What bourbon did you pass up today? Winter '13/'14

[MauiSon]

Hey, that's the special 'Roundtable' batch of Booker's!

[BonVivant84]

Hey, that's the special 'Roundtable' batch of Booker's!

Indeed it was. In fact all eight they had were that batch, and its the first ones i've personally seen around these parts (dude had no idea what they were) but still $70 sucks for a bottle i regularly see drop to $45

[danz]

Passed on a ER17 ($489) a Booker's (batch 2013-6) for $70 and the absolute asshattery that is this picture

[mbroo5880i]

Normally, folks pass on outrageously priced bottles or things they are uncertain of. On a visit to the Motherland today, I passed on some good deals (and some bad ones too). There is only so much you can buy and I opted to keep my purchases reasonable.

I saw FR SB for $27.99. That is a great price. Alas, I have a few bottles so I passed. I saw Hancock's Reserve for $27.99. Don't see it often and it is really comparable to some of BT's higher end bottles (e.g., Blanton's, Rock Hill). I actually had this one in my hand but chose to be frugal. I saw Maker's 46 for $31.99. It normally runs $36.99 in my area. I thought about it once, looked at it twice and then passed.

[393foureyedfox]

Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey at $3,999.00 in Denver

Edited January 31, 2014 by 393foureyedfox

[theglobalguy]

Normally, folks pass on outrageously priced bottles or things they are uncertain of. On a visit to the Motherland today, I passed on some good deals (and some bad ones too). There is only so much you can buy and I opted to keep my purchases reasonable.

I saw FR SB for $27.99. That is a great price. Alas, I have a few bottles so I passed. I saw Hancock's Reserve for $27.99. Don't see it often and it is really comparable to some of BT's higher end bottles (e.g., Blanton's, Rock Hill). I actually had this one in my hand but chose to be frugal. I saw Maker's 46 for $31.99. It normally runs $36.99 in my area. I thought about it once, looked at it twice and then passed.

That reminds me I need to go pick up some more 4R SB!

[SqueakScolari]

Normally, folks pass on outrageously priced bottles or things they are uncertain of. On a visit to the Motherland today, I passed on some good deals (and some bad ones too). There is only so much you can buy and I opted to keep my purchases reasonable.

I saw FR SB for $27.99. That is a great price. Alas, I have a few bottles so I passed. I saw Hancock's Reserve for $27.99. Don't see it often and it is really comparable to some of BT's higher end bottles (e.g., Blanton's, Rock Hill). I actually had this one in my hand but chose to be frugal. I saw Maker's 46 for $31.99. It normally runs $36.99 in my area. I thought about it once, looked at it twice and then passed.

Dude, the more you buy, the more you save.

[black mamba]

My last bottle of Hancock's was also $28 (in Lexington, KY), same price as ETL, to which it is very similar in both proof and flavor profile.

At 100 pf and with more age to it, Rock Hill Farms to me is an altogether different pour, and well worth the extra $20.

[P&MLiquorsEric]

That store must have those Four Roses priced wrong. They are more expensive in NYC than in a lot of other places, but not that much more. wine-searcher.com can be your friend. Another thing that is funny about nearly all food/beverage stores here is that most stores seem to have some good prices and some not-so-good prices, so if you want to buy several things at the best prices, you need to go to several stores. I remember having a routine of going to two different stores within blocks of each other to get regular food staples because each of them had some of the items priced too high.

I passed up some Elijah Craig 12 year a couple of days ago at a place near my office: $50. Not barrel proof, just the regular. Everyone else here seems to have it around $25-26. These guys had quite a stockpile. I figured with that kind of chutzpah, who am I to correct them.

This is retailing 101. You offset low profit pricing on items that people are price sensitive on with higher profit less price sensitive items.

With booze, let's say you want to make margaritas. you might see an excellent price on Jose Cuervo tequila but you have no idea what good prices on triple sec and margarita mix are. Chances are the margins are much higher on those items.

There are no excuses for a place charging double on a few items.

But every successful store in America has low profit (5-10% margins) and much higher profit items (20-50% margins).

[RepTucker]

Passed up a Hancock. They wanted 45 for it. Also a 10yr smooth ambler for 52.

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[scratchline]

ORVW 10 107 for 175 bucks. A bargain compared to the Handy beside it. 350 bucks.

[Old Dusty]

Passed on everything in 7 different stores doing some hunting on the return from business out of town. Not one bottle that was unique or dusty. Closest I came to a purchase was a Smooth Ambler OS10 for $50. Dusty hunting in north central IN is about dead IMO. I was in chains, mom and pops tiny farm towns and suburban areas and nada.Did get a six of Hopslam maybe that counts as a limited edition?

[Old Lamplighter]

Some dusty hunting was unsuccessful for me as well today in some old haunts I have not visited in a while. The most notable pass was EC21 @ $199.

[OldKentucky]

Passed on a Lot B at $249 and a Stagg Jr at $149.

[MyOldKyDram]

Ugh in Central KY? Don't generally see those kind of markups around here. Sad.

[OldKentucky]

Ugh in Central KY? Don't generally see those kind of markups around here. Sad.

It was actually Northern KY. I recently moved and generally do not see that type of markup here either. I walked in and saw them both behind the counter, asked if they were for sale, when the lady told me that they were I told her that I would take both bottles. She responded with aren't you going to ask the price? Then going on to inform me that she wanted 249 for the Lot B and 149 for the Stagg. I immediately walked out the door leaving both behind.

[DogfaceSoldier]

I've seen a number of people quote outrageous prices on the Van Winkle line, but yesterday was the first time I've experienced it first hand. I was driving through rural Georgia and stopped in a liquor store to see what they had. First thing I do when I walk in is notice the PVW 23 behind the counter - with the entire rest of the line (except the Rye) to the sides.

First thought that went through my head "#BINGSTEIN!"

ORVW 10 year $500

ORVW Lot B $700

PVW 15 Year $1500

PVW 20 Year $2000

PVW 23 Year $6800

No #BINGSTEIN for me, but at least I got a good laugh out of it. They had FR 125th there for $140, but I couldn't bring myself to buy it after seeing their pricing of the Van Winkle line. The Store Manager said "someone will buy it" - and sadly I suppose he's probably right. He told me that last year they sold it for MSRP, but since the thefts this year, everything was worth way more.

[HighInTheMtns]

ORVW 10 year $500

He told me that last year they sold it for MSRP, but since the thefts this year, everything was worth way more.

Yeah, a bunch of missing 20 year surely accounts for a 1000% markup on the 10. Makes sense to me...

[Old Dusty]

Yeah, a bunch of missing 20 year surely accounts for a 1000% markup on the 10. Makes sense to me...

Can't tell you how many times I've heard 1) " we marked it up because so much got stolen it's hard to find" or 2) "we never got any this year because they stole most of it" or 3) "the stuff they stole and resold drove up the price on the black market so we have to keep up". Ignorance or excuses or both.

[tigerlam92]

Couple of weeks ago, ECBP for ~$139 or so and he said its 137 proof. Ok . . .

[393foureyedfox]

Yeah, a bunch of missing 20 year surely accounts for a 1000% markup on the 10. Makes sense to me...

[jwacky]

Im not going to pay more for a bottle of bourbon than Ive paid for a car.....and I once bought a $75 car.

$6800 takes the cake. I wonder how many of these store owners are even aware that just the act of putting a price like that on something makes some patrons just stop shopping with them altogether, on principle.

The shortsightedness of these retailers is a shame and I won't feel bad for any that struggle to keep the lights on between February and October because of their holiday release gouging. There are more than a few stores that I don't bother with any more because of this. I just figure their prices will be too high across the board if they go to such an extreme with the high end stuff.

[Wall Eye]

Was in a small mom and pop shop today and noticed a couple of bottles that seemed out of place behind something else. I moved the bottle in front away and discovered 2 ORVW 10s! Holy Crap! I've never found these in the wild before so this must be what a pig feels like when it finds a truffle!

I asked the young man behind the counter how much these bottles are. English was obviously not his primary language but he genuinely acted like he had never seen these before. He tries to scan them - error. Again - error. Thinking that maybe I'm about to get some sort of deal, I'm cautiously optimistic. Then he phones the boss - $200 each. -sigh-

And that's why this is in the What Bourbon Did You Pass Up Today thread.....

[TunnelTiger]

Stagg Jr for $89.99, really wanted to try this but not that much.

[Kpiz]

Then he phones the boss

Phone calls to the owner/boss never seem to go well

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