Scotch Hobbyist's Blog

"I survived the drought of 2009" shirt (click for full size picture)

Phase 2 of the Knob Creek “Thanks for nothing” marketing push arrived in my mailbox this afternoon…a T-shirt that states “I survived the drought of 2009” (pictured to the right, with my half-empty KC bottle and custom label). As has already been reported by others, Knob Creek Stillhouse Members received an email last week titled “Thanks for nothing.” In it, Knob Creek announced that due to high demand, they’ve run out of Knob Creek until the next batch gets bottled in November. The stock currently in stores will be all that’s available until then. In addition to sending out these t-shirts to Stillhouse Members, they apparently sent out sealed, empty bottles to spirits journalists.

You know, I might actually wear this t-shirt. I don’t usually go for shirts with product marketing pictures and text, but this one is reasonably subtle compared to a lot of others. The back of the shirt is plain, the wording on the front is reasonably small, and the bottle looks pretty cool. Go ahead and call me a geek, or a pawn in the hands of corporate marketing for signing up as a “Stillhouse Member”, but I know you’re just jealous of my cool shirt. 🙂

Here’s the text from the letter I got with the shirt (and a scan of the letter below). Apparently I’m supposed to wait until the “drought” is over before sporting the shirt:

Dear Knob Creek lover,

It seems you’ve helped cause a bit of a “situation” here at the distillery. See, because you, and many others like you, have been such loyal consumers, we’ve temporarily run out of Knob Creek Bourbon. And for that you deserve a huge thanks.

With that said, it’s quite possible that you might not be able to find us in our usual places for a bit. Should this happen, take a deep breath and keep in mind that our next batch will be fully matured and ready to go this November (we’d bottle it now to boost supply, but then it wouldn’t be aged a full 9 years and it wouldn’t really be Knob Creek).

And once you’ve weathered the storm, be sure to proudly sport this t-shirt commemorating this historic event.

Now, hang in there and cherish every drop of Knob Creek like it’s the last, because, well, it could be. Until November anyway.

Cheers,

Your friends at Knob Creek

P.S. If you can’t find a bottle of Knob Creek anywhere, visit knobcreek.com and find out which locations (if any) in your area are lucky enough to have a few bottles left on their shelves.

Knob Creek "Thanks for nothing" letter