Dear Whiskey Hunters: An Appeal to Buyers of Hard to Find Whiskey

In the past decade, whiskey drinkers have witnessed an unprecedented expansion in both selection and unavailability.  Driven by a complex mix of forces, bottles that were once available and common have become sought after collectibles that fly off shelves.  Manufacturers, state liquor control boards, and retailers have all taken various steps to react to the demand change.  These range from massive price increases to bottle lotteries, and several purchase control methods in between.  Sadly, none of these have helped with the pent up demand, and so today I’m here to ask a favor.  Dear Whiskey Hunters, please consider your fellow whiskey loving brethren when purchasing rare bottles.

That’s A Mighty Nice Bottle of Willett You’ve Got There…

This rant is in reaction to a frustrating experience I had recently in the Norwalk, CT Total Wine.  Total Wine had managed to procure some Willett Rye 4 Year, and had about eight bottles of it on the shelf.  I even held one.  With in five minutes of putting it down, turning around to go back, and pick it up – all eight were gone.  Now, I’m sure it’s possible that eight people walked up in five minutes and grabbed every bottle.  I posit that it’s more likely that some lover of rye, decided to pick up all eight and walk off.

Now, there’s nothing illegal or immoral about that,  but I propose that it’s inconsiderate to other whiskey lovers.  We all want a chance to try that rare bottle, and we all aren’t going to, but even less of us are going to be able to try it if people are bulk purchasing rare whiskeys.  So I implore the community, please try to be considerate when you find a rare whiskey.  Do you really need eight bottles of it on your shelf, or are you going to drink one bottle over the next year?

Attempts to Improve The System – Some Help, Some Frustrate

The result of this behavior goes beyond just being inconsiderate.   Many retailers have put limits in place for certain bottles (E.H. Taylor, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Weller of all manners, and so on) to help prevent this.  Others have wildly inflated their prices to match secondary markets (want a bottle of Buffalo Trace Kosher Wheated or Eagle Rare 10 – that’ll be $70) making it financial prohibitive to purchase certain once common bottles.  The State of Ohio has been even more controlling.

At first, they attempted in person lotteries.  This results in nearly 1,200 people cramming into a Giant Eagle for a chance to buy one of 161 bottles at MSRP.  A process that took nearly 3 hours.   I’ve had more fun in a TSA line, and at least I got to board the plane afterwards.  Recognizing this, and COVID, they wisely have been conducting online lotteries for things like Weller Full Proof and George T. Stagg.   For bottles that are merely rare, like Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Angel’s Envy, or even Buffalo Trace, they’ve started telling stores to receive the bottles, and then place them out over time – so people don’t gate crash the store and form a crowd.

Think about this for a second – hard to find bourbons have inspired such fervency, that to prevent the spread of COVID, the state told retailers to space out the allocation placement.  Despite this, people are still back dooring rare whiskey in the state, having bottles held thanks to relationships with store owners.

In this particular case, I acknowledge that it was my own fault for not placing that bottle of Willett in my cart. Even so, after years of playing this game I like many others are getting fed up.  While I know this is unlikely change people’s buying habits, I hope it does inspire some to put back that eighth bottle, and consider giving another whiskey lover a chance.