Willett's as a brand does not interest me at all

[The Black Tot]

the guy in front of me bought 6 cases (near $3,000 total) and has entered semi-legendary status. I'm trying to ride the coattails (literally - I was the next guy in line, damnit!) but it hasn't gotten me anything.

Wow. I buy a lot of bourbon - but THAT is a lot of bourbon. I can't say I'd enjoy competing with that, either.

[squire]

This is why I gravitate toward special editions from major producers like Beam or Heaven Hill who have vast stocks from which to choose. We are faced with the fact Willett has limited resources to draw from and those stocks were not the top picks from their suppliers in the first place.

Willett has produced some excellent barrels but I have to underscore some, not all are yet they are priced as if they were and I'm not going to risk my money on mystery selections.

[zillah]

Cannot disagree with this, even as I'm one of their fans. Alas, the WFE has breached my limit with the most recent store barrel that hit western IL. I got a couple of bottles, but that was it. And the guy in front of me bought 6 cases (near $3,000 total) and has entered semi-legendary status. I'm trying to ride the coattails (literally - I was the next guy in line, damnit!) but it hasn't gotten me anything.

What!? Did he even get to try the whiskey first before dropping that amount of cash?

[BonVivant84]

What!? Did he even get to try the whiskey first before dropping that amount of cash?

Why bother to taste when you are just going to flip it?

[zillah]

That's unfortunate. :frown:

[bin31z]

I just don't get it??? EC12 is 30 bucks!!!! ECBP is like 50 at most!! It is a sad day when you have to shell out more money and drive all over the Country to buy BOURBON. Scotch is looking like the cheap alternative.

[The Black Tot]

To be fair, while it certainly looks like it, we don't know that guy was a flipper.

6 6 cases is only 36 bottles. Maybe he also thinks Willett's old stocks are drying up, and wants to secure the next three years of his drinking a bottle per month. Got to give the benefit of the doubt.

If I tasted a whiskey that I knew was a single barrel, depleting stock product, and I found that it was everything I wanted in a whiskey, I'd have no qualms about buying 6 cases. And not a single one would get flipped (although probably one or two would be gifted).

Let he with a bunker of less than 36 bottles cast the first stone?

[Paddy]

To be fair, while it certainly looks like it, we don't know that guy was a flipper.

6 6 cases is only 36 bottles. Maybe he also thinks Willett's old stocks are drying up, and wants to secure the next three years of his drinking a bottle per month. Got to give the benefit of the doubt.

If I tasted a whiskey that I knew was a single barrel, depleting stock product, and I found that it was everything I wanted in a whiskey, I'd have no qualms about buying 6 cases. And not a single one would get flipped (although probably one or two would be gifted).

Let he with a bunker of less than 36 bottles cast the first stone?

..............crickets.....................:blush:

[Josh]

I have a little more than 36 bottles but I don't have 36 of the same brand.

If that guy's not a flipper, I'm Chip Tate's attorney.

[squire]

Let he with a bunker of less than 36 bottles cast the first stone?

[The Black Tot]

I have a little more than 36 bottles but I don't have 36 of the same brand.

If that guy's not a flipper, I'm Chip Tate's attorney.

. I still hold that you can't tell. Look at the "Show us your stash" thread. There are more than a few of us with multiples of the same stuff. My magic number is 10 if I love something. But I picked that number out of thin air, and will evaluate how its working out in a few years.

While I haven't yet bought 36 of any one bottle, I wouldn't shrink from doing so if the bourbon was perfect for my tastes, and its future supply was threatened. My friends and I can certainly drink 36 bottles over the decades to come.

I'm sure someone who saw me buy 10 bottles of something would think I was a flipper, too. They'd be quite wrong.

[tigerlam92]

I just don't get it??? EC12 is 30 bucks!!!! ECBP is like 50 at most!! It is a sad day when you have to shell out more money and drive all over the Country to buy BOURBON. Scotch is looking like the cheap alternative.

Make me laugh when I read this and right after, I have to agree with you.

Luckily I don't like Scotch all that much, yet, and should have enough saved to make it pass this craziness.

[nd2005]

Let he with a bunker of less than 36 bottles cast the first stone?

I started one of those fancy spreadsheets that some helpful posters gave examples of.

I have about 75 unopened bottles, but the most I have of any one product is 4 bottles (ECBP, PVW20, ETL, and a couple others). Well, unless you group all the four roses barrel recipes into one - I have about a dozen total of the barrel strength picks spread out across the different recipes.

36 bottles at a crack (of a $75-100 bourbon) is way above my means...

[393foureyedfox]

I have about 75 unopened bottles, but the most I have of any one product is 4 bottles

hmmmm, maybe im the oddball, but that wouldnt be the first time. I have 16 of one kind, 9 of another, 8 of another, and 3 of another. Not many things do I enjoy enough to bunker, but those that I do, I will do so when the price makes it silly not to do so....especially when combined with uncertain future supply issues.

[nd2005]

hmmmm, maybe im the oddball, but that wouldnt be the first time. I have 16 of one kind, 9 of another, 8 of another, and 3 of another. Not many things do I enjoy enough to bunker, but those that I do, I will do so when the price makes it silly not to do so....especially when combined with uncertain future supply issues.

Well my major problem is that my consumption doesn't match up with my purchasing habits.

A big part of my bunker is single bottles that I've found and bought over time with the intent of trying but haven't gotten around to opening yet.

I rarely truly "bunker up" on multiples of things unless I truly like them.

[garbanzobean]

I have about 60 bottles of all types of whisk(e)y bunkered. The only bottle I have more than one of is a store selection of Four Roses OESO. I bought a bottle, and a friend gave me a bottle for my birthday. Otherwise, I'm an "onward and upward" kind of guy. Regardless, good on this feller for wanting to drink 36 bottles of the same thing. I hope that's what he's actually doing with it.

[The Black Tot]

hmmmm, maybe im the oddball, but that wouldnt be the first time. ... Not many things do I enjoy enough to bunker, but those that I do, I will do so when the price makes it silly not to do so....especially when combined with uncertain future supply issues.

That makes two of us.

[Ravensfire]

Something that I should mention on this. Remember St. Louis is on the border with Illinois, and there is a fair amount of stuff that is just not distributed in Missouri, but a short 30 minute drive and I've got new options. Also, apparently Missouri recently changed state laws regulating alcohol so that any change to a label, including proof, requires approval. So each new barrel of WFE would need new approval. The main guy at my usual store has said that Willett will not be sending anymore WFE to Missouri because of that. Too much hassle for them apparently. So these two store picks just across the river are probably the only WFE we'll see for a while.

The guy could have been shopping for several people, sending just one to pick them up. Yeah, six cases was insane and I just about bugged my eyes out when I realized what he had (and the bill was somewhere around $2,500). It should NOT be for a bar or restaurant - buying from a regular store is a no-no in St. Louis (probably Missouri) and they're pretty good at spotting stuff. I'm just going to hope that this was someone with several friends who all happen to really like Willett and took advantage while they good. Both barrels are really, really nice 11yr picks (picked while 10 year, then aged while Willett took forever bottling them). I checked Craigslist and a few other places for a couple of weeks after and didn't see anything popup. Maybe it was trade bait, which I'm okay with. Just pleasepleaseplease not for flipping!

I'm going to hope that

[squire]

How can they tell the bottle behind the bar was purchased from a retail shop?

[Restaurant man]

How can they tell the bottle behind the bar was purchased from a retail shop?

You are not allowed to buy at retail for restaurants in GA. Must have documented paperwork from the licensed distributor at all times. In case inspection is requested by the county tax professionals. Why I read a thread about willett, I'll never know. My feelings lie closest with Gary and Steve.

1. If you don't like willett at all, you probably just don't get it (totally ok)

2. I almost never buy the stuff. I'm not mad at em just don't want to put the work in. That said, I've had some really amazing bottles of willett.

3. Overpriced? In this market who the hell knows. I do avoid equating price with age. There are some 30 year products that were recently released that were not good for me.

Good luck out there folks. Oh if you buy a bottle you hate, don't be mad at the guy who made it, he just taught you sumpthin ?

[squire]

Taxes and turf protection, I shoulda guessed.

[bin31z]

And don't get me started about Johnny drum, Rowan creek, noah's mill etc. Their labels are soooooo imaginative. It is like they are all creative writing assignments.

[r.mx]

The only caveat to this line of thinking is that when the original honey barrels were being picked out, the rest were just wee babes. Now those babes have had the advantange of a proper schooling, a mentor, got in a couple fights, won some, lost more, and come out with a different... uhh... temperance

I would give today's barrel picks the benefit of the doubt. Buy, enjoy, and forget about the past that you cannot have, I say.

Pretty much agree with everything TBT said.

The one thing that hasn't been pointed out is that there are a LOT of retailers and groups picking barrels of Willett, or have picked them and are awaiting delivery. This from only a few smallish batches of barrels.

In the early days only a very few were sampling and selecting. I know that those few sampled many many barrels before they found a honey barrel they thought was special enough to buy. In fact looking at barrel numbers on WFE's I see a lot of barrels that were sampled and didn't make the cut the first or second time around. But they did for another group or retailer. So many that are being released recently are just the best of the rest.

The longer a barrel program is in place from a smallish number of barrels the less likely you are to find a very special barrel.

[nd2005]

You are not allowed to buy at retail for restaurants in GA. Must have documented paperwork from the licensed distributor at all times. In case inspection is requested by the county tax professionals. Why I read a thread about willett, I'll never know. My feelings lie closest with Gary and Steve.

A bar near me has definitely put some retail bottles of Willett up behind the bar, since we don't get any Willett in Michigan they had to have bought it somewhere else...

[callmeox]

hmmmm, maybe im the oddball, but that wouldnt be the first time. I have 16 of one kind, 9 of another, 8 of another, and 3 of another. Not many things do I enjoy enough to bunker, but those that I do, I will do so when the price makes it silly not to do so....especially when combined with uncertain future supply issues.

Is this the first time you have voluntarily used bunker to describe your stash?

I think it is cause to celebrate.