re: Christmas gift? Pappy Van Winkle 23 yr.

I dont get it for that kind of money 799 I can get a 40yr old bottle of Scotch. Hell for 250-500 I can get a bunch of 25-30yr old scotches that are way more complex than Pappy. Not to mention more rare in that there are fewer bottles produced than Pappy 23.

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Pappy Van Winkle 23

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And lemonade is the GOAT

Go to the bourbon aisle in your local liquor store and try to find any 18+ year old bourbon on the shelf. (You can't). Not sure what caused people 6 years ago to suddenly wake up to the fact that good bourbon could equal a good scotch, but they have and it does.

Now distillers are in a tough spot: barrel younger bourbon to profit from the frenzy or age it longer to sell for more money. All the while losing more to evaporation. Pappy works because Buffalo Trace sells a whole bunch of their cheap stuff too, and because Julian Van Winkle is a perfectionist for quality control. There have been "bad" releases of George T. Stagg, Four Roses Limited Editions, etc. but I've never heard of a "bad" year of PVW.

I hope distilleries can churn out more of their limited releases in the coming years. I'll happily pay $150 for a great 15-20 year bourbon. Right now those limited releases are all swept up in this bourbon mania too. I'm not paying $300 for a Limited Edition Four Roses that I haven't tried before. Ditto for Parker's Herritage etc. Basically I'm ready for doctors and bankers to go back to scotch.

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can get a 40yr old bottle of Scotch.

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Scotch is disgusting. So there's that.

You guys think scoth is awful cause all you have ever had was Glenlivet 12 or Johnnie Walker. Either those or you started out with some big Peat monster Islay Scotch and it was way to smokey.

Very cool that you won that raffle. But the store def screwed you on the price. They doubled the price on you for what most retailers charge for it. The highest I've seen a retailer sell it for was $425. Of course, you have to time it right or have a hookup to find it available though.

Just seems kind of crappy that they would increase the cost of a bottle on someone for a raffle.

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But the store def screwed you on the price.

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How do you screw someone who is voluntarily buying a luxury good? Can he go across the street and pay half as much?

Liquor stores aren't in the dark about bourbon values. Why would they go through the trouble of securing a bottle to sell at MSRP that someone is going to flip for ~$1500 profit? Even at $799 that's 1/3 of what the bottle goes for on the secondary market.

From my experience liquor stores do one of 3 things: sell it for close to market value, sell it for MSRP to big shot clients, or hold a raffle. People get pissy regardless.

The Van Winkles did care in the first two years of the frenzy but were so overrun with complaints they gave up. In Louisiana the only retailer I know of that sells at MSRP is Calandro's.

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Lots of people, myself included, hate scotch

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Scotch is disgusting. So there's that.

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Killin' me. And I agree.

Stores do their customers a favor and raffle off a fraction of their allotment. They take care of a few with another fraction of their allotment. They share, barter, and sell the rest. Precisely what I would do in that position.