Buffalo Trace defends Old Charter label

Buffalo Trace Distillery is facing a proposed class action lawsuit in  the New York federal court that accuses the company of misleading customers regarding the age of its Old Charter Bourbon.

Old Charter Bourbon is aged for eight seasons

The complainant, Nicholas Parker, alleges that the labels on Old Charter Bourbon indicate the spirit has been aged for eight years, according to Law 360.

A number eight appears on the bottle neck and the main label says the Bourbon has been “matured for eight seasons”.
Defending the product, Buffalo Trace said “no reasonable consumer would transform a naked number ‘8’ into saying that the Bourbon ‘has been aged for eight years’”, adding that the word ‘season’ for distilled spirits is defined as including two per year.

This, they say, “cannot be contorted to mean one full ‘year,’ either under this definition or under the commonly understood meaning of four per year.”

The suit alleges deception and false advertising, claiming that Old Charter appears to be an eight-year-aged Bourbon even though the company reduced its age in 2014.
The Old Charter Bourbon sold now is aged “for far less time” and is “inferior to the product Buffalo Trace used to sell”, Parker said, adding that the label leads consumers to think the product has been aged for eight years in an effort to upsell the new version.

In response, Buffalo Trace said he had failed to offer evidence that the company had fraudulent intent.

The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the statements Parker is challenging.