D&M Liquors - American Whiskey Club

[dridge11]

Curious if any of you belong to this club, or something like it? I live in Napa so outside of wine, our selections are somewhat limited. Being in the wine industry, I REALLY shy away from Wine Clubs, but being relatively new to the bourbon world, wondered if this might be interesting to join.

I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just a company I've purchased Champagne from before and noticed they sold whiskey/scotch as well.

http://www.dandm.com/clubs_american_whiskey.php?cat=clubs&subcat=American+Whiskey+Club#

[thezenone]

I've always wondered about these clubs and if they are really worth it. With all the blogs and forums about whiskey I read I feel like anything they send me wouldn't really be a surprise. I have a long list of stuff I want to try, but someone who might not know where to start might benefit from a club like this. Although you are probably going to pay a high premium over just going out and buying a bottle yourself. I think I'd be more interested in a club that offered exclusive barrel selections rather than something you could just go purchase at any liquor store. Let us know if you end up joining a club and what you think of it.

[DeanSheen]

I was in it for a year.

I would save your money and explore on your own. The bottle prices are a little high and the shipping prices are horrible. I think they are about as half as much for one bottle as you could get a whole case shipped from other places.

[dridge11]

Thanks for the input...I think I'll use the forum as my guide and enjoy the hunt!

[sailor22]

The Willett Bourbon they provided via the club is one of my least favorite of all the ones I have on the shelf. That only means it didn't jive with my palate, not that it was a bad pick. So the club didn't seem like it would be a productive source of good juice for me.

You can buy a bottle or two that they provided to the club members and see if you think they are anything special. That way you can decide if what they are picking is typically something you would be glad to buy.

As in all things with Bourbon your preferences are what should guide you, not someone else's opinion. Standard disclaimer - YMMV.

[IowaJeff]

I was in it for a a year or two. I left because I found I could get the amount of variety I want around here without paying for shipping. And, at least for a few shipments, there seemed to be a focus on craft distillers. It was fun to try those, and I certainly wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise, but but when I looked at my shelf and see 3 3/4 full bottles that cost me $200 total, and notice I'm consistently picking $20 bottles over them, I knew it was time to stop.

I wouldn't say I regret it. It exposed me to some new things. I just figured out what I like and what I'm willing to pay extra for. If you have an interest in trying products from small distillers I would say go for it. It was exciting to get a bottle in the mail and not know what it was!

[silverfish]

Here's an old thread on the D&M Club. I am no longer a member

but not really because of the offerings. More like the lack of notice

when a new bottle was ready and the shipping problem at my end

(described in that link) but that could probably been remedied if I

called or e-mailed them.

[DeanSheen]

The Willett Bourbon they provided via the club is one of my least favorite of all the ones I have on the shelf.

The Willett selection I got from them was horrible. And that Stranahans Snowflake was nasty. I gave it away. The (old) Stranahans made nice with me and sent me a (still un-opened) bottle of their regular juice. THat snowflake tasted like "old library book". Yuck!

[DeanSheen]

Here's an old thread on the D&M Club. I am no longer a member

but not really because of the offerings. More like the lack of notice

when a new bottle was ready and the shipping problem at my end

(described in that link) but that could probably been remedied if I

called or e-mailed them.

I received email notices on shipping, but I had to manually ask them to add me to the notification list. It should have been an option when you joined the club.

[Happyhour24x7]

I was in it for a year.

I would save your money and explore on your own. The bottle prices are a little high and the shipping prices are horrible. I think they are about as half as much for one bottle as you could get a whole case shipped from other places.

[sailor22]

These two come to mind;

Drink up New York ships for free if the order is over $99 Their prices are roughly $5 pr bottle high so that would make shipping very inexpensive if you are buying a single premium but less so if you are buying 4 or 5 bottles to get to $99.

Shoppers Vineyard ships for a pretty low rate and routinely has free ground shipping of promoted items. Right now they have two bottles of Knob Creek 9yr single barrel for $79 with free shipping.

[silverfish]

These two come to mind;

Drink up New York ships for free if the order is over $99 Their prices are roughly $5 pr bottle high so that would make shipping very inexpensive if you are buying a single premium but less so if you are buying 4 or 5 bottles to get to $99.

[sailor22]

I think the $99./free ship for DUNY only applies to certain states

(the Northeast, from the chart on this page.) I have ordered from

DUNY but live in NY so I can't confirm ship charges to other states.

They ship free to Florida, not sure where else.