec 2010 through December 2011 we are set to sell 20,000 cases in Iowa. Our aging stock for 2012, 2013 and 2014 is obviously already in the barrels and each year is a significant increase over the previous year.

Retail Price

As mentioned earlier, once we sell product to the ABD we do not control where it ends up or the price on the shelf.

We sincerely understand that the current Templeton Rye supply/demand situation is causing some headaches for folks trying to buy and sell our product. We apologize for this and can only say that we share your frustration and wish we could grow the company overnight – but that is simply not the case. We appreciate the work that our loyal retail partners have done in the past and continue to do on a daily basis. We also appreciate the support and enthusiasm of Templeton Rye fans in Iowa and around the world.

Happy New Year and all the best to you and yours!

Cheers,
Scott & Keith

Pictured above: Our crew of bottling volunteers.

Greetings from Templeton. It is a very exciting time here at the distillery as we have finally reached a date we have been looking forward to for a long time. We called it “Whiskey Birthday” in our calendar and it was the date that our Batch 4 turned four years old. Batch 4 is our first product from when we started to scale up production four long years ago. Our volume is still a pittance in the grand whiskey world but it is a nice step forward for us that we will continue to build on for the next several years.

In our last newsletter we asked if anyone was interested in helping us bottle Batch 4, and to our amazement we had over 150 people sign-up to work in conjunction with our existing team. Our first bottling was yesterday, and our volunteers did a great job. In fact, we shattered our previous record. We worked hard and had a fun day. Thank you all for your interest and help! We still have some slots available for next week, Nov 29-Dec 3. If you are interested in helping out please send us an email at info@templetonrye.com.

We are looking forward to having product delivered to the State of Iowa and available for order on Monday, December 6th and at stores later that week. We will also be resupplying Illinois and entering San Francisco and New York on a very limited basis.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Cheers,
Scott Bush, President, Templeton Rye

Above: Click to play a YouTube video of the bottling process.

We at Templeton Rye would like to congratulate B.J. Hoffman for winning the 2010 Iowa Farm Bureau Cookout Contest with his The Good Stuff Barbeque Chicken Thighs recipe. B.J. used Templeton Rye as a part of his winning recipe and as the theme for his presentation, including a custom Templeton Rye table that he build himself using 144 of our story coasters. We have to say B.J., we knew you would win. You can’t go wrong with The Good Stuff!

For the second year in a row, Templeton Rye has a booth at the Iowa State Fair. The most common questions we get at the booth are “Are you giving samples?” and “Where can we find Templeton Rye?”

The answer to the first question is: No, we are not giving samples. (That’s against the Iowa State Fair rules.)

The answer to the second question is: We don’t really know. Yes, it is hard to find right now, but what we can tell you is when you’ll be able to find more. We have a counter at our booth in the Varied Industries Building counting down to the release of Templeton Rye Batch 4. Today it reads: “3 months, 17 days.”

At that point we will be feverishly bottling and getting it into a store near you. If you stop by our booth at the fair you’ll also find some of our most popular Templeton Rye merchandise, including flasks, shot glasses and t-shirts. So please stop by, ask us questions, tell us stories and pick up some cool items. We recommend wearing your newly-acquired Templeton Rye gear at the fair, and see how many people give you a nod, a smile or even a wave like you’re a member of a club. A club of people who are “in the know”.

Greetings from Templeton!

As many of you know, a law was passed earlier this year allowing us to be able to sell Templeton Rye at the distillery effective July 1, 2010. Due to our current allocation situation, we will not be selling any product at the distillery until mid-December, allowing retailers to get all of the product. We thank you for your continued patience and support!

Cheers,
Kevin
Templeton Rye Distillery Manager

Last year we planted and harvested our first crop of rye on the distillery property in Templeton. We used a portion of our home-grown rye to make our last batch and are working to increase the quality and size of our crop. This year’s crop is about three feet tall right now and is a beautiful blue/green. We will analyze it after harvest and hopefully use some in upcoming batches.

Be sure to stop by and say hello to the Templeton Rye team at the Des Moines Farmers Market throughout the summer! We will be there May 8 and 29, June 5 and 26, July 3 and 31, August 7 and 28, September 18 and October 9 and 16. Click below for some video highlights from 2009.

Please join us for the 3rd Annual Rock & Rye celebration on Saturday, July 31st, 2010, brought to you by the Templeton Community Betterment Association and your friends at Templeton Rye. Below is the Rock & Rye 2010 schedule of events:

4:00 – 6:00 PM – Free Templeton Rye distillery tours for ticket holders

9:00 PM – The Nadas

Tickets are available for $10 per person plus a nominal Eventbrite fee in advance (below) and will be available for $15 per person at the door if you choose not to take the charter bus.

We are also bringing three charter buses from Des Moines to Templeton for the party. A seat on the bus is $50 per person plus a nominal Eventbrite fee and includes your ticket to the show. These seats are limited so get yours today.

Buses will be departing the Jordan Creek Costco parking lot in West Des Moines at 4:00 p.m. sharp on July 31st. The buses are air-conditioned with restrooms and will allow beverages (cans or plastic only – no glass) in soft-side coolers. After the concert, the buses will depart from Templeton at 11:30 p.m. arriving back in West Des Moines just after 1:00 a.m. Cabs will be available in the Costco parking lot upon return if requested.

Reserve your seat on the Rock & Rye Charter or purchase advance tickets:

You will receive an email confirmation with your ticket purchase confirming your order. Keep this for your records. Tickets purchased online can be picked up at will call on the day of the event.

We’re excited to be a part of this very unique and impressive event started by Iowa native Brady Lowe, Founder of Taste Network again this year. Please check out COCHON 555 on April 24th at Hotel Fort Des Moines in Des Moines, Iowa. Templeton Rye Founder and President Scott Bush will be returning as a judge for the event.

WHAT: COCHON 555 is a competition featuring 5 chefs, 5 pigs and 5 winemakers. The event serves as a link to preserving heritage breed pigs by promoting breed diversity in the national community. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Iowa.

A group of chefs will each prepare a 140-pound heritage breed hog from head-to-toe for this friendly competition. Guests and professional judges will determine a winner based on presentation, utilization and overall best flavor. The winner will be crowned the “Prince or Princess of Porc.” In addition, five selected winemakers will showcase their wines.

Each 140-pound pig can be pre-cooked, braised, grilled, pressed, pickled, rubbed, smoked, seared, sauced, spiced, injected, marinated, cured in any way, or otherwise prepared. Guests of the event will experience the chef creations during a 2.5-hour stand-up reception. For this event, COCHON555 will be inviting five of chefs from the Midwest.

CHEFS:
Matt Steigerwald – Lincoln Cafe, Mount Vernon
George Formaro – Centro, Django, Des Moines
Hogan– Lidia’s KC, Kansas City
Howard Hanna – River Club, Kansas City
Hal Jasa – homage, Des Moines

Butcher: Ryan Farr – 4505 Meats San Francisco

WINES:
Chase Family Cellars, Napa
Hill Family Estate, Napa
Elk Cove Vineyards, Willamette
Madrigal Vineyards, Napa
Jasper Winery, Iowa

VIP EXPERIENCE: Starts early with a reserve wine tasting with Elk Cove Vineyards, artisan cheese reception with Gateway Market, cured meats from La Quercia, craft brews, Templeton Rye and best of all, guests can meat and greet with the chefs, winemakers and judges of COCHON555. (This portion is $150)

MAIN FLOOR: Guests will witness a whole pig butcher demonstration while consuming over 750lbs of swine, great wines, brews and pig perfect desserts. There will be an after party at a location to be determined. This is a full day of new and old relationships, great chefs, swine, wine and we look forward to sharing it with you. (This portion is $100)

WHERE: Hotel Fort Des Moines, 1000 Walnut Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
VIP – 3:30 pm
GA – 5:00 pm

For more information or to buy tickets, please visit www.cochon555.com.

Scott Bush, Herb Eckhouse and Michael Killmer at La Quercia in Norwalk, Iowa

We recently visited one of our favorite Iowa companies, La Quercia in Norwalk, Iowa, producers of premium quality American prosciutto and other products. Our friends Herb and Kathy Eckhouse founded the company because they knew they could make a world class product right here in Iowa. La Quercia has been incredibly successful to date and has shocked many of the taste makers in their industry. Their product takes a long time to produce, and they have had trouble keeping up with demand because they have refused to sacrifice quality. If some of this sounds familiar, you will understand why we, and especially Mr. Killmer, are big fans of La Quercia.

Please check them out at www.laquercia.us and on Facebook.