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I passed on WT 101 8 year at $45. I thought the store where I found it had jacked up the price, but that's pretty much the normal retail around here. For those that have tried it, is it worth double the price of regular 101?

I hit the grocery store sale and came home with: regular MM, Sazerac Rye, and Bulleit Rye. I haven't had any MGP stuff in a while. It can be a nice change of pace.

Uh-OH! Better start marking the fill levels on yer bottles? Kidding, I hope. Although my brother, a cousin, and I used to 'sample' my Dad's liquor at about age 12 or 13, so it may not be outa the realm of possibility.

Me too. I don't think I've seen it in 15-years or so.

FWIW, my ceiling for ETL is probably $50. I'm not even sure I'd spring for one at that price without a taste first. The last couple bottles I bought (at $40? - back in about 2018?) were subpar. The one before that (maybe '17?) was $35, if memory serves (& it may not) and that one was wonderful. Having experienced such inconsistency (or even diminishing quality?), along with the escalating price put me off the brand. I still have a couple or 3 in storage from back in the day ('16 or before?) that I've yet to open. ...Plus one left from a GBS pick we did (about 2013?). Those ones were very nice.

I do appreciate the return of an age stated bourbon, but I have to admit that the 8 year I have really didn’t show anything dazzling to me, that clearly set it apart from the standard 101. Full disclosure, I have not done a SBS, and perhaps something will come forward when I do one. The most interesting thing I see about the 8 year however, is the lack of overwhelming love for ot, in contrast to when it was mentioned by anyone who picked it up internationally/ Duty Free in past years, they universally spooged over it. This new bottle has garnered a fair amount of yawns about the whiskey, in addition to criticism of its price. Which leads me to consider that the prior love was influenced by its rarity, or the new bottle contains inferior whiskey. I think the former.

If the MSRP is up to $80 then I'm very confident I will never purchase another bottle for the rest of my life. When it was $40-45 it was fine but I'm past the days where I gotta keep one on the shelf. If @Kepler is right and I can happen across one for $50 then that's a different story. My own "what's ETL really worth" line in the sand is $60.

It still hasn't reached my state yet. Was on a business trip in SC a couple weeks ago and picked up four bottles at $42 each to bring home to a couple buddies. We still don't have the new red label Four Roses here either.

Unfortunately no. I have had some neurological issues with my hands that make playing impossible. I was a decent player (about 45 years). I can’t feel two fingers on my right hand and my hands cannot do what my brain tells them to for music. The result is frustrating. They are hand picked and “tuned” and need to be played. The guy handling the sale is out of Nashville. He thinks they will be gone in a week or two. On for somebody else to enjoy. Now I just need a home for a 1923 Kimball upright. Beautiful piece wrapped in quarter-sawn oak, ivory keys and a soundboard better than most grand pianos. It looks great where it sitting, may just leave it in the house.

I’m not quite as old as you Frank, but I think I remember (CRS disease) ETL @ $29.99. Definitely $34.99 and $39.99. One oddity I found early on was one of the first bottlings that had the gold wax top. I was also lucky enough to grab a few of the 90th Birthday and two or three of the 93rd Commemorative. I never did even see a 100th. A little tread drift here. I was looking through some old pics trying to find something. I ran across a pic that had a bottle of ER with a price on it of $19.99. It was a private pick from a store in Milwaukee. I almost bought a case. Glad I didn’t. It was one of the worst bottles of bourbon I ever had. I also remember paying $21.99 at a store up near Milwaukee. I told @Vosgar about the store and their price on ER. He didn’t believe me. We took a drive up there and stopped at that store. Sure enough, they still had ER at $21.99. I showed him the price on the shelf and he just shook his head. Man, I sure do miss @Vosgar.

Decades ago, Bitter Lemon was one of my favorite mixers. I don't see it in stores around here, anymore, so I had all but forgotten about it.

That’s fabulous. On a similar note, my 10 year old knows more about bourbon than my wife does. He is very observant and often joins me on my liquor store hunts. I knows the brands, varieties I seek and calls them out to me when we are in the stores.

I agree with him here. I also wonder how if at all the big box retailers are complicit in the scarcity, and pricing above MSRP.

Since I'm getting REALLY old, I remember paying $24.99 for regular ETL and the shelves were always filled with them! Since those days, I've ONLY bought the ETL 100th Anniversary (at MSRP, luckily). With all my replacment body parts, I can still remember the fantastic chocolate drams ot the 100th!

BT absolutely does create artificial scarcity. They couldn't keep the 3 core expressions of Weller wheated bourbon on store shelves across the country. So what do they decide to do? They didn't put more WSR, OWA or W12 out. They introduced 2 new brand extensions WFP and WSiB (orange label) which only made the problem worse. Same with ER10. Instead of putting more ER10 on shelves, they create yet another brand extension ER12. CEHT? Rinse and repeat. If you stick to the facts, not emotion, nobody can deny what has been happening.

Wow, you are really cleaning house. Keeping at least one favorite guitar for yourself I hope?

Sorry to hear of your loss. I'll raise a glass of Blanton's Gold in his honor.

Just to share some experience. I purchased a bottle of Elmer in January from Spec's for $49.99 plus tax. It's on their VIP call list. So until I hear otherwise MSRP is still $50.

Happy Tuesday!

While the Bourbon market still has its tight spots, overall I'm seeing more of the formerly hard to find available. I regularly see ECBP, BT, ER, Colonel Taylor and Weller SR on the shelf at fairly normal prices over the past few months. I see Blanton's offered for $100 with regularity, and my local Costco's have more bourbon available lately. I think buying has softened somewhat, inventory is catching up, and I can speak for myself, I'm not hoarding anymore. Lastly, when stuff got too hard to get or too expensive, I found other bourbons to buy. Over the last couple of years, Four Roses has moved way up my bourbon ladder, and I have turned a few people on to the SiB releases. Great idea, great flavor, great value at $50 each.

Mrs. Skinsfan is the ultimate enabler. She poured it...

Yeah, blame it on the forum. Honest honey, it’s not my fault, it’s the guys!

I do enjoy RR, in particular v3-7. I have not bought any since 7 , because I have plenty of on hand. The 15 year Gatsbys are in my wheelhouse also.

All the recent JD rye talk has triggered me

Move 2 boxes out, move 1 box in. Lol