Suit says Templeton Rye whiskey isn't really made in Iowa using Prohibition-era recipe
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A consumer lawsuit claims the makers of Templeton Rye whiskey misled consumers with marketing materials suggesting the product was made in a small Iowa town and based on a Prohibition-era recipe loved by Al Capone.
The suit, filed on Aug. 29 in Cook County, Illinois, alleges consumers paid a premium for what they believed to be a craft whiskey made in Iowa with historic origins, report the Des Moines Register and Courthouse News Service. “Without this connection [to Templeton]–and the fabled link to figures like Al Capone–defendant’s whiskey would be lost on the shelf,” the suit says.
In reality, the suit says, the whiskey is mass produced from a stock recipe in a large Indiana factory. The suit quotes a Des Moines Register story in which Templeton chairman Vern Underwood said the whiskey is made in Indiana, then blended with other whiskeys and water in Templeton. Underwood also told the newspaper that federal regulations prevent the company from using the old recipe.
The company has said it will change its label to reflect that the whiskey is distilled in Indiana.
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