What's Your Luckiest/Best Liquor Store Find?

[DPPSmoker]

I purchased a 2013 FRLESmb at Four Roses during KBF on the day Mr. Rutledge introduced this particular bottle. He signed it for me and I can't bear to open it. A few days later, I stopped in a liquor store and they had a display table set up for 2013 OFBB. When I went to check out, I chatted up the clerk who turned out to be the owner. After a few minutes, he told me to wait. He went to his office and came back with a 2013 FRLESmb. Needless to say, I bought it.

I also found a PHC Golden Anniversary about two years after its release a couple years ago.

[Variable]

Three bottles of Frankfort ER 10/101 and a bottle of WT12 gold foil from one store. I was recently able to pull one forgotten ER 10/101 from said store, and a 2005 Kentucky Spirit from the same store.

[Old Dusty]

Three quick ones-two of which were posted in the Dusty Finds thread.

1) In Feb of '13 found a PHC Wheated mixed in w a bunch of Blend of Mashbills at a remote outpost store of a large chain.

2) Later in '13 found not one but four V17 wheaters on the shelf of a dumpy store in another part of the state.

3) Then picked up a '64 VOF 8 yr. 1/2 pint BIB, and an ORVW 10/90.4 '87 Lawrenceburg bottling from behind the counter at the same store. They were there for "decoration".

[smokinjoe]

A couple of years ago on a business trip I made a wrong turn and ended up well past where I needed to be, causing me to happen upon a small suburban ABC store. It didn't look promising from the outside, but I had some time to kill and figured I'd check it out. As I suspected, there wasn't anything noteworthy other than some decent pricing on a few items. From behind the register the owner asked if there was anything specific I was looking for. I gave him the usual spiel on how I like to look for old dusty bourbons, blah blah blah..."Nah, we're a new store and all of our stuff is recent, but there is an old store in town. I think they have some stuff that could be interesting." He proceeded to MapQuest it, and even printed out the directions for me. I thanked him, and picked up a couple of bottles for the road as further appreciation for his help. I drove into town, and found the store. Over the course of a couple years, I probably pulled out a couple of hundred bottles from this store. Bourbons from the 1950's, 60's, 70's, etc., many with so many decades of dust upon them, it's literally caked on. Some really great stuff. All the result of getting lost and meeting a really friendly store owner who helped me out.

[JVande]

On my first ever dusty hunt this past summer, found a WL Weller Centennial Louisville and OWA Gold veined. Yeah, it has only gone downhill from there, beginners luck!

[sob0728]

High West 21 750mL bottles for $42.99. Bought one. Went back two days later and bought the other one.

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[JKLS]

A kid I work with asked me about Pappy a month or so ago. He knows nothing about it, or bourbon, just saw it on Mind of a Chef and wanted some. I told him no shot. Told him to buy some OWA and start tasting things, once he gets a baseline I would bring in some PVW to share with him. He goes to a store near his house and texts me that they don't have any OWA. So I told him to send me a picture of what they had on the shelf. A decent selection for a store in that neighborhood, including an EC18 ($57) and a Vintage 17 ($70). I told him to grab some Four Roses, asked him where this place was, then swooped in to pick up both.

Then a couple weeks ago popped into a store that I have never been to before, but I have driven by a thousand times. Found two Michter's 10yo (a 7k-1 and a 8a-4) for $49.99 each. They also had two JPS18 Batch 12 that a friend ended up with.

[Phil T]

It was late summer of 2011, fresh with some knowledge that I had gathered from here, I went to Indiana looking for my bourbon pot of gold. I had been lurking and gathering information mostly from the premium section. It turned out to be an expensive day, but one that will be forever etched in my brain.

All this from one store:

ORVW 10/90 x 3

ORVW 10/107 x 3

VW lot b x 6

Pappy 20 x 2

PHC #1 x 2

PHC 27yr

'09 Mariage x 6

OFBB '07 x 4

Needless to say, the store owner and I became instant friends

[MyOldKyDram]

Dizang! Whatta day. I'd be your friend too had that been my store. Very nice.

[nd2005]

It was late summer of 2011, fresh with some knowledge that I had gathered from here, I went to Indiana looking for my bourbon pot of gold. I had been lurking and gathering information mostly from the premium section. It turned out to be an expensive day, but one that will be forever etched in my brain.

All this from one store:

ORVW 10/90 x 3

ORVW 10/107 x 3

VW lot b x 6

Pappy 20 x 2

PHC #1 x 2

PHC 27yr

'09 Mariage x 6

OFBB '07 x 4

Needless to say, the store owner and I became instant friends

I was chatting a bit with the owner of one of our local stores today. He had told me about how the Jefferson's 25 they got in that week sold out in a matter of minutes. I said - remember when the 18 came out...how long was that sitting on your shelf? He responded "Are you kidding? Years! I was worried I was never going to sell it!!"

Amazing how much the industry has changed in such a short time.

[lakegz]

When I lived in Japan I would stop by the import store Seijo ishi and would always see Blanton's at 25 dollars a bottle. God knows why there of all places.

[balassit]

I always shop bourbon when on the road for work. Went into 2 stores in the same town out west, here is what they had sitting on the shelf

12 George T Stagg

10 WLW

8 Eagle Rare 17

6 Sazerac 18

3 Hirsch Gold Foil

3 Vintage 17

1 VWFRR

6 ORVW

4 Lot B

2 PVW 15

All were at retail. This was about 13 months ago. I brought home 12 out of the assortment, just glad I was able to check it as a bag on the plane an no one checked to see if it was wine or booze. Was very nervous until I saw the box on the baggage claim belt.

[matthewdc]

Two amazing finds come to mind from about a year ago or so:

1) A Weller Centennial (Louisville) for $20 - had an inch of dust covering it.

2) 2 bottles of 1974 Old Fitz Prime 86s and 3 bottles of 1988 Old Fitz BiBs for $12ea (and a 1990 handle of Old Fitz BiB for $25) in a box under another box of very cheap champagne. found them on a return trip to a store--after I left the first time my gut was telling me to go back, I just felt they had something else there.

[Dolph Lundgren]

Not the best but a recent favorite: a couple months ago I talked a guy to let me into the backroom and I pulled a 1975 Lawrenceburg ER 10yr 101pf and a 1975 Benchmark 6yr 86pf. He didn't know what to charge me and when I offered $40 he felt guilty and insisted that I take a water for free. I believe that 1975 is the first year ER was bottled.

[soonami]

I walked into a store that I frequent monthly the day Pappy allocations hit. The manager recognized me and asked if I was interested in something special. If a liquor store owner or manager asks you this, always say yes! He pulled me into his office and asked me to help him open up a special case. In it was the whole line up of 2013 BTAC and VW as well as a couple bottles of CEHT. He then told me I could have my pick of as many of them as I wanted! He had been getting people coming in for weeks asking for them and just wanted to get rid of them. I ended up with VWFRR, PVW15, PVW23, and a WLW.

He asked me which one to keep for himself. I told him that if he hadn't had any, that PVW20 should be the one to try with the PVW15 a close second.

[Tony Santana]

My best, just because of the chain of events that followed it: stopped at a little store I hadn't been in for more than 20 years, just on a whim, they're more known for wine. Saw a SA VOS 19yr, bought it, posted in the "What Did You Purchase Today" thread and a fellow SBer inquired about getting some more. Went back, the owner was there, they had two more VOS 19 on the shelf, and he said he had more at one of his other stores. Ended up buying 4, and trading them for 8 bottles, won't bore you with all the details, but those 8 included 2 EHT Tornados. Gave one of those to a friend, who in gratitude gave me a EHT Old Fashioned Sour Mash, thus giving me the two hardest to find bottles in my now complete CEHT collection.

PLUS, once I bought all that VOS, the owner said he had an ER17 I could buy. And once I bought that I was suddenly on the "Pappy list". I wasn't sure exactly what that entitled me to, but made sure he saw my mug a couple more times; a month later I got a call that the Pappy was in. Went to the store, the kid behind the counter didn't really seem to know what the "rules" were, but he was pretty sure I couldn't buy more than one of anything and their one PVW23 was already spoken for. That was fine with me: I got the ORVW10/107, Lot B, PVW15 and PVW20, all at reasonable prices.

PLUS, that initial posting about the VOS19 prompted inquiries from another SBer - I'm still on the lookout for another bottle for him, but PM's over the course of time eventually ended in a recent trade for a couple of dusties, Virginia Gentleman "The Fox" and a 2008 OWA 7/107.

So, stumbling on that one bottle of VOS 19 (a fine pour that I still have) indirectly led to me getting the EHT Tornado, EHT Sour Mash, 6 other bottles of stuff I rarely/never see around here (Weller 12, VSOF etc.), ER17, the afore-mentioned 4 bottles of VW products, "The Fox" and a dusty OWA. All proudly sitting in my cabinet, either in the process of being consumed or on the waiting list. And it's left all my bourbon friends going "where did you get all that stuff?"

[bingstein]

This thread is actually more painful than the Show Your Stash thread for me. It makes sense how people who were into collecting 10-15 years ago amassed such a huge collection of unicorn bottles. But reading these stories about people pulling legendary bottles IN THE LAST YEAR makes me want to simultaneously cry in my bathtub and quit my job and hit the road hunting.

[AaronWF]

The manager recognized me and asked if I was interested in something special. If a liquor store owner or manager asks you this, always say yes!

I learned this lesson long ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4I4OCgVAv8

[nd2005]

I always shop bourbon when on the road for work. Went into 2 stores in the same town out west, here is what they had sitting on the shelf

12 George T Stagg

10 WLW

8 Eagle Rare 17

6 Sazerac 18

3 Hirsch Gold Foil

3 Vintage 17

1 VWFRR

6 ORVW

4 Lot B

2 PVW 15

All were at retail. This was about 13 months ago. I brought home 12 out of the assortment, just glad I was able to check it as a bag on the plane an no one checked to see if it was wine or booze. Was very nervous until I saw the box on the baggage claim belt.

Should have bought them all, rented a car, and driven them back home!

[petrel800]

Same store, different occasions . . .

4 Roses 2009 Marriage

Case of Saz 18s

Case of GTS

[Razer91]

A few month ago while dusty hunting I found a single bottle of Jefferson 17 batch 4 sitting behind the cash register. Bought it for MSRP and I'm planning on opening it for a very special occasion.

[savagehenry]

Best for me:

4R Mariage 2009

V17 ryed version x 3

A glorious sight. And purchase. I even got a few dollars off the V17 with a bit of haggling.

[sutton]

To show you just how things changed in the last couple of years:

Christmas shopping two years ago, found three ORVW 10/107 and a WLW, GTS, and a few THH sitting on a barrel display. The store was packed with people buying all sorts of whiskey - but everyone glanced at and then walked by this barrel. I bought two of the ORVW and the WLW and left the GTS there (!) figuring I'd come across it somewhere down the road (wrong) ...

Later the following Spring, I had missed a lottery spot because of an unintentional error by a store employee. Not a big deal, but the store owner remembered and offered me a PVW 15 for $65 - I was humbled by his gesture, and in retrospect it was incredibly generous and he earned himself one very loyal customer.

That summer, traveling on business, I came acquired two Saz 18's in the wild - both at $70. I started to think the limited release stuff was easy enough to acquire if you happened to be looking when the releases occurred. About 6 months later, happened across a PVW23 and PVW20.

And then, in 2013 ... nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. But that's OK - sometimes you don't appreciate your luck (or even recognize it as luck) until you see it in the rear view mirror ... :grin:

[fishnbowljoe]

Not long after I got into bourbon, I had a little trip planned. I decided to map out a few liquor stores along the way to see if I could find anything. I stopped at one place in a fairly small town out in the country. I had to actually do a double take when I looked at one shelf. There sitting on the shelf were multiple bottles of the BHC. :shocked: There were five Centennials, three OCPR's and four VSOF's. Couldn't believe my eyes. I bought two of the Centennials, and one each of the OCPR's and VSOF's. I left the rest there. I knew of a couple other members who were looking for some of the BHC and let them know about my find, and passed the appropriate information on. About six or eight months later I was in that area again, and figured I'd stop in and check for the heck of it. The bottles I left behind were still there. :bigeyes: I bought one more of each, and again left the rest behind. Another six or eight months passed and I was in that area yet again. Yep. The bottles were still there. I said to heck with it, and bought the rest. I did leave behind a few dusty wide mouth 1.75's of OGD. I didn't know back then just how good the older ND OGD was. If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have bought them too. Last time I stopped at that store, they were gone. That's my honey hole story.

Cheers! Joe

[BFerguson]

More BMH 23yr rye than any one man should have.

Granted, I still have more than most, but did share a fair share of it.

B