Vitesse98 wrote:Trying to think what affordable age statement bourbons still line the shelves. McKenna 10?

I'm really sorry to be the bearer of bad news and I really hope I've been misinformed but I've heard from multiple sources that this, too, will be going away soon.

=R=

Yeah, I figured. Maybe time to bunker some up ...

KevinM wrote:Maybe I just keep getting unlucky but I haven't been able to find Weller at any liquor stores for the last 2 years. A real bummer.

Weller comes in on an irregular schedule but never sees the shelves. Wherever you regularly shop for whiskey just make it a habit each time you visit to ask someone in the spirits department (or manager, really depends on the store) if they have it or recently had it or are expecting it (and similarly with other whiskeys you seek). Making that relationship should result in them remembering you and your likes. Several times this year I've been pleasantly surprised to get *handles*, and at less than twice the price of a 750!

I got 3 750 bottles of Weller Special Reserve the other day, but it was $55/bottle. In a little liquor store in Danville,KY.

I realize things have changed, but I find it really frustrating to jump through hoops (cultivating relationships, calling around, stalking shops, etc.) for bottles that just a couple of years ago used to line the shelves. I mean, I used to mix drinks with Weller 12 (!), and I could always count on Elmer T. Lee. On the other hand, there are all sorts of bottles that we get in Chicago that people have to hunt for elsewhere (like Stagg Jr., or some expressions of Four Roses, or Midwinter's Nights Dram, among others), so it could always be worse. Plus, considering almost everything hidden away in cases is some ignorable BS fake-premium product of dubious provenance (looking at you, Diageo and Jefferson's and even Wild Turkey), that's just an all-around relief that saves me money.

dukesdad wrote:I got 3 750 bottles of Weller Special Reserve the other day, but it was $55/bottle. In a little liquor store in Danville,KY.

Weller Special Reserve was in stock this week. New bottle and label design, still same whiskey inside. Also still $24.99 for 750ml.

Information on new Weller packaging

Plenty of the Weller SR here in Denver. I've been buying the 1500ml bottles
For $40 ish. Have not seen the new bottles yet.

Kman wrote:Obligatory blurry, poorly framed/lit, cell phone photo

Well, with that much of the bottle missing, it's understandable . . .

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Maybe I'll head over to Binny's and find nothing interesting as usual. I have been drinking Woodford Reserve just because I know it won't disappear like every other American whiskey I drank.

http://www.breakingbourbon.com/buffalo- ... sheet.html

It looks like they just released the fact sheets and announcement about this year's Antique series. Any idea what week of October it is coming, or has historically come in years past?

Is anyone hooked in where they'll get a heads up the morning-of?

DClose wrote:http://www.breakingbourbon.com/buffalo-trace-antique-collection-2017-fact-sheet.html

It looks like they just released the fact sheets and announcement about this year's Antique series. Any idea what week of October it is coming, or has historically come in years past?

Is anyone hooked in where they'll get a heads up the morning-of?

IIRC last year was 3rd week of October in this area. Glad to see the big boost in Weller production as I got shut out on that last year, it's always been my favorite BTAC. Surprised at the big drop in ABV on the Stagg - wonder if that was done to increase output. Last year's Stagg was stellar. Thanks for posting this.

Kman wrote:Surprised at the big drop in ABV on the Stagg - wonder if that was done to increase output. Last year's Stagg was stellar.

The Stagg always goes into the barrel at 125 proof (all of the BTAC whiskeys do) and then is bottled at barrel strength. So any differences in ABV year-over-year are due to barrel characteristics, environmental factors (heat, humidity, etc. - which can vary relatively significantly based on location even within a single warehouse) or barrel selection (i.e., BT could have intentionally or unintentionally selected barrels with lower ABVs this year). In this case, for the Stagg 2016 release, the bottled/barrel proof was 144.1 with an evaporation loss of 75.99% and yield of 24.01% (per the 2016 BTAC fact sheet) while this year's release has proof of 128.2 but the evaporation loss was only 54.08% and the yield was 45.92%. While the absolute evaporation numbers do not necessarily correlate directly to higher or lower proof, safe to say that the ratio of water evaporation to alcohol evaporation for the 2016 release was higher than that for the 2017 release.

Still no update on anticipated release date I assume? I’ve been slammed lately so wouldn’t be surprised if I missed the whole circus this year. Still, hoping to at least give getting a bottle a shot this year since some antique quantities are greatly increased

I was told a couple of days ago by a local purveyor that they were expecting, "any day", two bottles of each of the Pappy releases. Though, if I heard him correctly, they were pricing starting at $250 and going to more than 10x the MSRP for the 23-yr.

I'm officially "out" of the game. I didn't mind paying roughly $99 for the Old Rip Van Winkle. I enjoy that whiskey very much and don't mind a markup, even 40-50%. Especially because I find it comparable to other whiskey's in that rough price range. I definitely won't pay $250 for it and cannot comprehend $3500 for the other whiskeys in the family. But, if this pricing strategy is widespread, I bet you'll be able to find some bottles in the area.

No Van Winkle Rye this year. According to Kris Comstock, Senior Marketing Director, they have a 'one year gap' as the product in the barrels is 12 years old and the Van Winkle Rye is traditionally a 13 year old product. So they will not be releasing a Rye for 2017.

*List* Pricing for the rest of this year's Van Winkle lineup is as follows:
$59.99 – Old Rip Van Winkle Handmade Bourbon 10 Year Old 107 proof
$69.99 – Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 Year Old
$99.99 – Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 15 Year Old
$169.99 – Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 20 Year Old
$269.99 – Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23 Year Old

As per recent years availability (such as it is) will begin sometime in November.

(courtesy of Bourbonr blog)

I’ve never even seen a bottle of Pappy Rye!
I’ve stopped even thinking the of the Pappy Circus!
If a see a bottle of Sazerac for about $30, I might purchase it but 17 Sazerac seems like myth to me!
Great marketing though as the releases now must contain Buffalo Trace product and not long lost barrels from some warehouse.
I wonder if they stumbled into the mystique or planned it out?
But everything I have had from Buffalo Trace has been uniformly good.-Richard

I’m in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the moment and thought I would check out a couple liquor stores. With minimal effort I found about 40 bottles of Weller Special (bought 2 @ $18/ea) and a bottle of Stagg Jr.

Also found Woodford “Master Series” Brandy Cask and Blood Oath 3rd Pact - neither seem worth springing for.

Still, it makes me appreciate how difficult of a Whiskey Market Chicago is.

I've never had a problem finding Stagg Jr. here, where it's a shelf staple, and I don't think Weller Special has really been much of a problem, either, since it's not that special (just as Weller Antique is not remotely antique). Former Buffalo Trace regulars that I have not seen on the shelf for years (I assume they're now allocated) are Weller 12 and Elmer T. Lee. Well, in the case of the latter I did find it on the shelf the other month, but the price seemed jacked up. I do see regular Saz all the time, and the Taylors, too, so there's that, and there are always shelves of these fake boutique/special release bourbons everywhere, from Binny's to Costco, but I won't be suckered into buying some phony vintage release of mysterious provenance and no age statement for $150+. Orphan Barrel, Wild Turkey Anniversary bottles, a half dozen varieties of Old Forester ... I'm not impressed.

I haven't see a bottle of Weller on a shelf in over a year - must not be going to the right stores! Same with Stagg Jr...should be around and I expect it to be, but hasn't been lately (for me at least).

Yeah, I passed on both of those "special bottles" as well - I'd prefer to stick with provenance I can actually determine.

"Antique" or not, Weller Antique (107 proof) is still one of the finest bourbons out there -- especially for the price -- and since it's now very heavily allocated, I never pass up an opportunity to buy it. I've often said that if I were forced to choose one bourbon to drink for the rest of my life, this would be it. It hits all the flavor notes I appreciate most in a bourbon. At 107 proof, it's right at the upper limit of where it will still be functional in a flask, or neat, and will certainly work nicely on a large rock or a few smaller cubes. But it also has a high enough ABV to hold up and perform extremely well in a cocktail.

IMO, the only Taylor bourbons worth buying are the barrel proof releases and they are pretty hard to find (small batch and bonded . . . *yawn*). I can take or leave most of the Old Forester hooch but the Birthday Bourbon, usually at least 10 years old and released only once a year, is still great, though its price has skyrocketed over the past few years. I run into Elmer T. a couple of times a year and snag it whenever available.

Even in this current era of disappearing age declarations, Bonded bourbon must be at least 4 years old or it cannot legally be called Bonded. So, while the days of (reasonably priced) Elijah Craig 12-year seem to be gone forever, at least you can double up on the minimum, standard-of-identity age requirement for bourbon if you buy bonded juice.

As for Stagg Jr., relative to its name, it's definitely a source of disappointment but I've found that because of its high proof and decent quality, it makes an excellent Old Fashioned. For a long time, I've made it my mission to deplete its supply, cocktail by cocktail, from every local bar at which I see it on the shelf but even as I empty those bottles, new ones always seem to pop up. It's a tough task but I'll keep after it.

Cheers!

=R=

Pappy and BTAC have largely been released. BTAC entirely sometime last week and Pappy is out at about half the stores I checked and the other half expect it any day. Almost all Binnys are selling only to verified, loyal customers which I think is a smart move to avoid too much flipping of bottles.

Since I tend to stop at whatever liquor store I am closest to, I unfortunately lack the sort of loyalty they are looking for. But in my search, I did meet a few really nice managers, find some McKenna 10 and also a couple other hard-to-find very well aged bottles! Plus a dozen or so Stagg Jrs (defintely was looking in the wrong places) but I agree is a little too hot to skip straight, but makes absolutely delicious cocktail

Came back to Chicago
for Thanksgiving and scored a BTAC Stagg and a ORVW 10 year. popped the Stagg with family and it was quite good with a bit of water. 129.something proof ! Saving the ORVW for ski buddies here in Colorado.

ronnie_suburban wrote:"Antique" or not, Weller Antique (107 proof) is still one of the finest bourbons out there -- especially for the price -- and since it's now very heavily allocated, I never pass up an opportunity to buy it.

Binny's Dempster had few bottles of Weller Antique 107 for the asking. I bought the last Binny's Select Small Batch, they have additional Antique 107's, ask at the desk. $25.99, no upcharge for the select.

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:"Antique" or not, Weller Antique (107 proof) is still one of the finest bourbons out there -- especially for the price -- and since it's now very heavily allocated, I never pass up an opportunity to buy it.

Binny's Dempster had few bottles of Weller Antique 107 for the asking. I bought the last Binny's Select Small Batch, they have additional Antique 107's, ask at the desk. $25.99, no upcharge for the select.

WellerLTH1.jpg

Very nice. Thanks for the heads up. You're the person who first got me into bourbon, and more than a decade later, your taste is still impeccable.

=R=

Snagged a bottle at Skokie Binny's today thanks for the head's up!

Thanks for the heads up. The most local Binny's was out, but they did have a bottle of Select they sold me (plus a bottle of Bourbon County Northwoods). Man, I miss when all these Wellers just sat on the shelf. I would only get Antique or Select if I didn't see 12. Hell, sometimes I even *mixed* with 12!

Remember the big Pappy heist a few years ago? Turns out it wasn't much of a heist at all. An overzealous sheriff and a time-honored tradition of employees awarding themselves bonuses in the form of a little bourbon gave Buffalo Trace the kind of publicity money can't buy. Short article here and Twitter notes from the author here.

The last line of the article implies that the news of the "theft" was a significant factor in the high prices and low availability of PVW. Of course, the general trend towards premium bourbons and the particular desire for PVW easily predates the 2013 incident. That last line is unfounded sensationalism.

scottsol wrote:That last line is unfounded sensationalism.

aka bullshit.

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In case anyone is in Milwaukee this weekend:

Weller "Antique 107" is the fourth of our single barrel Bourbon that we at The Rumpus Room have hand-selected in conjunction with Buffalo Trace. It rolled out last night with our Single Barrel Bourbon Dinner that featured all four Rumpus Room Bourbons. This Bourbon, like the others, is limited and once it's gone it's g o n e! You can purchase the Weller Bourbon for $50 +tax, there is a three bottle limit per customer. Get it while it lasts!

https://www.facebook.com/rumpusroommke/ ... &__tn__=-R