Who actually makes Kirkland whiskey?

The Kirkland Signature line of Costco private-label liquors are generally held to be pretty decent buys for the price, although they have their hits and their misses. What makes Costco booze bargains even more fun is the fact that the internet abounds in rumors of which big-label bottles the Kirkland brands are supposedly exact dupes for.

While the major distillers who produce these big labels may also be supplying liquor to a number of private labels, including Costco's, the truth behind who makes what isn't exactly public knowledge. Consulting the official COLA (Certificate of Label Approval) database of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau only yields the info that Costco's bourbon comes from Tennessee Distilling Ltd. in Columbia, Tennessee, while its Canadian whiskey is sourced via Sazerac North America, Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. No word on the Scotch, and no actual names of distillers, just distributors.

Luckily, Punch was able to uncover the fact that Kirkland's Canadian whiskey is made by Crown Royal and their bourbon by George Dickel (although it had previously been manufactured by Jim Beam). And according to Market Watch, Kirkland's Scotch whiskeys come from private-label bottler Alexander Murray & Co., a company that works with about 12 different Scottish distilleries.