The Great Pappy Heist

[Josh]

I find it hard to believe that anybody would steal that many bottles for their own personal stash. It's clearly to sell. Nobody would take a risk like that over that period of time just to have more of two kinds of bottles than anybody else. It seems likely that whoever was stealing these already had buyers lined up, quite possibly overseas.

However it really went down, I hope all the details come out soon.

[Josh]

I predict that this will replace the pre-pro rye theft thread as most re-posted and merged topic.

How many are we at currently?

[MyOldKyDram]

I'll start another one if it will help.

[cowdery]

I'm already pretty bored with this whole story.

I believe they will catch the person or persons pretty quickly, but we may not hear about it. I know of some other cases in which somebody inside was stealing. When they figured out who it was and confronted the person, they negotiated full restitution, and loss of job and accrued benefits, in return for not prosecuting criminally. If it's a first offense, a crime of opportunity and maybe desperation, it gives the person a chance to turn their life around, without the burden of a criminal record.

Edited October 17, 2013 by cowdery

[fishnbowljoe]

In reading this thread, I was reminded of something from the past that made me chuckle just a bit.

The last couple of years have been "odd" to say the least, (and for lack of a better term) for retailers (and customers) trying to procure Van Winkle bottlings. Stores have ordered it, but the distributor couldn't or wouldn't send them any. Stores ordered some, but the distributor cut their allocation/order. And my favorite.... (which I've heard from more than one store by the way) A store owner calls inquiring about their order that was confirmed but not delivered, and the reply from the distributor was, "It was supposed to be on the truck. Don't know what happened to it." Ahhhh, the old must have fallen off the truck ploy.

WTF? This time, the Pappy never even made it on to the truck! :lol:

[hn4bourbon]

I wonder if we're going to see news of them recovering those stolen bottles a few months down the road, and then slapping a "term" on these bottles along the lines of "stolen but recovered" type of label before putting them back on the market:)

[greens]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/18/rare-expensive-bourbon-swiped-from-kentucky-distillery/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/justice/kentucky-bourbon-theft/index.html

"More than $25,000 worth of one of the rarest and most sought-after bourbon's produced in Kentucky is missing in what investigators believe was an inside job.

About 65 cases of the 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon were swiped from a secure area at Buffalo Trace Distillery's Frankfort operations, Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton said.

Melton told The Courier-Journal whoever stole the bourbon walked off with about $26,000 of the limited stock. That's about $25,350 in 3-bottle cases of 20-year-old Pappy and about $675 in nine cases of 13-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye."

(Wasn't sure if this was the correct forum for this mods. Please move to news if need be.)

Edited October 18, 2013 by greens

[silverfish]

It makes perfect sense to me that this happened right before the release. That's the only time BT is sitting on large stocks of Pappy, so that's the only time a theft like this could happen and therefore be discovered.

Or hope to go undiscovered...

I kinda wish theyd stolen it all, so I wouldnt have to hear all the Pappy this and Pappy that ranting.

Oh, like that'd stop all the ranting. If anything, it'd only fuel the fire.

[callmeox]

How many are we at currently?

We are at two now.

[ChainWhip]

NYTimes picked up on the story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/kentuckys-case-of-the-missing-bourbon.html

[matthewdc]

NYTimes picked up on the story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/kentuckys-case-of-the-missing-bourbon.html

just adds to the mystique of the brand. While I am sure the guys at ORVWD are disgusted by the theft and want to make sure the culprit(s) are caught and juice is returned safely but you have to wonder if they kind of like all the attention/publicity it's getting--it is definitely building the brand! The great bourbon heist of 2013!

I wonder if BT will start adding RFID tags to all the bottles?

[PaulO]

If the bottles are found, I don't know if they could be put back in the regular supply. There's no practical way to know they weren't tampered with. I believe there are legal issues.

[cowdery]

Unless there is some evidence of tampering, or the state needs them as evidence, they probably can be released.

[LIQUIDWHEAT]

If recovered, and released back to the public, one would now have an even more exclusive PVW ...PVW 20, 2013 LARCENY RECOVERED

[Trey Manthey]

Or they could rebottle it under the E.H. Taylor line:

"Bottling Hall B, Grand Theft Surviving"

[P&MLiquorsEric]

There is no f'n way they will recover more than a couple bottles if any. It was stolen over a few months. Chances are it was sold off immediately.

I am shocked the media and authorities is using the actual wholesale value of 26k. They usually use the street/auction value.

[Quantum]

Unless it survived a tornado, then was stolen and smuggled into Scotland where it weathered a snow storm, and then spent a year on boat circumnavigating the earth before returning home, I'm not really interested.

[wadewood]

Unless it survived a tornado, then was stolen and smuggled into Scotland where it weathered a snow storm, and then spent a year on boat circumnavigating the earth before returning home, I'm not really interested.

classic! you should change your signature to include this.

[Yeti]

Unless it survived a tornado, then was stolen and smuggled into Scotland where it weathered a snow storm, and then spent a year on boat circumnavigating the earth before returning home, I'm not really interested.

[Alphanumeric]

And upon returning home it was ACCIDENTALLY vatted with Ardbeg and Wild Turkey before going through two proprietary Jim Beam processes, the first to remove trapped whiskey from the barrel and the second to remove all the color.

We'll call it Forgiving the Serendipitous Devil's Ghost of the Ocean-Tornado-Snow-Phoenix.

But seriously, Sharknado Survivor or GTFO.

[Yeti]

Wait, this sh*t isn't barrel-finished? What am I paying for?

[Quantum]

But seriously, Sharknado Survivor or GTFO.

[smknjoe]

Unless it survived a tornado, then was stolen and smuggled into Scotland where it weathered a snow storm, and then spent a year on boat circumnavigating the earth before returning home, I'm not really interested.

[Yeti]

I would really love to see someone sell this to make fun of the marketing gimmicks, but at least one of the big guys would probably take it seriously and try to beat it.

I'm surprised individual distilleries haven't trademarked a bunch of events that all whiskies were equally unrelated to. Just things that occurred in the world. The Ashley Judd Potential-Senate-Run Survivor. The 0-16 Detroit Lions Survivor. The U.S. Government Shutdown Survivor (will be an annual release). The North West Pregnancy Survivor.

[Phil T]

I'm surprised individual distilleries haven't trademarked a bunch of events that all whiskies were equally unrelated to. Just things that occurred in the world. The Ashley Judd Potential-Senate-Run Survivor. The 0-16 Detroit Lions Survivor. The U.S. Government Shutdown Survivor (will be an annual release). The North West Pregnancy Survivor.

Or a couple of events that all whiskies are equally related to:

The Sampler Gazebo Survivor, or the KBF Gazebo Survivor..:cool:

Edited October 21, 2013 by Phil T