A while ago while paying a visit to DH17 slijterijen to pick-up half a case of the Mackinlay’s Blend, I also got a copy of The Mash Bill from Elise. At first I thought it was a very focussed bourbon magazine from Kentucky, but upon actually reading it, it turns out to be a very cleverly designed marketing brochure for Kentucky Bourbon Distillers.

Kentucky Bourbon Distillers is not some association, but a bourbon and rye marketing company / bottler that releases a lot of small batch bourbons like Noah’s Mill, Willett and Johnny Drum. Apparently they produce a periodical brochure with all kinds of historic articles, tasting notes and information on the distillers, their lineage and what’s happening around the ‘distillery’.

I think this is one of the smartest marketing tricks I have ever seen. Especially since it is not very obvious that its a marketing trick. The articles read like a magazine and since the company uses a lot of different names for their products, its not too clear that your reading a very commercial magazine.

Another smart thing to not make the link too obvious between the company, their products and the magazine is the fact that its very very hard to find on the internet. Of course, the words magazine and mash bill pop up all over the sites of other whisky magazines which helps.

Note: I adjusted the text based on Bas’ comment below. If you read about the company on their website and in the magazine you get the idea that they are a distillery. They are not. They release bourbons and rye whiskies under different names, but do not distill themselves. Confusing, because some of their brands are distillery names of places long closed and gone.