Maker's Mark Scrambles to Satisfy Demand by Diluting?

Maker's Mark has always been successful not only because of their unique red wax seal but also from their unique recipe which combines  red winter wheat with the traditional barley and corn. This demand has increased to the point where the distillery had to modify the final alcohol by volume in order to increase production to satisfy there thirsty customers. Apparently,  the Maker's unique flavor was not sacrificed. Really? Here's a letter from Chief Operating Officer, Rob Samuels:

Dear Maker’s Mark® Ambassador,

Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores.  Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.

We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.

We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago.  We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference.

Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.

In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.

Sincerely,

Rob Samuels
Chief Operating Officer
Ambassador-in-Chief

What do you think? Will diluting the whiskey change your preference? Would it make more sense to use market forces and raise the price slightly in order to decrease demand. And not diluting.

Update: And Maker's reverses their decision. See letter.