short hills bus

bourbon vs. rye whiskey: the battle continues with Short Hills Wine. can you see the difference? i can and i'm not a whiskey aficionado. under normal circumstances, i'd be all kinds of torked off for getting the wrong product (especially since it was a gift for uglyscott).

however, the answers i've received from Short Hills Wine (SHW) have been absolutely insane and worth sharing with the world.

i start out by contacting customer service to inform them that they sent the wrong product--russell's reserve bourbon (that would be the bottle that does not say "rye" right on the front). i asked them how they were going to rectify their mistake and was sent the following message:

"That is the same The Russels Reserve is made by wild turkey."

The Wine Shop
704 Morris Tpke.
Short Hills, NJ 07078
Phone: (973)379-7135
Email: customerservice@shorthillswine.com
Web Page: http://www.shorthillswine.com

confused by the message, i write back to the mystery idiot with the following:

Thank you for responding to my email. I know Russell's Reserve is Wild Turkey. I ordered Russell's Reserve Rye Whiskey and Received Russell's Reserve Bourbon Whiskey: They are two different things (please see info below).

American whiskey is commonly divided into six categories; Bourbon, Tennessee, Rye, Wheat, Corn and Blended whiskey. The categories are mainly motivated by differences in the type and amount of grains used during the mashing but there are also differences in e.g. storage time.

Bourbon: Because of the fact that almost all Bourbon is made in Kentucky many people believe this is a requirement, but in fact Bourbon may be produced in any state. The only prerequisites are that it must be made in the US, contain at least 51 percent corn and that it must be stored for at least two years in new, charred oak barrels. Lastly, the raw spirit may not be distilled to more than 80 percent alcohol by volume.

Rye: To be called a Rye whiskey, the spirit must be made from at least 51 percent rye, distilled at less than 80 percent and stored in new, charred oak barrels for at least two years. Rye whiskey is slightly more powerful and bitter than Bourbon. Most current Rye whiskies are made in Indiana and Kentucky.

then i received the following response:

"We have reordered the same exact item listed on the web site from our supplier to see if its any different from the one we sent you."

well, it's been almost 11 days since this correspondence and SHW still hasn't figured out what the heck they're selling. so i ask, isn't this insane? and to top it off, they don't even, according to their website, sell russell's reserve bourbon--they very stuff they shipped me.