The bottles that never make it to the shelf and get held for good buddies is one of the things I dislike the most about our system. If you're lucky enough to get something, it's great to only pay retail, but the good old boys and secondary flippers have mostly ruined that. I don't know that it would be better privatized. You either have stuff still on the shelf at marked up prices, or you get the same buddy issues where owners hold back stuff for their best customers. I think if every county and ABC board (in some places, individual towns have their own board) held random raffles for the allocated stuff, that would be fair, but some just won't do it. New Hanover county won't raffle, because they have a list, but you can't get on the list, because the list is too long, yet the same people get the good stuff every year, and I know that because I'm friends with some of them. It's on this thread somewhere, but when I emailed last year about the holiday allocated stuff, I was told in not so many words that there was nothing for me, and that I should try other counties. I live, own a home, work, and pay taxes in this county, but I should go elsewhere for my liquor basically. I have mostly taken her up on that this year, and at the end of the year I'm going to send a reply email with a snapshot of all of my purchases in surrounding counties this year. I buy a ridiculous amount of bourbon every year, I don't have hookups, I just drive around and find the things I want, and I only want a fair chance at getting the super rare stuff, so her response pissed me off.

wilmwolf80 said:

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The bottles that never make it to the shelf and get held for good buddies is one of the things I dislike the most about our system. If you're lucky enough to get something, it's great to only pay retail, but the good old boys and secondary flippers have mostly ruined that. I don't know that it would be better privatized. You either have stuff still on the shelf at marked up prices, or you get the same buddy issues where owners hold back stuff for their best customers. I think if every county and ABC board (in some places, individual towns have their own board) held random raffles for the allocated stuff, that would be fair, but some just won't do it. New Hanover county won't raffle, because they have a list, but you can't get on the list, because the list is too long, yet the same people get the good stuff every year, and I know that because I'm friends with some of them. It's on this thread somewhere, but when I emailed last year about the holiday allocated stuff, I was told in not so many words that there was nothing for me, and that I should try other counties. I live, own a home, work, and pay taxes in this county, but I should go elsewhere for my liquor basically. I have mostly taken her up on that this year, and at the end of the year I'm going to send a reply email with a snapshot of all of my purchases in surrounding counties this year. I buy a ridiculous amount of bourbon every year, I don't have hookups, I just drive around and find the things I want, and I only want a fair chance at getting the super rare stuff, so her response pissed me off.

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As it should. Same stuff goes on in way too many counties. Just once it would be nice to wander in and see a Weller 12 or something like one of the BTAC's on the shelf that they had just put out but it just will never happen in NC it seems.

Tonight's bottom shelf pour is another from SC, Early Times Bottled in Bond. Now, regular Early Times is not bourbon, it's "Kentucky whiskey" which is bourbon mixed with some sort of grain neutral spirits. It also happens to have been a go to of mine back in the college days. A bottle of ET and a Food Lion cola was a cheap $8 drunk. The bottled in bond version is an actual bourbon, distilled by the Brown-Forman company. My bottle was $25 for a one liter, which I didn't realize until later. Details are scarce, but it's 100 proof and at least four years old because of the BIB designation. This stuff is a very solid bourbon. Some similar notes to Old Forrester, also distilled by Brown forman, but this is supposedly a slightly different mash bill. You can taste the proof, but it's not a hot or spicy bourbon. An easy drinker that I could sip all night. It lacks the signature funk, but otherwise is fairly similar to Buffalo Trace in profile. The price for this size bottle makes it a great value, hopefully it will find it's way to NC, but if not, go down and pick some up in SC. Very good bottom shelf stuff.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Tonight's bottom shelf pour is another from SC, Early Times Bottled in Bond. Now, regular Early Times is not bourbon, it's "Kentucky whiskey" which is bourbon mixed with some sort of grain neutral spirits. It also happens to have been a go to of mine back in the college days. A bottle of ET and a Food Lion cola was a cheap $8 drunk. The bottled in bond version is an actual bourbon, distilled by the Brown-Forman company. My bottle was $25 for a one liter, which I didn't realize until later. Details are scarce, but it's 100 proof and at least four years old because of the BIB designation. This stuff is a very solid bourbon. Some similar notes to Old Forrester, also distilled by Brown forman, but this is supposedly a slightly different mash bill. You can taste the proof, but it's not a hot or spicy bourbon. An easy drinker that I could sip all night. It lacks the signature funk, but otherwise is fairly similar to Buffalo Trace in profile. The price for this size bottle makes it a great value, hopefully it will find it's way to NC, but if not, go down and pick some up in SC. Very good bottom shelf stuff.

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Nice post! After a summer of hunting rare and allocated bourbons while travelling for work, my new thing lately is to look for drinkable lower tier bourbons under $20/750 mL. Some of my favorites:

Benchmark 8 - Same mash bill as Buffalo Trace, $10/750mL
Ancient Age 10 Star - same mash bill as Blantons, $12.99/750mL

Evan Williams White Label - $15/750mL
Heaven Hill BiB - $12/750mL
JTS Brown - $12/750mL, $18/1.75L comes in both 80 and 100 proof BiB versions

Although over $20, I also really like the Evan Williams Single Barrel. I see it mostly for $27, but have found in Baltimore for $22

Cheers!

Bought two Blanton's today and of course bought 2 T's

I wish I could get my hands on some Blanton's. Everywhere I have been in the Austin area has them reserved for someone or already sold out.

Picked up IW Harper 15 and Weller special reserve today. Looking forward to tonight!

Interview with Jack Daniels Master Distliller starts 10-12 minutes into podcast and last 40 minutes or so.

Randomly came across this online this week. In Australia, they sell ready made can drinks of Wild Turkey and cola. I'm not a bourbon and coke guy, though I did start out that way back in the day, but it still seems kinda cool. I've bought some of the cocktails in a can that are sold here in NC, such as the vodka soda made by Durham Distillery, and it's pretty decent for what it is. I guess if I were ever in Australia, I'd probably try one of these.

https://bws.com.au/product/104558/wild-turkey-bourbon-cola-cans-375ml

Well, every where else on this forum has become insufferable, so I guess I'm just going to have a bourbon and talk to myself here.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Well, every where else on this forum has become insufferable, so I guess I'm just going to have a bourbon and talk to myself here.

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Just poured my third BT. I'm beginning to think the unc twitter bots have invaded the boards.

For a while now, I've been working on an infinity bottle. I don't generally go out to drink, so if there is something I want to try, I generally buy a bottle. Sometimes means I end up with bourbon in a bottle that I don't really feel like finishing, so I've been dumping that in a larger bottle now. I'll also put in the last ounce or two when I'm nearing the end instead of killing a bottle. I've got a glass gallon that I'm adding stuff to. I've pulled some from it to drink on a few occasions just to see how it was going, and it always tastes different than the sum of its parts. Off the top of my head there's ECBP, Kentucky Spirit, Rebell Yell 100 , and probably a dozen more things in there currently. It's a fun diversion, and helps me free up space for new bottles that keep mysteriously appearing on my shelf. You aren't going to mess around and recreate pappy, but it is creating something completely unique, and ever changing.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Well, every where else on this forum has become insufferable, so I guess I'm just going to have a bourbon and talk to myself here.

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Aint that the damn truth. Yeesh.

Been sipping on the latest batch of Booker's this evening, Country Ham. Damn fine whiskey. All the allocated specialty stuff got pushed out of the warehouse last week, so it's going to get quiet as far as that goes. Lots of great whiskey sitting on the shelf that people overlook though chasing after things they can't get.

Anyone here tried Buffalo Trace White Dog Mash #1? Picked up a bottle today to try this weekend. Got a bottle of Peg Leg Porker 8 year as well.

Yes. Tried it and also aged some in a small barrel years ago. Peg Leg is good juice, sourced from Dickel, filtered in his own charcoal.

Yeah the Peg Leg is very good imo. Haven't had any in a while. Looking forward to trying the BT. Wish I had bought more of it.

One use I've found for the white dog is as a tequila substitute. The raw corn taste of the unaged stuff has a tequila like quality, and I've used it to make margaritas with in the past. I've also used Mellow Corn whiskey in the same capacity.

vanuel said:

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Been sipping on the latest batch of Booker's this evening, Country Ham. Damn fine whiskey. All the allocated specialty stuff got pushed out of the warehouse last week, so it's going to get quiet as far as that goes. Lots of great whiskey sitting on the shelf that people overlook though chasing after things they can't get.

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Yup. I have a buddy that's new to the bourbon game that is hell bent on landing all these unicorn bottles that he'll likely never find. I've told him many times that he needs to try everything that is sitting on the shelf before he even thinks about spending time chasing ghosts. If you start on the bottom shelf and work your way up, you have a better grasp as to what is good or bad, what you like or don't like, and you may just be surprised at how good some of them are.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Randomly came across this online this week. In Australia, they sell ready made can drinks of Wild Turkey and cola. I'm not a bourbon and coke guy, though I did start out that way back in the day, but it still seems kinda cool. I've bought some of the cocktails in a can that are sold here in NC, such as the vodka soda made by Durham Distillery, and it's pretty decent for what it is. I guess if I were ever in Australia, I'd probably try one of these.

https://bws.com.au/product/104558/wild-turkey-bourbon-cola-cans-375ml

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I have actually had this and it was pretty sweet. I am not really a bourbon and coke drinker.

JocoPack said:

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Anyone here tried Buffalo Trace White Dog Mash #1? Picked up a bottle today to try this weekend. Got a bottle of Peg Leg Porker 8 year as well.

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White Dog is nasssttyyyyyyy

wilmwolf80 said:

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For a while now, I've been working on an infinity bottle. I don't generally go out to drink, so if there is something I want to try, I generally buy a bottle. Sometimes means I end up with bourbon in a bottle that I don't really feel like finishing, so I've been dumping that in a larger bottle now. I'll also put in the last ounce or two when I'm nearing the end instead of killing a bottle. I've got a glass gallon that I'm adding stuff to. I've pulled some from it to drink on a few occasions just to see how it was going, and it always tastes different than the sum of its parts. Off the top of my head there's ECBP, Kentucky Spirit, Rebell Yell 100 , and probably a dozen more things in there currently. It's a fun diversion, and helps me free up space for new bottles that keep mysteriously appearing on my shelf. You aren't going to mess around and recreate pappy, but it is creating something completely unique, and ever changing.

---

I'm sad to admit that I've never thought of the infinity bottle. It's a great idea; kinda like not seeing the forest for the trees for me. Thanks for posting about it. Guess who's starting an infinity bottle now...

Just finished the last drink of my last bottle of McKenna 10. Good thing is I'm meeting with a sales rep Wednesday that is bringing me a couple of new bottles.

Wish I could take credit for it. Apparently started with scotch drinkers. I know some guys have rules about how much and what they'll put in their bottles and keep detailed lists, but I just dump anything I want to in there. Worst case scenario is the bottle gets full and it's not very good, and I just use it to make an infusion or something.

Got a bottle of Hancock reserve today made from buffalo trace, had never actually heard of it before.

Hancock and Rock Hill Farms are regional products in the same line as Blanton's. Same mashbill. Because of limited distribution, they aren't something you see mentioned often, and BT doesn't really do anything to promote them as far as I know.

Wilmwolf - what bottles are you currently looking for?

I had some Old Forester 1870 Original Batch with dad tonight before coming into the stadium

Currently, outside of the normal unicorns (Pappy et al), I'm looking for the new Knob Creek 12 year expression, the Makers Mark wood finishing series RC6, the Baker's limited 13 year release, and the new Heaven Hill bottled in bond 7 year. Not all of those will be available in NC, but those are the ones on my radar currently.

The Baker's 13 yr. was a lottery product that certain "lucky" stores got and never showed up on the warehouse status report. It was quietly sent out to the boondocks where it sat on the shelf like a lost child until finally someone discovered it and then poof it was gone. It is particularly infuriating to me because I really wanted it being a Baker's fan and there weren't a lot of people chasing it.

Once again, the ABC treats 50 year old grown men like little children at an Easter egg hunt, the only difference being that of course at an Easter egg hunt all the children actually find eggs with yummy treats in them and the organization promoting the Easter egg hunt doesn't conceal the date and location of the Easter egg hunt so that you find out almost six weeks later that it happened in obscurity and 1 or 2 lucky children randomly stumbled into a field full of Easter eggs and ate all of them and you never had a snowball's chance in hell of getting even one of them.

The employee that I spoke to told me that he got one of them and it was delicious.

wilmwolf80 said:

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vanuel said:

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Been sipping on the latest batch of Booker's this evening, Country Ham. Damn fine whiskey. All the allocated specialty stuff got pushed out of the warehouse last week, so it's going to get quiet as far as that goes. Lots of great whiskey sitting on the shelf that people overlook though chasing after things they can't get.

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Yup. I have a buddy that's new to the bourbon game that is hell bent on landing all these unicorn bottles that he'll likely never find. I've told him many times that he needs to try everything that is sitting on the shelf before he even thinks about spending time chasing ghosts. If you start on the bottom shelf and work your way up, you have a better grasp as to what is good or bad, what you like or don't like, and you may just be surprised at how good some of them are.

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This is a very good exercise because you learn a lot about your palate and you find things that you will always have on the shelf. Knowing your palate saves a lot of money down the road, especially when it comes to highly allocated products.

That stinks. The secrecy and cronyism is so frustrating sometimes.

How does NC release rare bottles? VA has a lottery

wilmwolf80 said:

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That stinks. The secrecy and cronyism is so frustrating sometimes.

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The state ABC board is one of the most corrupt entities in NC politics. Always has been. Mainly because there is so much money floating around for "the right" people to get their hands on. And yes, it's frustrating.

It varies with every ABC board. Some places like Wake county have a lottery. New Hanover county has a list. Some places just call their best customers or friends to come get the bottles without ever acknowledging that they actually have the bottles. It's a cluster **** to be honest.

Bell Tower Grey said:

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wilmwolf80 said:

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That stinks. The secrecy and cronyism is so frustrating sometimes.

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The state ABC board is one of the most corrupt entities in NC politics. Always has been. Mainly because there is so much money floating around for "the right" people to get their hands on. And yes, it's frustrating.

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I mean, the current head of the ABC is a convicted felon (in full disclosure, I have had business dealings with him prior to his appointment and he seemed like an OK person during those interactions), so they aren't really helping their image there.