Bottled In Bond with sourced distillate?

[Longleaf Distilling]

While visiting a distillery here in GA, I was asking questions about the distillery's new Bottled in Bond Bourbon and was surprised when the tour guide said that it was not distilled on-site! They had a (very) large Midwestern distillery make up their mash bill, ship them the distilled spirits, and then they barreled and aged them on-site. I'm hoping that the tour guide misspoke, but she seemed to know what she was talking about down to the exact mash bill. 

How can a spirit be called 'Bottled in Bond' if it wasn't distilled in the bonded area? Am I just reading the text incorrectly? 

Wikipedia says: "To be labeled as bottled-in-bond or bonded, the liquor must be the product of one distillation season (January–June or July–December) by one distiller at one distillery. It must have been aged in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 (U.S.) proof (50% alcohol by volume). The bottled product's label must identify the distillery where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled."

The first sentence seems to contradict the last in that if it is distilled by a third party it would require a label, but wouldn't be BnB. I can't seem to find the actual legal text of the act. 

[Tom Lenerz]

You have to list both DSPs, Heaven Hill distills all their product at DSP-KY-1 and bottles at DSP-KY-31, as can be seen on this BIB label. https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=19156001000250

[Longleaf Distilling]

I just looked on the front of the bottle and it only says "Produced by Distillery Name". No mention of any other distillery. 

[dhdunbar]

The bottled in bond requirements are hidden in part 5.  They appear under "Prohibited Practices."  §5.42(b)(3) provides:

The words “bond”, “bonded”, “bottled in bond”, “aged in bond”, or phrases containing these or synonymous terms, shall not be used on any label or as part of the brand name of domestic distilled spirits unless the distilled spirits are:

(i) Composed of the same kind of spirits produced from the same class of materials;

(ii) Produced in the same distilling season by the same distiller at the same distillery;

(iii) Stored for at least four years in wooden containers wherein the spirits have been in contact with the wood surface except for gin and vodka which must be stored for at least four years in wooden containers coated or lined with paraffin or other substance which will preclude contact of the spirits with the wood surface;

(iv) Unaltered from their original condition or character by the addition or subtraction of any substance other than by filtration, chill proofing, or other physical treatments (which do not involve the addition of any substance which will remain incorporated in the finished product or result in a change in class or type);

(v) Reduced in proof by the addition of pure water only to 100 degrees of proof; and

(vi) Bottles at 100 degrees of proof.

In addition to the requirements of §5.36(a) (1) or (2), the label shall bear the real name of the distillery or the trade name under which the distillery produced and warehoused the spirits, and the plant (or registered distillery) number in which produced; and the plant number in which bottled. The label may also bear the name or trade name of the bottler.

What TTB approves or doesn't is another matter.   Also, remember that TTB does not know the whether spirits in a bottle conform to the label.  Approval of a label does not prevent you from putting vodka into a bottle with a gin label. That would be  a violation of §5.31, since the mandatory class and type statement required by §5.32  does not comport to the rules for such statements in §5.35.  Yes,  you have to follow from section to section and in this case also find §5.42 provisions too.  That is why search engines help a lot. 

 

 

[EZdrinking]

On 3/4/2020 at 5:36 AM, MaconBooze said:

the tour guide said that it was not distilled on-site! They had a (very) large Midwestern distillery make up their mash bill, ship them the distilled spirits, and then they barreled and aged them on-site....How can a spirit be called 'Bottled in Bond'

As far as I am award this should not be labeled as Bottled in Bond. And @dhdunbar is correct that what some things should be labeled and what TTB approves are not always the same thing. If I remember correctly Bourbon does not require formula approval so maybe that was why TTB approved the label when the spirit was not distilled at the DSP where whiskey was aged.

[DrDistillation]

There is not an issue in doing this if stated properly on the label.  It needs to be clear where distillation and bottling take place.

[dhdunbar]

The distillation,  storage and warehousing are all done in bond, since all   distilled spirits operations take place "in bond."  In that sense, all spirits are " bottled in bond."   However, they are only entitled to the BIB   label statement if they meet the requirements of §5.42(b)(3). As the last sentence of that section makes clear, as long as the disclosure is made on the label, products labeled as BIB, which can include vodka and gin,  may be produced by one DSP and bottled by a different DSP.

As many of you know, TTB has proposed changes to the labeling regulations pending now.  TTB did not propose changes to §5.42(b)(3), but it did invite comment on whether those restrictions should be removed.  In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR), TTB described the purpose and history of the BIB designation.  It’s purpose, when first introduced in 1897, was to provide standards that would ensure the purchaser that the spirits were not adulterated.  BIB must be understood in the context of those times, when bulk spirits were often shipped to wholesalers or other dealers who rectified them with all manner of ingredients.  In that context,  BIB meant that the entire process, from production to bottling, had been done at a distillery and, since government employees were stationed at every distillery, . the presence of the employees was taken as evidence that BIB spirits had not been adulterated (rectified).

As the rules evolved, transfers of in bulk spirits to wholesalers ended with the end of prohibition. Only DSPs could receive bulk spirits intended for beverage use.   From that time forward, all spirits were bottled on bonded premises, that is the spirits were in bond when bottle.  Then the government employees left, in 1980 and there was no longer on premises supervision of operations.  The BIB Act of 1897 was repealed. However,  ATF kept the BIB designation.  The conditions of §5.42(b)(3) remained in force.  

As I said, because all operations take place in bond, in the (NPR) that is now pending a final decision, TTB invited comment - the comment period is closed- on whether  “TTB should maintain any special standards for the use of ‘‘bonded’’ or similar terms, since all domestic distilled spirits products are now bottled on bonded premises."  That is simply a realization that, apart from its marketing value to those who use it, the term conveys no useful information to the consumer that is not otherwise required by other sections.   While some of you think BIB means more, or should mean more, much like the estate bottled provisions  the wine regulations do, the TIB designation denotes only that the spirits comport to the restrictions set forth in §5.43(a)(3).  If I were going to argue for or against removing the restrictions, I would probably argue in favor of removing them, since they seem to connote more than they denote, but I did not comment when the comment period was open.

 

 

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[Longleaf Distilling]

Thanks @dhdunbar for the clarification. Glad I asked. Is it common for bottles to be miss-labeled or have errors of omission like this? Their Gin also says "100% Neutral Spirits Distilled from Grain" on it but during the tour I was given to think that the spirit was sugar-based given that's all they distill on-site. I guess they just bring in NGS for that. 

[DrDistillation]

Wonder what they are using sugar for if they are bringing in GNS?

[Longleaf Distilling]

@DrDistillation their facilities are pretty tiny so they started by distilling sugar for space reasons. They make their vodka in-house with it. 

[bluestar]

On 3/4/2020 at 7:36 AM, MaconBooze said:

by one distiller at one distillery. It must have been aged in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 (U.S.) proof (50% alcohol by volume). The bottled product's label must identify the distillery where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled."

The answer is in the passage you quoted. Your second distillery IS your bonded warehouse (that used to be a separate license, but you can do it under your DSP). Your second distillery is ALSO the bottler. So you can source the whiskey from elsewhere, age it in another distillery and bottle it there. You must identify both where it was distilled and where it was bottled. Long ago, this would be common, one place distilling, another place bottling, and in between, at a dedicated bonded warehouse for aging. NOTE: the TTB is considering the modification of rules for whiskey (and maybe other spirits) that would require ALL of them to indicate where distilled and where bottled. Currently, you only have to identify where bottled, unless you are Bottled in Bond.