Any suggestions on a liquor store, city or suburban, that would have any bottles for sale on their shelf for any time at all?

I buy my fair share of booze from a couple local stores, but apparently I am not even on their radar for setting aside a bottle for me - I tried that angle last month. And I certainly refuse to pay the insanely inflated prices in most of the secondary market.

Any ideas or should I just expect to spend another year Pappy-less?

Pretty much expect to not get any...

Part of the problem is the insane after-market has made the decision makers ( store managers) not sell to folks they do not have a well established relationship with. I usually get two 15's but this year I'm only asking for one. I still have a 15 from last year as if I open it I will drink it in about two weeks!

I've noticed a significant shift in attitudes this year. First there is Pappy itself, which bundled the usual two releases into one fall release. And then there was the announcement that despite that, allocations would be tighter than usual. And then I've noticed that some places that used to give a heads up, or even had a waiting list, now have neither, and are just saying first come, first serve, but we don't when we'll get anything, if anything. This has all changed just in the last year/few months. Forget finding anything on the shelf; most people on waiting lists won't even get a shot. I bet most bottles are set aside/called for well in advance for who knows. People will pull, cash, etc.

danimalarkey wrote:Cal me cynical, but I'm surprised this hasn't happened before:
MORE THAN $26K IN RARE BOURBON STOLEN FROM BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY
http://www.state-journal.com/local%20ne ... distillery

And, honestly, not sure how they're valuing the rye at $25 (which seems low) -- the actual value is potentially higher.

The overall value is certainly more than 26,000. I think the rye is worth closer to $300 a bottle in the real world. Here's a current auction of Van Winkle Family Reserve, It should give you a bit of insight into why it might be difficult to find.

http://www.hdhwine.com/auction-catalog/ ... Submit.y=0

The Grand Ave. Binnys has signs at every register to the effect of, "We don't know when it's coming. We don't know how much we're getting. It will all be first come/first serve." So, it seems, at least there's no informal secret club you need to be a part of to get bottles from them.

A few months back, I stopped in at Lush and the owner decided to open up his/his store's cellar and there were a number of BTAC releases (I missed the Pappy's). Maybe I'll luck out with stumbling across bottles like that again. I don't even want any of the Pappy releases but I'd love another bottle of the William Larue Weller or George T. Stagg releases. Besides which, all of my booze money at the moment is going to these ladies:

and

Funny story about Mitch from Lush and PVW. Saw Mitch at a wine event in CA and he said I should try his friend's whiskey. Now, I've not had whiskey in 20 years (since one night back in college) but I figured why not... Dang! that's good stuff! A few years after that I asked Mitch who his "friend" was and it was none other than Julian Van Winkle III

deesher wrote:

danimalarkey wrote:Cal me cynical, but I'm surprised this hasn't happened before:
MORE THAN $26K IN RARE BOURBON STOLEN FROM BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY
http://www.state-journal.com/local%20ne ... distillery

And, honestly, not sure how they're valuing the rye at $25 (which seems low) -- the actual value is potentially higher.

The overall value is certainly more than 26,000. I think the rye is worth closer to $300 a bottle in the real world. Here's a current auction of Van Winkle Family Reserve, It should give you a bit of insight into why it might be difficult to find.

http://www.hdhwine.com/auction-catalog/ ... Submit.y=0

I'm not certain what is meant by "real world" but I get a bottle of the rye every year and have never paid even 3 figures for it, let alone $300. It is rather paradoxical, though, that while the rye is (at least in my experience) by far the most limited and hard to obtain of their releases it is also the cheapest. I'll still get a PVW 15 to give to my brother in law when I visit my sister at Christmas but, for me, it's the rye and the 20-year that I really like. Don't overlook the 10/107 "stubby", either, pretty darned good 10 year old at a pretty fair price.

Another irony is that the 10-year is practically as hard to get now as the other stuff. You can't find it on shelves, and if you do, they often limit purchases to one per customer. And the new 10-year tall bottle even aligns it more closely with the other VW stuff, as if anyone would wait in line, let alone turn out their wallet, for the 10-year.

It's slightly disingenuous for the stores to say they don't know when it's coming, since they most certainly do know it's coming at least a couple of days out. And given it disappears before it's even hits the shelves, clearly others know when it arrives as well, belying the "first come, first served" line. First claimed, perhaps, but there's little right-place/right-time luck involved at this point. It's an endeavor that entails effort and organization, and perhaps a little greasing of the wheels at this point. In fact, this is the first year I've ever heard Binny's clerks working the floor talking to each other about how much PVW goes per shot, and when everyone on staff understands this is liquid gold, there's even a less chance of a bottle getting in the hands of Joe Bourbondrinker.

Kman wrote:I'm not certain what is meant by "real world" but I get a bottle of the rye every year and have never paid even 3 figures for it, let alone $300.

You are my hero. All I'm after is the rye and I haven't even come close to getting it. Damn it for being so good!

Vitesse98 wrote:It's an endeavor that entails effort and organization, and perhaps a little greasing of the wheels at this point.

I had my Binny's staked out for weeks in advance last year. It arrived at noon on a Monday - errr, am I the only person who works?? By the time I got there, only the 12 and the 23 remained (they laughed ruefully when I asked about the rye)

I'm not going to bother this year. (I would also like the William Larue Weller, but have reached the same conclusion.)

Weller 107 for all!

I am 2 for 2 on bottles of 15, last fall I was out of the country for the release day, and managed to find the last bottle at a Binnys.

Persistence is key.

Do you think Binny's might be the best bet to focus on? My work takes me all over the city, so it would be very easy for me to keep tabs on a couple different locations.

DClose wrote:Do you think Binny's might be the best bet to focus on? My work takes me all over the city, so it would be very easy for me to keep tabs on a couple different locations.

Honestly... maybe? If hunting for rare/limited release beers in this city is any indication, though, you'll be better off finding smaller stores off the beaten path. Binnys, being the largest liquor store chain in the area, gets a lot of of foot traffic -- but they may still only get 1 case of a given product (again, more relevant to beer but people seem to hunt down KBS and Cherry Rye with at least as much fervor as Pappy). Then again, at a smaller store, you are more likely to find owners holding products for favored/preferred customers.

Somewhat related, I always thought that the Antique Collection came out all at once but some comments I've seen suggest that they release them one at a time. George T. Stagg has come and gone, from what I can tell. I wouldn't mind another bottle of the William Larue Weller (who wouldn't?!) but I did have my eye on the George T. Stagg, as well. Oh well! Is the Eagle Rare release still on the horizon or did that one come and go, too?

I found that preferred patrons seem to get the access at the smaller stores. I just cant buy in that volume.

This year I really wanted to try to get a vertical of pappy, though I usually am quite content with whatever I can find.

I was told by a person at binnys last week that none of the antique collection has come out yet!

As far as I know, neither BTAC nor Pappy has hit locally yet, though both have already come and gone in other cities/states.

Going through some old papers, I came across a Sam's sale catalog from 2002 and thought some of you might enjoy seeing the Van Winkle prices. Eleven years ago, well before the current stupidity set in, one could pick up a bottle of Pappy 23 for 120 bucks.

[quote="danimalarkey"

Somewhat related, I always thought that the Antique Collection came out all at once but some comments I've seen suggest that they release them one at a time. George T. Stagg has come and gone, from what I can tell. I wouldn't mind another bottle of the William Larue Weller (who wouldn't?!) but I did have my eye on the George T. Stagg, as well. Oh well! Is the Eagle Rare release still on the horizon or did that one come and go, too?[/quote]

+++999 to all of the above.

I am all up in this thread, hoping for some good karma.

Talked with a Liquor store I both trust and have gotten BTAC from before. They are getting it, but the dont know when.

(EDIT)
The Stagg is still will be coming out, not has come and gone as noted above.

Looks like the BTAC released yesterday. Cant find any of it at Binnys.

The smaller stores dont seem to have gotten any.

Bspar wrote:Looks like the BTAC released yesterday. Cant find any of it at Binnys.

The smaller stores dont seem to have gotten any.

This exchange via Binnys' Twitter feed doesn't exactly help matters:
https://twitter.com/Tooch1234/status/393073374777200640

Snagged a bottle of Thomas Handy Sazerac at Buffalo Grove Binny's about 20min ago. They are now out of everything and only received 6 Stagg, 3 Eagle, and 3 Handy.

They said Stagg was gone in about 15min...first come first serve, though obviously some calls went out...

Successfully got a couple of bottles at River Grove and Elmwood Park. To their credit, neither was cagey at all. They'd been saying first come, first served, and it was. They said no special favors, and as far as I know, that's how it went down; they know me at one of the stores, and they were semi-apologetic they couldn't help me out more. The latter store did give me a heads up the day before the delivery was due, but they didn't know when it was coming. It was just a matter of calling a couple of times until they said, yes, they were in. I was very appreciative.

RG got only the Stagg and Handy. Elmwood Park got Stagg, Weller and Handy. No Saz, and no Eagle Rare, which they told me they had always received in the past.

Also, Skokie is doing a raffle to purchase their bottles, if you want to go to the trouble.

Otherwise it sounds like no other store has received any bottles yet...just Binny's.

I managed to find one bottle of Stagg, after a lot of calling.

Not much else.

A good relationship with a local store would be best, but sometimes, those places only get a bottle or two.

Binnys for all of the trouble seems to at least GET the product.

Let's do it again in 2-3 weeks for the Pappy!

Just to add a data point -- the River North Binnys received 5 bottles of the George T. Stagg. They were gone in 20 minutes. Definitely a "Murtaugh moment" for me.

did not make the BTAC list this year.... pretty sure the PVW is still in the cards though...
there is a slight chance I can snag a Stagg on Saturday if the big fish passes

Interesting twist to the theft of Pappy

http://m.kentucky.com/Lexington/db_2955 ... d=sZSVV5dV

Anyone hear anything on the Arrival of Pappy to Illinois?

As of 10-23 it hadnt shipped yet.

Bspar wrote:Anyone hear anything on the Arrival of Pappy to Illinois?

As of 10-23 it hadnt shipped yet.

Expect just prior to Thanksgiving.

Today is the day (at least out here in the NW 'burbs)

Binnys? or independants?