Bourbon or alcohol collector clubs

[grhouse]

OK, I now understand that the members of this Forum do not keep up with the values of vintage bourbon based on the last post to my previous thread and the fact that it was closed. My bad, I'm sorry for guessing that you would be familiar with those things.

Would it possible that anyone would know of any collector clubs in the central Indiana area? If so, would you mind sharing that information with me? I'm hoping that there might be such a club that would be knowledgeable about the various aspects of bourbon and other alcohol that I know nothing about and would be willing to help a novice.

Thanks in advance for any help you care to offer.

Gene

[White Dog]

"I've been a small time collector for many years..."

That's from your first post. Now you're a "novice?":skep:

[grhouse]

I have 12 bottles in my collection that I have randomly collected over the years. I still no next to nothing about the art of collecting so I think that qualifies me as a novice.

Gene

[oke&coke]

Here we go again.

[wadewood]

I tried to send you a PM and you have it turned off.

[portwood]

I have 12 bottles in my collection that I have randomly collected over the years. I still no next to nothing about the art of collecting so I think that qualifies me as a novice.

Gene

I think what people are trying to tell you is that they are more than willing to discuss DRINKING vintage/old bottles of whisky but are not willing to help you sell them. Note that they will even discuss bunkering them (i.e. collecting to drink later) but collecting as an "investment" is usually a taboo subject.

If your desire is to sell, take a hint and move on. If you really want to learn about whisky and are interested in opening those bottles I'm sure the discussion will continue.

From experience on other boards, messages like your first one usually go like this:

- a few people make snide comments

- somewhere along the way interested parties (usually lurkers) will send you PMs offering to buy

- the thread is locked down

- the poster vanishes into the internet unknown

Very rarely the person is genuine, changes the tone of their posts, opens a bottle or three, posts some tasting notes thus earning some trust, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Edited October 5, 2012 by portwood

[wadewood]

Never mind the PM, I'll post here:

I'll go over a little about what you have:

Basil Hayden's 8YO #080686012405, - nothing special about this, the worth would be the same as today's current price on Basil Hayden, around $40.

Ridgewood Reserve Barrel Select 1792 #08800211, - Barton and Woodford had a lawsuit about this bottle. Woodford said it looked and sounded too much like Woodford Reserve. Barton pulled stock and renamed product Ridgemont Reserve 1792. So you have a bottle that was sold before it was pulled. While interesting, it's not that rare. They sold these for 3-4 months before they were pulled. I have a couple and imagine lots of them are out there. The bourbon inside is no different than today's product. I would guess worth 3-4 times original cost, so $125.

Wild Turkey boxed set with 2 glasses that says "A Rare Opportunity" #080432404133, They sell these gift boxes with bonus items such as glasses every year at Christmas. It's not worth any more than today's value.

Noah's Mill Small Batch Bourbon in a wooden box batch #599 made 4/20/99 and bottled 11/15/05 #68203030075 - The current version has removed the age statement is now a much younger whiskey. The bottle you have is a 16 year old bourbon. It's worth more than current bottles. I would value it at double the original price - $100.

Jack Daniels - really not my area of expertise. I know there are some die hard collectors of various Jack bottles, but you will not find them on this site.

Note, my values are not an offer to purchase and I'm not interested in doing so. Also, despite the liquor store telling you that you could sell to another individual, the reality is without a liquor license, any transaction would be violation of the law - so proceed with caution.

You posted here just as ebay has cracked down on Alcohol sales, so you hit a hot button. Hence the hostile responses; in general a good bunch of folks.

[doubleblank]

OK Gene, I'll try to help.

The reality is that there are not enough buy/sell transactions going on in the bourbon world to get an accurate picture of value. It's just not a very well developed market. Ebay was the place most transactions were made. Reselling alcohol without a license is illegal in most, if not all, states. There are some legal auctions which take place, but not many.

With the exception of a small number of bourbons, most are not worth more than you paid for them or at best a slight premium. Bottles that have sold at relatively high prices include bottlings from the '50's and earlier, some bottles produced by the defunct Stitzel Weller distillery, early bottles produced by Van Winkle many of which went overseas, etc. Old Wild Turkey bottles with a couple of glasses don't fetch any premiums.

Unless your bottles are from Hirsch, Van Winkle, Stitzel Weller or are from the 50's or earlier, they aren't worth much. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

[silverfish]

You posted here just as ebay has cracked down on Alcohol sales, so you hit a hot button.

I'll add that while ebay has discontinued sales of booze on the US site,

a search of Completed Auctions will give you results of auctions that

ended before the "ban". If you're looking for "values of vintage bourbon",

maybe that will help you.

[michaelturtle1]

There are a number of ads on craigs list looking to purchase older alcohol bottles...but what you have to remember is that items in the secondary market are only "valuable" if someone is looking for that specific item.. and I cannot see a huge demand for much of what you listed

[grhouse]

OK Gene, I'll try to help.

The reality is that there are not enough buy/sell transactions going on in the bourbon world to get an accurate picture of value. It's just not a very well developed market. Ebay was the place most transactions were made. Reselling alcohol without a license is illegal in most, if not all, states. There are some legal auctions which take place, but not many.

With the exception of a small number of bourbons, most are not worth more than you paid for them or at best a slight premium. Bottles that have sold at relatively high prices include bottlings from the '50's and earlier, some bottles produced by the defunct Stitzel Weller distillery, early bottles produced by Van Winkle many of which went overseas, etc. Old Wild Turkey bottles with a couple of glasses don't fetch any premiums.

Unless your bottles are from Hirsch, Van Winkle, Stitzel Weller or are from the 50's or earlier, they aren't worth much. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

Thanks a lot. It is not so much what I want or don't want to hear. I do not want to sell them for some large unreasonable profit. I just want a fair price for both myself and the distributor who wants to buy them. I figured the folks on this site would be honest about it since you have no vested interest either way. Even if I just got my original investment back plus a couple of dollars I'm OK. We're only talking about a dozen bottles in my entire collection. That is maybe $500-$600 total so either way it is not a large sum of money. It is just the principle that I hate losing money on a deal if all I have to do is a little research to save it.

Again, thanks for your consideration.

Gene

[milites1979]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2012 at 8:39 AM, grhouse said:

I have 12 bottles in my collection that I have randomly collected over the years. I still no next to nothing about the art of collecting so I think that qualifies me as a novice.

Gene

 

Still got any of those lying around?