WolfpackCPA said:

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Anybody have any bourbons they are looking forward to opening with this cooler weather?

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Missed this before. I don't really change what I drink in cooler weather. I do think that this time of year I have more appetite for cocktails. Tonight I had a hankering for a maple old fashioned, which is something I haven't even thought about for months. The maple syrup and the spice of the bitters is a little more Fall like I think. If it gets really cold, I might subconsciously reach for the barrel proof bourbons more perhaps.

If you are in the Wilmington area, the Porter's Neck store has store picks of Elijah Craig and Larceny currently. Nice way to pick up something unique for not a lot of money.

Killed a bottle of WB Saffell tonight. It's a Campari product made of Wild Turkey. It's not available in NC, but Total Wine in Myrtle Beach has it if you are in this area. To me it is like a lite version of Masters Keep Decades, which is one of my all time favorite turkeys. It's expensive, more than $50 for a pint, but it's really good.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Killed a bottle of WB Saffell tonight. It's a Campari product made of Wild Turkey. It's not available in NC, but Total Wine in Myrtle Beach has it if you are in this area. To me it is like a lite version of Masters Keep Decades, which is one of my all time favorite turkeys. It's expensive, more than $50 for a pint, but it's really good.

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I agree it is really good but costly for a 375.

I have about a 70 bottle collection. About 40 opened. Soon as I finish one, I bring another in the rotation. I like to share and give samples. I also collect what I like such as higher proof bourbons. Most of what I have are not in N.C. or harder to get. Blanton's and Weller Special Reserve are great starter bourbons but I don't try for them much anymore unless I'm going to gift them. I have been into bourbon groups or store picks. If you can get a group or store that knows what they are doing, they are just as good or better than the high dollar allocated stuff such as Pappy and Antique collection. I also like MGP products and like my bourbon neat the first taste and adjust if I need a cube or not. People buy bourbon like stocks and sell based on market value. Just to give you an idea. Lot B Van Winkle pre COVID was about 450 a bottle secondary. It sells for around 600-700 now. MSRP is around $80. Secondary is killing bourbon but I say again, buy what you like and drink it. Plenty of great choices on the shelf at ABC and other states if you travel. Cheers!

Chasing bourbon is only worth if you just like the chase. If you like the taste, there's plenty of stuff on the shelf worth taking home. Paying secondary prices, particularly if you intend to drink it, is a waste. It all ends up in the toilet anyway.

I'm early in the game, so i like the chase. But i drink them all, and enjoy trying to discern the differences. Some nights i like the smooth and sweet, sometimes i enjoy the ones that bite me in the nose a little.

Have bottles of turkey 101, EC small batch, EC 18 yr, Weller 12, and blantons on the way. The first 2 are for OFs, the others are for drinking neat or on ice.

Had my first Weller's wheat this weekend... I wish there was an unlimited supply of this one!

If anyone is traveling through Wallace, they have a barrel pick of Elijah Craig that is really good. Picked one up on the way to Raleigh on Saturday and enjoyed it after the game.

wilmwolf80 said:

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Having a Maker's private pick tonight. Really good juice.

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have you tried the Maker's 101 yet?

decided to pick up 1792 single barrel and full proof as they are always classics. Looking forward to trying the Larceny store pick as well.

I have. It didn't do much for me, but I'm going to revisit it. I've been having so many of the barrel picks and the wood finishing series recently and it may have affected my expectations. I'm not sure there really needed to be an expression between the regular makers and the cask strength, but 101 is in my preferred proof range, so it should be something I like.

If anyone wants to spend an obscene amount of money on a bottle of bourbon, the Porter's Neck store in Wilmington has the Woodford baccarat edition for the low price of $1999.

wilmwolf80 said:

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If anyone wants to spend an obscene amount of money on a bottle of bourbon, the Porter's Neck store in Wilmington has the Woodford baccarat edition for the low price of $1999.

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You are right, that is obscene. I have to make a run this afternoon but I guarantee that won't be on my shopping list. Think of all the good whisky that could be bought for $2k......damn.

The really crazy part is that you are literally paying for the bottle. The bourbon is just normal Woodford finished in sherry barrels. The baccarat crystal bottle is the big selling point. It will probably collect dust until someone buys it as a retirement gift or something

Just picked up 3 new bottles at southern spirits, Indian land SC. Barrel Bourbon Dovetail. Too much bite and peppery flavor to appreciate the subtle notes IMO. Wyoming Whiskey, a solid wheater that holds its own with a cube for the price. Lastly, got a bottle of Old Forrester Statesman. Not bad, but still has that OF aftertaste even at 95 proof. Still prefer OF prohibition style.

My liver probably hates me, but I made a concerted effort over the last few weekends to kill some bottles. I literally didn't have any space for any more bottles, and this is generally the time of year when I start acquiring more bourbon, so I needed to open up some spots. One thing I've missed this year is sharing stuff as much with my friends, so of late I've started filling sample bottles for people of stuff I think they would like and either shipping it to the guys that are further away, or dropping them off. We're talking about doing zoom tastings, but haven't made that work yet. For me, sharing and talking about it is the biggest thing I get from it. I really don't drink much these days, and I definitely don't drink to get drunk, so I really miss the social aspect of it.

You and I are the same with sharing bourbon and sending samples. I will let you in on a little secret. The Angier store probably has one of the best selections closest to Raleigh. Ask the guys there about what you should get because many are in bourbon groups. Also, Ms Shirley runs this store right.

Speaking of Makers. If you can find the SE4 X PE5 from Makers, buy it. If you like a rich vanilla, caramel like taste, it is really good.

Yup, I know all about the Angiers store, most of my Raleigh bourbon guys hit them up frequently. The wood finishing Maker's this year is one of my favorite bottles of the year, it's really good, I think I talked about it on one of the pages back. I actually got that one, the 101, and the 46 cask strength all on the same day a few months ago. Pretty sure I said this a few pages ago too, but I still wish Maker's would do something with more age on it. They have lots of good releases, but they are just messing with the proof and stave finishes. I think if they came out with something in the 10,12, 15 year range it would be a contender to the PVW and Old Fitz high priced wheaters. Just odd to me that in all this time they have stuck to bottling ~6 year old bourbon.

Tried Woodinville last night and it was not bad for a young craft bourbon. It was a pick from Smoking Barrels Bourbon Society. Going to have to revisit in a few months. I try to do this with younger bourbons to let it breathe a bit. You usually get more of the complex flavors after it sits a little.

I liked the woodinville barrel pick that I have as well. I've never tried the version on store shelves, , but the one I have is good for craft bourbon, which is not something I say often.

Need some insight for y'all. I'm trying to find a friend some Pappy Van Winkle's for his birthday. I understand it is rare to find and extremely pricy on resale sites. It is listed on the ABC store website, is there any way to know which stores it will be distributed to?

engineercoach said:

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Need some insight for y'all. I'm trying to find a friend some Pappy Van Winkle's for his birthday. I understand it is rare to find and extremely pricy on resale sites. It is listed on the ABC store website, is there any way to know which stores it will be distributed to?

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You have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a bottle of pappy at a NC ABC store. Some stores will do some lotteries but will probably have hundreds of entrants.

You may find a bottle of 10 year for 500 bucks which is the best price I have seen in a while. Not trying to bust you bubble but you are looking for a unicorn.

NC stores can request it but doesn't mean they will actually receive a bottle.

engineercoach said:

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Need some insight for y'all. I'm trying to find a friend some Pappy Van Winkle's for his birthday. I understand it is rare to find and extremely pricy on resale sites. It is listed on the ABC store website, is there any way to know which stores it will be distributed to?

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It gets distributed fairly equally to every ABC board in the state. What those boards do with it is a crapshoot. Some of it is allotted to liquor by the drink, aka restaurants and bars. The rest gets distributed as each individual board sees fit. Keeping in mind, the board may only get one or two bottles each of the different expressions, depending on bottle yields for the year. Some have lotteries, mostly only open to residents, others have secret lists, others just call good customers or friends and let them buy it. You can call all the boards in the state, of which there are more than 100 and ask. You'll likely encounter employees who are tired of answering the question, who don't know what you're talking about, or who just lie to you. Without a long-standing relationship with a store manager or employee, you are probably wasting your time on that front. If you go out of state, you may find out on shelves, particularly in big metropolitan areas, for the prices CPA mentioned. There are some online retailers that have it, for similar or higher markups. You can get it slightly less on the secondary market, but you are buying from an unknown entity with no legal recourse should you get scammed, particularly since the secondary markets are illegal in and of themselves. Sorry to say, but right now, right before the stuff comes out, you are not going to find it at retail, unless you are just a very lucky person. If you are willing to spend four figures, it can be had, but I wouldn't do that, because it simply isn't worth it.

Thanks for the reply guys. I figured it was a long shot but I figured I'd see what y'all knew.

Also the scamming point is really important. Due to the increase in popularity of bourbon over the past few years, many people have been scammed trying to buy online using random apps for payment.

Again some secondary stores will have a 10 year Pappy for 500 which is more than the retail of 65-75 bucks but probably more manageable than most expressions.

I do know a guy that bought a 15 year for a friend's wedding. He paid either 1.6 or 1.7k. As I am sure everybody else here will agree, Pappy is good but not worth secondary prices. Goodluck on your hunt.

It's good, but I'm not paying thousands of dollars for the stuff. We did a tasting flight of 10, 12 and 15 in Kentucky for $50

Hey y'all, just got back from Louisville but didn't get anything great. I found a store with everything I could ever want, but the prices were nuts, Indian owned store called Liquor World in Louisville.

I did end up with an extra Willet Potstill. I bought it for $57 + tax, if anyone is looking for one.

Tonight is a multiple bourbon night. Depending on how it goes, it might be low shelf or high shelf. BTW, Virgin is not bad for a cheap Bourbon. The old 7 yr age stated is good. They discontinued the age stated but the new bottle is close to taste.

SexualChocolate said:

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Tonight is a multiple bourbon night. Depending on how it goes, it might be low shelf or high shelf. BTW, Virgin is not bad for a cheap Bourbon. The old 7 yr age stated is good. They discontinued the age stated but the new bottle is close to taste.

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I agree, used to be a hidden regional gem. I grabbed a bunch of the age stated ones when I found out it was going away. Good solid, simple bourbon. The shelves used to be filled with cheap, age stated bourbon like that, but they are going extinct. You can still find the 7 year in stores if you look. I found it suspicious that heaven hill discontinued the old 6 year bottled in bond, then removed the age statement from Virgin 101, which isn't listed as BIB but has the same specs, and then reintroduced the Heaven Hill BIB at 7 years, and 3-4 times the price. Something tells me some of those seven year stocks from the Virgin have found their way into that new bottling.

So you were the other guy buying up all the age stated Virgin. Haha! I think I have 3-4 of the age stated left.

With the way it disappeared, I wasn't the only one. I only found out about it right when it got removed from a posting on a forum about it. I had seen it many times, thought it was just another Jack Daniels look a like bottle and mostly ignored it, but when I saw that post and the specs on it, I figured I may as well give it a run, so I picked a couple up. After that I've bought I think four of them, three of which I've given away to bourbon buddies, and one I've consumed, so I have two left

This is an interesting article about the bourbon secondary market. It details the three tiered distribution system, markups along the way, and how supply and demand affects that. There is a brief mention of North Carolina.

https://blog.heavenhilldistillery.com/secondary-market-changing-american-whiskey/?ref=adv