I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
The best advice I could give is to chat with the workers a bit and if there is someone that is in charge of liquor, get to know him or her. Also, express to them that you enjoy bourbon and would like the opportunity to buy some of the more allocated stuff. Just showing loyalty to the store and being friendly goes a long way. Hope you can land a few things you may not have otherwise.
Yes, I think I may have mentioned that of everything else that sucked about moving from Brooklyn to Crushing Ennui, losing my Pappy connection was one of the most difficult things I left behind.
Yes, I think I may have mentioned that of everything else that sucked about moving from Brooklyn to Crushing Ennui, losing my Pappy connection was one of the most difficult things I left behind.
My connection sold their store to a chain and now I don't get nearly as much as I used to.
I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
You need to spend money and time in the store. Just calling or going in and asking... "Do you have anything allocated in today" or "When do your allocations come in" won't help.
I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
You need to spend money and time in the store. Just calling or going in and asking... "Do you have anything allocated in today" or "When do your allocations come in" won't help.
good advice...are all liquor stores getting these allocations or do the stores have to have someone employed that knows what they are doing to get them?
Our local store used to do a drawing. You could go throw your name in the mix and they would draw names to give you first pick of the good stuff. That store merged with a larger regional group a year or so ago.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
You need to spend money and time in the store. Just calling or going in and asking... "Do you have anything allocated in today" or "When do your allocations come in" won't help.
good advice...are all liquor stores getting these allocations or do the stores have to have someone employed that knows what they are doing to get them?
Our local store used to do a drawing. You could go throw your name in the mix and they would draw names to give you first pick of the good stuff. That store merged with a larger regional group a year or so ago.
Depends on state and location. Not every store gets them. Some states do a statewide drawing. Allocations to stores are usually based on a stores sales of that distillery or company. Some stores don't care because the bourbon bros. are annoying.
I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
The best advice I could give is to chat with the workers a bit and if there is someone that is in charge of liquor, get to know him or her. Also, express to them that you enjoy bourbon and would like the opportunity to buy some of the more allocated stuff. Just showing loyalty to the store and being friendly goes a long way. Hope you can land a few things you may not have otherwise.
Yeah, this ^ really is your best bet of landing something rare/special. We don't have many small mom and pop liquor stores near me. The ones that are, are fully aware of the secondary markup prices and gladly participate in charging outrageous prices. As a result, I don't have a ton of rare stuff in my collection. Occasionally the liquor manager at my local Total Wine keys me in on something that is allocated, but that's not too often. I hate schmoozing with that guy, but I'm nice and he sees me in there quite a bit. That fn guy tries to pawn dumb shit on me all the time. "Hey, have you tried this? It's really good for the price." I don't say it, but I'm thinking "Dude, that's stuff fn sucks!" haha! We do have a local "Fine foods" grocery store that does get in some good stuff from time to time. Every time I'm there, I'll swing by the liquor section and check out their supply. They tend to mark up stuff, but then again, they fancy themselves as a fancy-high end grocer, so it's not more than $10-20 over MSRP. The hunt can be fun and it can be a total pain in the ass.
I grabbed a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because I kept seeing people mention it on tiktok....it's legit. And cheap.
Nice. I'll make a good BIB recommendation. McKenna 10. 10 year age statement. BIB. Inexpensive for what you're getting and a damn good bourbon.
But depending on where you are it's borderline allocated.
True. My shop doesn't even put it on the shelves. Us "regulars" get first dibs. Crazy that a $35 bottle of bourbon that used to collect dust on shelves is that hard to find lately.
I'm new to this....so a store will set bourbon aside for regulars to check out first? This is solid intel
More or less. The allocated stuff never sees the shelves at the store I go to. They keep it in back and sell it to the regulars and/or bourbon drinkers they know from frequenting the store. You just have to be on top of delivery dates because it doesn’t last long.
Interesting....I need to ask more I guess. I have signed up for emails but those are generally promos and not anything good related to bourbon.
The best advice I could give is to chat with the workers a bit and if there is someone that is in charge of liquor, get to know him or her. Also, express to them that you enjoy bourbon and would like the opportunity to buy some of the more allocated stuff. Just showing loyalty to the store and being friendly goes a long way. Hope you can land a few things you may not have otherwise.
Yeah, this ^ really is your best bet of landing something rare/special. We don't have many small mom and pop liquor stores near me. The ones that are, are fully aware of the secondary markup prices and gladly participate in charging outrageous prices. As a result, I don't have a ton of rare stuff in my collection. Occasionally the liquor manager at my local Total Wine keys me in on something that is allocated, but that's not too often. I hate schmoozing with that guy, but I'm nice and he sees me in there quite a bit. That fn guy tries to pawn dumb shit on me all the time. "Hey, have you tried this? It's really good for the price." I don't say it, but I'm thinking "Dude, that's stuff fn sucks!" haha! We do have a local "Fine foods" grocery store that does get in some good stuff from time to time. Every time I'm there, I'll swing by the liquor section and check out their supply. They tend to mark up stuff, but then again, they fancy themselves as a fancy-high end grocer, so it's not more than $10-20 over MSRP. The hunt can be fun and it can be a total pain in the ass.
agreed....I have found several that are pretty available and not too expensive. Guy at the local store sold me on a bottle of Benchmark that he had behind the counter. It was only $20 and is from Buffalo Trace distillery. It was 126 proof of something but really good.
I thought it was kind of odd that he had that back there but I probably wouldn't have bought it if he had not pointed it out.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
I will look for that and hope the savages haven't ran up the pricing.
It should be a $20 bottle everywhere and easy to find.
Dear God that would be amazing. Is it actually good? Something like this will make the bourbon snobs shutter.
Well, it's Buffalo Trace, it's going to probably be allocated soon and hit the secondary at $120. Screw caps and MSPR be damned, Buffalo Trace can do no wrong in the minds of the whiskey horde. Weller Special Reserve, a $20-25 bottle, I've seen marked up to $150. I was at a liquor store not too long ago. It was a store well known to mark up and play the secondary game, but I was just poking around seeing what they had. Two dudes come in "Oh man, they got a Weller (Special Reserve). How much? Only $120. Can we get more than one?" I wanted to walk over and slap them both. What shocked me more than that dude and his dumb fn comment is that the store only would sell him one at a time. They said he could come back in a week and get another if he wanted. Goddamn store owner could have sold him his entire supply if he wanted at $120 ea, but he knows the game. Gotta get more idiots like that guy in and they'll ALL be coming back and falling for that bullshit.
Another quick one. My local Albertson's (Kroger) for some reason got in a supply of BT products last fall. I was there the day they dropped and noticed the liquor section buzzing. Walk in and holy crap, they got in some good whisky! This store never, and I mean NEVER has anything decent whisky-wise. Checking out what was left and again, two dude grab a Blantons. "Holy shit, I can't believe they have a Blantons." They saw me and said "Dude, you better grab one you don't see this stuff ever, and at retail". I look, and Albertsons...a giant chain, grocery store, marked Blantons at $109. So even the big guys are playing the secondary game now! I told those dudes what MSRP actually is for it, they were like "Really?" and they still bought it.
I will look for that and hope the savages haven't ran up the pricing.
It should be a $20 bottle everywhere and easy to find.
Dear God that would be amazing. Is it actually good? Something like this will make the bourbon snobs shutter.
Well, it's Buffalo Trace, it's going to probably be allocated soon and hit the secondary at $120. Screw caps and MSPR be damned, Buffalo Trace can do no wrong in the minds of the whiskey horde. Weller Special Reserve, a $20-25 bottle, I've seen marked up to $150. I was at a liquor store not too long ago. It was a store well known to mark up and play the secondary game, but I was just poking around seeing what they had. Two dudes come in "Oh man, they got a Weller (Special Reserve). How much? Only $120. Can we get more than one?" I wanted to walk over and slap them both. What shocked me more than that dude and his dumb fn comment is that the store only would sell him one at a time. They said he could come back in a week and get another if he wanted. Goddamn store owner could have sold him his entire supply if he wanted at $120 ea, but he knows the game. Gotta get more idiots like that guy in and they'll ALL be coming back and falling for that bullshit.
Another quick one. My local Albertson's (Kroger) for some reason got in a supply of BT products last fall. I was there the day they dropped and noticed the liquor section buzzing. Walk in and holy crap, they got in some good whisky! This store never, and I mean NEVER has anything decent whisky-wise. Checking out what was left and again, two dude grab a Blantons. "Holy shit, I can't believe they have a Blantons." They saw me and said "Dude, you better grab one you don't see this stuff ever, and at retail". I look, and Albertsons...a giant chain, grocery store, marked Blantons at $109. So even the big guys are playing the secondary game now! I told those dudes what MSRP actually is for it, they were like "Really?" and they still bought it.
I wish those people would go away!
I believe the slang for those people are "taters"? On a good day I can find Blantons at $65. I had my honey hole go corporate and all the good stuff gets marked up too now. The Mgr knows me and asks if I want any of it but if it's not at or around retail I pass. I told him I'm not chasing bourbon. There is way too much inexpensive and good bourbon to try.
I will look for that and hope the savages haven't ran up the pricing.
It should be a $20 bottle everywhere and easy to find.
Dear God that would be amazing. Is it actually good? Something like this will make the bourbon snobs shutter.
Well, it's Buffalo Trace, it's going to probably be allocated soon and hit the secondary at $120. Screw caps and MSPR be damned, Buffalo Trace can do no wrong in the minds of the whiskey horde. Weller Special Reserve, a $20-25 bottle, I've seen marked up to $150. I was at a liquor store not too long ago. It was a store well known to mark up and play the secondary game, but I was just poking around seeing what they had. Two dudes come in "Oh man, they got a Weller (Special Reserve). How much? Only $120. Can we get more than one?" I wanted to walk over and slap them both. What shocked me more than that dude and his dumb fn comment is that the store only would sell him one at a time. They said he could come back in a week and get another if he wanted. Goddamn store owner could have sold him his entire supply if he wanted at $120 ea, but he knows the game. Gotta get more idiots like that guy in and they'll ALL be coming back and falling for that bullshit.
Another quick one. My local Albertson's (Kroger) for some reason got in a supply of BT products last fall. I was there the day they dropped and noticed the liquor section buzzing. Walk in and holy crap, they got in some good whisky! This store never, and I mean NEVER has anything decent whisky-wise. Checking out what was left and again, two dude grab a Blantons. "Holy shit, I can't believe they have a Blantons." They saw me and said "Dude, you better grab one you don't see this stuff ever, and at retail". I look, and Albertsons...a giant chain, grocery store, marked Blantons at $109. So even the big guys are playing the secondary game now! I told those dudes what MSRP actually is for it, they were like "Really?" and they still bought it.
I wish those people would go away!
Only BT can turn NAS bottom shelf offerings into allocated bottles that people hunt. Fuuuck. How long before Benchmark reaches Weller status? I've still never seen a Weller FP in the wild; wouldn't be surprised if I never see a bottle of Benchmark FP either.
I like to think distilleries have been laying down extra barrels of allocated products as they've expanded their capacities over the last 5+ years. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they keep everything rare to maintain the craze. Why meet demand when you can just create new rare brands? That's basically what's happening.
Paid $90 for an ECBP batch A121 today. I normally get it for $60, so that price hurt. But I haven't seen a bottle since 2019, so I didn't even hesitate. It's so delicious, I would do it again. Weller SR and Blanton's are not worth a markup, but ECBP might be...
I will look for that and hope the savages haven't ran up the pricing.
It should be a $20 bottle everywhere and easy to find.
Dear God that would be amazing. Is it actually good? Something like this will make the bourbon snobs shutter.
Well, it's Buffalo Trace, it's going to probably be allocated soon and hit the secondary at $120. Screw caps and MSPR be damned, Buffalo Trace can do no wrong in the minds of the whiskey horde. Weller Special Reserve, a $20-25 bottle, I've seen marked up to $150. I was at a liquor store not too long ago. It was a store well known to mark up and play the secondary game, but I was just poking around seeing what they had. Two dudes come in "Oh man, they got a Weller (Special Reserve). How much? Only $120. Can we get more than one?" I wanted to walk over and slap them both. What shocked me more than that dude and his dumb fn comment is that the store only would sell him one at a time. They said he could come back in a week and get another if he wanted. Goddamn store owner could have sold him his entire supply if he wanted at $120 ea, but he knows the game. Gotta get more idiots like that guy in and they'll ALL be coming back and falling for that bullshit.
Another quick one. My local Albertson's (Kroger) for some reason got in a supply of BT products last fall. I was there the day they dropped and noticed the liquor section buzzing. Walk in and holy crap, they got in some good whisky! This store never, and I mean NEVER has anything decent whisky-wise. Checking out what was left and again, two dude grab a Blantons. "Holy shit, I can't believe they have a Blantons." They saw me and said "Dude, you better grab one you don't see this stuff ever, and at retail". I look, and Albertsons...a giant chain, grocery store, marked Blantons at $109. So even the big guys are playing the secondary game now! I told those dudes what MSRP actually is for it, they were like "Really?" and they still bought it.
I wish those people would go away!
Only BT can turn NAS bottom shelf offerings into allocated bottles that people hunt. Fuuuck. How long before Benchmark reaches Weller status? I've still never seen a Weller FP in the wild; wouldn't be surprised if I never see a bottle of Benchmark FP either.
I like to think distilleries have been laying down extra barrels of allocated products as they've expanded their capacities over the last 5+ years. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they keep everything rare to maintain the craze. Why meet demand when you can just create new rare brands? That's basically what's happening.
Paid $90 for an ECBP batch A121 today. I normally get it for $60, so that price hurt. But I haven't seen a bottle since 2019, so I didn't even hesitate. It's so delicious, I would do it again. Weller SR and Blanton's are not worth a markup, but ECBP might be...
A121 is a really good batch! I believe the MSRP on ECBP has gone up $10 over the last year so $90 isn't too bad. Almost grabbed the B521 at a store over the weekend. Was at MSPR, but heard this batch is a little "meh" compared to the last handful of releases. Oddly enough, for this being a shitty whiskey town, I have no problem finding each release of ECBP and for retail.
Comments
Just calling or going in and asking...
"Do you have anything allocated in today" or
"When do your allocations come in" won't help.
Our local store used to do a drawing. You could go throw your name in the mix and they would draw names to give you first pick of the good stuff. That store merged with a larger regional group a year or so ago.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Not every store gets them.
Some states do a statewide drawing.
Allocations to stores are usually based on a stores sales of that distillery or company.
Some stores don't care because the bourbon bros. are annoying.
We do have a local "Fine foods" grocery store that does get in some good stuff from time to time. Every time I'm there, I'll swing by the liquor section and check out their supply. They tend to mark up stuff, but then again, they fancy themselves as a fancy-high end grocer, so it's not more than $10-20 over MSRP.
The hunt can be fun and it can be a total pain in the ass.
Then I tried this....
I thought it was kind of odd that he had that back there but I probably wouldn't have bought it if he had not pointed it out.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Here it is....Full Proof
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
My only complaint was getting the screw top off....had to go at it with a knife and now it doesn't seal correctly
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Well, it's Buffalo Trace, it's going to probably be allocated soon and hit the secondary at $120.
Screw caps and MSPR be damned, Buffalo Trace can do no wrong in the minds of the whiskey horde.
Weller Special Reserve, a $20-25 bottle, I've seen marked up to $150. I was at a liquor store not too long ago. It was a store well known to mark up and play the secondary game, but I was just poking around seeing what they had. Two dudes come in "Oh man, they got a Weller (Special Reserve). How much? Only $120. Can we get more than one?" I wanted to walk over and slap them both.
What shocked me more than that dude and his dumb fn comment is that the store only would sell him one at a time. They said he could come back in a week and get another if he wanted. Goddamn store owner could have sold him his entire supply if he wanted at $120 ea, but he knows the game. Gotta get more idiots like that guy in and they'll ALL be coming back and falling for that bullshit.
Another quick one.
My local Albertson's (Kroger) for some reason got in a supply of BT products last fall. I was there the day they dropped and noticed the liquor section buzzing. Walk in and holy crap, they got in some good whisky! This store never, and I mean NEVER has anything decent whisky-wise. Checking out what was left and again, two dude grab a Blantons. "Holy shit, I can't believe they have a Blantons." They saw me and said "Dude, you better grab one you don't see this stuff ever, and at retail". I look, and Albertsons...a giant chain, grocery store, marked Blantons at $109. So even the big guys are playing the secondary game now! I told those dudes what MSRP actually is for it, they were like "Really?" and they still bought it.
I wish those people would go away!
I like to think distilleries have been laying down extra barrels of allocated products as they've expanded their capacities over the last 5+ years. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they keep everything rare to maintain the craze. Why meet demand when you can just create new rare brands? That's basically what's happening.
Paid $90 for an ECBP batch A121 today. I normally get it for $60, so that price hurt. But I haven't seen a bottle since 2019, so I didn't even hesitate. It's so delicious, I would do it again. Weller SR and Blanton's are not worth a markup, but ECBP might be...
Almost grabbed the B521 at a store over the weekend. Was at MSPR, but heard this batch is a little "meh" compared to the last handful of releases. Oddly enough, for this being a shitty whiskey town, I have no problem finding each release of ECBP and for retail.