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Bourbon guys (3 Viewers)

Had my first glass of Pappy last weekend at a graduation party.  Friends brother brought a bottle of 20 year that he opened and asked if I wanted some.  Duh.  It was very smooth.  But he also had a bottle of Blanton's Black from Japan, I guess?  It was better than the Pappys.

 
Boulder Toads said:
OK, so flight times actually won't allow us to make it in time for the BT Hardhat tour.  Sad banana.  Looks like we could adjust and hit up the Willett Distillery for an afternoon tour.  Has anyone visited Willett and tried this Distillery & Production Tour w/Tasting?

Willett Tours
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Willett is Awesome. Small scale tour but they’re spending some money on improvements 

 
Buddy Ball 2K3 said:
It really was. It's a bucket list type of thing for me and I have never seen it before in the wild so I didnt want to pass up the opportunity. 
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I’ve got a bottle of PVW23 I was lucky enough to purchase at retail, and I can’t fault you for splurging to try it. It’s indeed fairly unique stuff (hyper-aged Wheater). 

If I had it to do over again I’d probably flip the 23yr for $1900 instead of opening it. But it was sold as a favor by a buddy who is GM of a store so I opened it on site and let him and his staff try it. 

 
[icon] said:
Those spirits comps are pretty bad with payola... take with a grain of salt. 
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I'm getting a little tired of the lists.  McKenna never hit the mark for me but it was always readily available.  With recent accolades, not anymore.  Old Ezra? GTFO.  Unobfreakingtanium in FL. Yet it still makes every list as a bargain everyday drinker.  Grrrrrrrr...

 
Found a liquor store that had Eagle Rare and bought it for $40 and it was good.  Found Buffalo Trace at a closer store for 30$ and it was better than the Eagle Rare.  But I know nothing Jon Snow.

 
I have a $300 budget to get a few bottles of whiskey for an ongoing monthly happy hour.

I'm thinking a rye, a bourbon, a scotch...and then probably a couple more bourbons because I'm in charge and that's what I want. Part of the idea is to educate people on what these things are and how you can drink them. Any advice from y'all? Will probably be like local liquor store or Total Wine or something where I make the purchases.

 
Instinctive said:
I have a $300 budget to get a few bottles of whiskey for an ongoing monthly happy hour.

I'm thinking a rye, a bourbon, a scotch...and then probably a couple more bourbons because I'm in charge and that's what I want. Part of the idea is to educate people on what these things are and how you can drink them. Any advice from y'all? Will probably be like local liquor store or Total Wine or something where I make the purchases.
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Is the happy hour about drinks as in mixers or is more about neat or on the rocks?

 
Watched some guys last night from Big Red Liquors doing 3 single barrel tastings "live" of something called Larceny from Heaven Hill. It was 6 years old cask strength of about 122-124 proof.

The bottled product was to be 92 proof and retail for $29.99. They said it was one of the better wheaty type whiskeys in that price range.

 
Just picked up a couple of Brown-Forman products as an early Father’s Day present - Early Times bottled in bond and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Tried the double oaked neat at a local restaurant during a Brown-Forman event and it was fantastic. The Early Times was cheaper than WT 101 so thought l’d give it a try.

 
OK. You guys gotta check this out.

My wife and are were out with another couple at a steakhouse. I order a Whistle Pig 10 year neat, and the bartender asks if I’d like to taste the Boss Hog fourth edition ($80 a pour). He says he doesn’t sell much at all so he likes to give tastes to people who will appreciate it. It was amazing. I look up the price and it’s like $600 a bottle.

Fast forward to today. For Father’s Day, my wife gives me a bottle of Boss Hog, fifth edition. I’m like 😮

She says she got it at Total Wine and “only” paid $450 for it. I look it up online and this thing is like $1300 a bottle everywhere.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I have a bottle of Boss Hog Fifth Edition sitting on my kitchen counter smiling bigly at me. And I’m smiling bigly back.

 
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Any suggestions on liquor stores in Nashville where I might find some decent bourbon.  I don't really have time on this trip to drive to KY but I'm still trying to work it in.  In particular I'm looking for:

Weller Full Proof

EH Taylor Amaranth

1792 12 year

Old Ezra 107

Am I kidding myself that these might be available in Nashville?  FL is dry on all counts thanks to ABC.

 
I had a friend travelling up to Vancouver, BC, and asked him to keep his eyes open up there for Blanton's. He found a bottle...$100. 😅 Thank you, but no thank you. For someone who likes the flavor profile, and the caramel undertones, what would you recommend as a decent substitute that you can actually find?

 
Ron Swanson said:
Any suggestions on liquor stores in Nashville where I might find some decent bourbon.  I don't really have time on this trip to drive to KY but I'm still trying to work it in.  In particular I'm looking for:

Weller Full Proof

EH Taylor Amaranth

1792 12 year

Old Ezra 107

Am I kidding myself that these might be available in Nashville?  FL is dry on all counts thanks to ABC.
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I am thinking that the first two will be “special customers only” or require extreme luck in ANY city. 

I don’t know the shops that may have the others, sorry! 

 
skycriesmary said:
I had a friend travelling up to Vancouver, BC, and asked him to keep his eyes open up there for Blanton's. He found a bottle...$100. 😅 Thank you, but no thank you. For someone who likes the flavor profile, and the caramel undertones, what would you recommend as a decent substitute that you can actually find?
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I see Blantons regularly... its usually about $60 a bottle.

ETA:  No idea about the current exchange rates...

 
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Redwes25 said:
Getting into Buffalo Trace release season.  Anyone seen anything out there?  
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Yeah, just got ####ed out of Pappy 20, WL Weller, Pappy 15, and George Stagg by ABC here in FL.  No exaggeration and I'm fuming mad. I'll tell the whole story when I have more time.

 
Ron Swanson said:
Yeah, just got ####ed out of Pappy 20, WL Weller, Pappy 15, and George Stagg by ABC here in FL.  No exaggeration and I'm fuming mad. I'll tell the whole story when I have more time.
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How?  ABC has gone to a Bourbon Vault rewards system in FL and only Gold Key members(based on the amount of money you have spent over the year) get an invitation to the vault and can only purchase one item from the vault

 
Long Ball Larry said:
Had basil Hayden’s dark the other night.  Really really good.
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Is that the 10 year or something else?  Bought the ten year fairly recently as I had finished off a bottle of regular Haydens but haven't opened it yet.  Regular bottle wasn't my favorite but thought it was good for sharing with novices trying to spread the love of whiskey given the low proof and being pretty approachable.   Figured the 10 year could fill that roll in my selection and hopefully be a bit better with longer aging given the regular Basil Haydens lost its age statement awhile ago.  

 
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Redwes25 said:
Is that the 10 year or something else?  Bought the ten year fairly recently as I had finished off a bottle of regular Haydens but haven't opened it yet.  Regular bottle wasn't my favorite but thought it was good for sharing with novices trying to spread the love of whiskey given the low proof and being pretty approachable.   Figured the 10 year could file that roll in my selection and hopefully be a bit better with longer aging given the regular Basil Haydens lost its age statement awhile ago.  
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really not sure, was out with some folks.  I know it was $18 for a pour at a DC Hotel, if that helps figure it out...

 
Megla said:
How?  ABC has gone to a Bourbon Vault rewards system in FL and only Gold Key members(based on the amount of money you have spent over the year) get an invitation to the vault and can only purchase one item from the vault
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Yep.  I'm Gold Key.  Been hearing the Vault story for close to a year.  Lots of negative history prior to that trying to get decent Bourbon out of ABC. I'm fine with the Vault program for the really high end stuff but it doesn't make sense for the more common items like 12 year and 107 especially sine ABC has the exclusive on that in FL.  Anyway, I finally got a Vault Key last Thursday.  Was thrilled to find Pappy 20 there and put it in my cart and began checkout process immediately. "Check Out Button" never completed action/loaded new page. No Pop up blocker but decided to try and open it to a new tab.  That worked.  Entered CC info.  Error.  Product not available.  Damn. Clear cart, go back to vault.  Pappy 20 still there. Rinse and repeat, can't checkout.  Try calling support. Goes to voicemail with full mailbox and no one answers on other menu options. Give up on Pappy 20.  See that they have WL Weller, Pappy 15, and Stagg.  Add WL Weller to cart and successfully check out.  Get confirmation email.  Yay.  Not happy about missing the Pappy 20 but I love WL Weller so all good. Ooops, 5 minutes later get an email that says it came from my local store cancelling my order for WL Weller because either they already sold it to someone else or my CC was declined. Call store. No idea what I'm talking about. Call CC company.  No decline.  No attempted charge. Try to get back into Vault but I've got my 1 bottle so no can do.  Try calling Guest Services again. Still no answer, still no vm option.  Email them and explain what's happened and ask them if the Weller sold out, please save me a Pappy 15 or Stagg.  Crickets.  I leave it alone until yesterday.  Yesterday I check my order status on abcfws.com with the original order number and it doesn't find the order at all.  Another email to Guest Services.  Crickets.

I've placed quite a few orders on their website in the past for local pickup and it's usually an adventure with lots of goofy inventory and processing issues that just aggravate the Hell out of me because I'm used to shopping on sites like Amazon where that just doesn't happen. But, I'm also not normally shopping allocated Bourbon where their mistakes screw me.  And then they have the nerve to ignore me.

So, yeah, Gold Key and the Vault really haven't worked out well for me at all.

BTW, while I was in the vault I noticed that they even have Buffalo Trace in there!!! Who on earth is going to waste their one bottle a year on Buffalo Trace???

 
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Ron Swanson said:
Yep.  I'm Gold Key.  Been hearing the Vault story for close to a year.  Lots of negative history prior to that trying to get decent Bourbon out of ABC. I'm fine with the Vault program for the really high end stuff but it doesn't make sense for the more common items like 12 year and 107 especially sine ABC has the exclusive on that in FL.  Anyway, I finally got a Vault Key last Thursday.  Was thrilled to find Pappy 20 there and put it in my cart and began checkout process immediately. "Check Out Button" never completed action/loaded new page. No Pop up blocker but decided to try and open it to a new tab.  That worked.  Entered CC info.  Error.  Product not available.  Damn. Clear cart, go back to vault.  Pappy 20 still there. Rinse and repeat, can't checkout.  Try calling support. Goes to voicemail with full mailbox and no one answers on other menu options. Give up on Pappy 20.  See that they have WL Weller, Pappy 15, and Stagg.  Add WL Weller to cart and successfully check out.  Get confirmation email.  Yay.  Not happy about missing the Pappy 20 but I love WL Weller so all good. Ooops, 5 minutes later get an email that says it came from my local store cancelling my order for WL Weller because either they already sold it to someone else or my CC was declined. Call store. No idea what I'm talking about. Call CC company.  No decline.  No attempted charge. Try to get back into Vault but I've got my 1 bottle so no can do.  Try calling Guest Services again. Still no answer, still no vm option.  Email them and explain what's happened and ask them if the Weller sold out, please save me a Pappy 15 or Stagg.  Crickets.  I leave it alone until yesterday.  Yesterday I check my order status on abcfws.com with the original order number and it doesn't find the order at all.  Another email to Guest Services.  Crickets.

I've placed quite a few orders on their website in the past for local pickup and it's usually an adventure with lots of goofy inventory and processing issues that just aggravate the Hell out of me because I'm used to shopping on sites like Amazon where that just doesn't happen. But, I'm also not normally shopping allocated Bourbon where their mistakes screw me.  And then they have the nerve to ignore me.

So, yeah, Gold Key and the Vault really haven't worked out well for me at all.

BTW, while I was in the vault I noticed that they even have Buffalo Trace in there!!! Who on earth is going to waste their one bottle a year on Buffalo Trace???
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Yea, I've had nothing but issues with this new rewards program as well.  Emailing guest services is the only way I have been able to get any response at all and that is sparingly.  Told them in no uncertain terms that if I am unable to use my rewards points in the vault prior to 12/31 I'll never spend another dime in an ABC.  I have a store in GA that is 2 hours away that I can get any bottle of bourbon I want for the most part so that is what I will do once every 2 months or so if ABC lets me down.

I agree 100% about the Weller 12, Buffalo Trace, Blanton's and Eagle Rare 10, there is no reason these should not be going to the store and not a part of the Vault program.

 
Megla said:
Yea, I've had nothing but issues with this new rewards program as well.  Emailing guest services is the only way I have been able to get any response at all and that is sparingly.  Told them in no uncertain terms that if I am unable to use my rewards points in the vault prior to 12/31 I'll never spend another dime in an ABC.  I have a store in GA that is 2 hours away that I can get any bottle of bourbon I want for the most part so that is what I will do once every 2 months or so if ABC lets me down.

I agree 100% about the Weller 12, Buffalo Trace, Blanton's and Eagle Rare 10, there is no reason these should not be going to the store and not a part of the Vault program.
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The Weller 12 has become nearly impossible to find and when you do it has a huge markup.  I remember buying it for like 30 bucks and it was a steal back then though I don't think it is possible to find it at that price anymore. 

The others on that list you can typically find pretty easily.  

 
Megla said:
And BTW, you are the first person that I have heard of that got an invitation email
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Yeah.  I was excited.  Then disappointed when I saw the bottles on the invite graphic.  Then ECSTATIC when I saw the Pappy 20 in the Vault.  Then disappointed when I couldn't check out. Then cautiously optimistic when the WL Weller successfully check out.  Then disappointed when I got the cancellation. Now RAGING angry that they refuse to communicate with me. You know, the typical ABC experience.

Proof

 
Redwes25 said:
The Weller 12 has become nearly impossible to find and when you do it has a huge markup.  I remember buying it for like 30 bucks and it was a steal back then though I don't think it is possible to find it at that price anymore. 

The others on that list you can typically find pretty easily.  
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Here I n FL ABC has an exclusive deal for the Weller products so in the past in the fall when the allotment would come out they had a waiting list and the .75 was around 30 and the 1.75 was around 57.  If you were a good customer you could get 3 or 4 bottles a season from them.  I would often find the days that the trucks delivered and would swing by that day around noon and ask if they got any "goodies" in that day and the local managers knew what I meant.  If they got more product than they had waiting list for I could snap them up right then and there but with this new program those days are long gone.  Heck, even Weller reserve is getting hard to find.

 
Ron Swanson said:
Yeah.  I was excited.  Then disappointed when I saw the bottles on the invite graphic.  Then ECSTATIC when I saw the Pappy 20 in the Vault.  Then disappointed when I couldn't check out. Then cautiously optimistic when the WL Weller successfully check out.  Then disappointed when I got the cancellation. Now RAGING angry that they refuse to communicate with me. You know, the typical ABC experience.

Proof
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What made a big difference for me was having my local ABC manager send a email to guest services on my behalf, I got a reply that same day.

 
Megla said:
Here I n FL ABC has an exclusive deal for the Weller products so in the past in the fall when the allotment would come out they had a waiting list and the .75 was around 30 and the 1.75 was around 57.  If you were a good customer you could get 3 or 4 bottles a season from them.  I would often find the days that the trucks delivered and would swing by that day around noon and ask if they got any "goodies" in that day and the local managers knew what I meant.  If they got more product than they had waiting list for I could snap them up right then and there but with this new program those days are long gone.  Heck, even Weller reserve is getting hard to find.
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This is the worst part.  Their exclusivity with BT for anything with the "Weller" name in the label.  I'm pretty well convinced they must be funneling it elsewhere.  There's just no way that they can have enough "Gold Key" members to buy all the Weller variants, Blantons, etc. when they limit it to 1 bottle per person and maybe only open the vault once per year?

 
Megla said:
Here I n FL ABC has an exclusive deal for the Weller products so in the past in the fall when the allotment would come out they had a waiting list and the .75 was around 30 and the 1.75 was around 57.  If you were a good customer you could get 3 or 4 bottles a season from them.  I would often find the days that the trucks delivered and would swing by that day around noon and ask if they got any "goodies" in that day and the local managers knew what I meant.  If they got more product than they had waiting list for I could snap them up right then and there but with this new program those days are long gone.  Heck, even Weller reserve is getting hard to find.
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Interesting set up.  Up here in NYC, I frequent a local liquor store and they know me so give me a heads up on good bottles coming in that are hard to get.  They are marked up but still below the online prices or really high end liquor stores in NYC that puts the online prices to shame in how high they are.  

 
Megla said:
What made a big difference for me was having my local ABC manager send a email to guest services on my behalf, I got a reply that same day.
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Our local Manager is part of the problem.  She takes great pleasure in being a Hall Monitor type. What I typed above was only my recent experience with the Vault program.  I've had a ton of negative local experiences over the last 2-3 years directly with my store.  And yet somehow I'm dumb enough to buy a #### ton of booze from them.

 
Redwes25 said:
Interesting set up.  Up here in NYC, I frequent a local liquor store and they know me so give me a heads up on good bottles coming in that are hard to get.  They are marked up but still below the online prices or really high end liquor stores in NYC that puts the online prices to shame in how high they are.  
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Keep in mind they are "ABC" in name only. It's a clever ploy to trick the tourists into thinking they are the only liquor option like "back home". Their logo even looks similar to a lot of State run stores.

 
Ron Swanson said:
Our local Manager is part of the problem.  She takes great pleasure in being a Hall Monitor type. What I typed above was only my recent experience with the Vault program.  I've had a ton of negative local experiences over the last 2-3 years directly with my store.  And yet somehow I'm dumb enough to buy a #### ton of booze from them.
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Man sorry to hear, I'm glad I have an option that's not to far a drive away.  I can always just go there and load up every other month and if I need some mid range bourbon in the interim my local Sams is decent with Makers, Basil. Woodford, Knob Creek and from time to time Eagle Rare

 
I run a HH for our office with a monthly whiskey budget (it's a good gig).

For veterans' day, one of our Senior Partners (a Navy guy) has offered to cover the difference between budget and actual if we can find a bottle of Pappy 20. before I put any work into doing that...the chances of success seem very low. Has anyone got advice or experience for me on this one?

 
Instinctive said:
I run a HH for our office with a monthly whiskey budget (it's a good gig).

For veterans' day, one of our Senior Partners (a Navy guy) has offered to cover the difference between budget and actual if we can find a bottle of Pappy 20. before I put any work into doing that...the chances of success seem very low. Has anyone got advice or experience for me on this one?
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Previously mentioned high end NYC store - https://centralcellars.com/liquor/whiskey/pappy20from2015.html

 
Anyone else try New Riff?  The Total Wine store I go to had limited supply (aka 1 bottle per person per visit).  Tried it out and it's not too shabby.

 
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