GordonUnleashed

Free the Jack

November 18th, 2007 by Steve

This is really hitting close to home.  Because of my affinity for bourbons and related American whiskeys, and because the Jack Daniels distillery is just a few miles north of me, I’m more upset about this particular government seizure than other noteworthy ones over the last few days.   General background:

Here’s a sobering thought: Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.

Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled. [snip]

The raids, prompted by a tip, were conducted at two warehouses and a home in Lynchburg, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville. Another raid was at a Nashville hotel room where drinks were being served and bottles were being sold.

The value of the seized uisce beatha:

The estimated value of the liquor is $1 million, possibly driven up by the value of the antique bottles, which range from 3-liter bottles to half-pints.

One seized bottle dates to 1914, with its seal unbroken. Elks said it is worth $10,000 on the collectors market. Investigators are looking into whether the liquor was being sold for the value of the bottles rather than the whiskey. [snip]

Christopher Carlsson, a spirits connoisseur and collector in Rochester, N.Y., said old vintages of whiskey in their original containers are highly prized.

“A lot of these bottles are priceless,” he said. “It’s like having a rare painting. It’s heavily collected.”

Money quote:

“Punish the person, not the whiskey,” said an outraged Kyle MacDonald, 28, a Jack Daniel’s drinker from British Columbia who promotes the whiskey on his blog. “Jack never did anything wrong, and the whiskey itself is innocent.”

One might think local law enforcement officials might have more important issues to tackle, but we can see where their priorities lie.

H/T.

Posted in Economic Policy, Zero Tolerance, Taxes, Civil Liberties, It's a Southern Thang

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