Buffalo Trace now more expensive than Eagle Rare 10YO?

[The Black Tot]

I just can't see a BT shortage - it's too easy to make. It's their youngest stuff.

I'm with Tunneltiger - I'm not a BT or ER10 drinker, although I'm coming around on ER10 store selects.

Having said this, I tried a store select BT at the gazebo that was so un-BT and so delicious that now I don't know what to think.

The more I learn, the less I know.

[fishnbowljoe]

Prices in my neck of the woods usually are pretty fair for the most part. It's the taxes that suck. :banghead: BT has been $24.99 for quite a while. ER 10 is a bit more expensive. I can usually find it for $30.99-$32.99. Maybe a couple bucks more at some places.

I stopped at a store up in southern Wisconsin this past Sunday. They had both BT and ER10 priced at $24.99. :bigeyes: I wasn't really looking or an ER10, but at that price I had to buy one. Same goes for when I was on vacation recently. I found some BT for $21.99. I really didn't need any more, but I bought a couple just because of the price.

To the OP, I'm thinking one of two things might have happened. Maybe your store got their prices mixed up. I've seen it happen before. A few months ago, one of my go to stores finally got some ETL in. It was $34.99. Hmmmmm. :skep: The other thing might be that your store has seen BT become a little more scarce lately, and has taken advantage of the situation by marking up the price. Just saying'. FWIW, I've seen that happen before too. :mad:

One other thing, I've seen the price mix up thing work the other way too. I believe one store I go to had their Weller SR price also on their OWA. $17.99 for OWA seems a little bit cheap, even to me.

Joe

[Bourbon Envy]

...

If you find out any more from the store about why this is, please post here. I'm curious, if it's a mistake one, both, or neither.

So I went back to the store today and asked them about the pricing. I was told that the price was a result of the distributor cost. I mentioned that it was crazy to pay more for BT than ER10. All three employees agreed with me and couldn't believe the spike in price either.

A note to clarify OK liquor laws...any beer above 3.2%, wine, or liquor must be purchased at a liquor store. All liquor stores must take delivery from an in-State distributor. So no store can order from out of State or take delivery directly from a producer. And the distributor can only bring in products from producers who can provide a certain minimum volume. So small distillers or Brewers cannot ship product via the distributor. In essence we have a required legal middle-man and it makes getting certain products impossible. I still think someone in the chain bumped the price because of scarcity, not a price increase from BT.

Cheers! -BE

[Richnimrod]

Thanx for the follow-up, BE. I think you're probably right. The distributor sees some scarcity and grabs a few extra bux. I would imagine the ER-10 will become pretty scarce, too, in short order.

I'd say; grab a few ER-10's now and ride out the scarcity/price-gouge on BT with that instead. Same mashbill, and extra age, to boot. No Down side.

[brettckeen]

Size could be wrong that's the handle price. Wholesale bt is cheaper than er

[alstevens]

Buffalo Trace is still 24.99 at all the Binny's I passed through last night in the Chicagoland area.

[polish.bourbon]

Here in NYC, Eagle Rare, when you can find it, now goes for $40 to $50 or even more in Manhattan. Astor Place (a great big wine and spirits liquor store downtown) has put theirs in the rare case, limit 1 per customer! Truly insane. Out in Brooklyn, it's a little cheaper and easier to find, but not by much.

[Paddy]

Multiple sighting of BT here at anywhere between 21 and 22 (and change). ER is 29-32ish, and not nearly as plentiful in numbers.

[gohrmund]

Down in key west for a little r n r, walked into a liquor store and BT was 39.99 ER was 29.99.

just came back from Irish Kevin's and I guy ordered a Jamison's on the rocks. He was a little shocked that the bill was $23.

when I lived down here I wasn't into bourbon or whiskey, I am shocked at how expensive it is.

Gary

[Bourbon Envy]

Down in key west for a little r n r, walked into a liquor store and BT was 39.99 ER was 29.99.

just came back from Irish Kevin's and I guy ordered a Jamison's on the rocks. He was a little shocked that the bill was $23

That is crazy talk! I thought paying more than $30 for a bottle of BT was bad, but $23 for a pour of Jamison is just ridiculous! That had to be a special bottle, if not I need to move the family to Key West and open a bar!!

Cheers! -BE

[dcbt]

BT is still 20ish here and ER10 around 27. Both fantastic values imo.

[Harry in WashDC]

For those of you in and near Virginia, my favorite VA ABC Store and three others I've been in over the last week (early May 2015 - two near Richmond and one near I-95 at Ladysmith) ALL had multiple 750s of ER on the shelves @ $30 per. I saw no 375s, though. If your local store doesn't have it, I expect they can order it which is how I used to get it - takes about ten business days.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Harry in WashDC
added "when"

[t44tq]

I just checked- BT is $24.99 here, ER10 is $28.99. $4 difference. Both are readily available.

[cowdery]

At Binny's in Chicago, Buffalo Trace is $25 and readily available. Eagle Rare 10-year-old is $35 and hard to find.

[alstevens]

BT is great. But I feel $25 is about 5 dollars too high.

[jp_stargazer]

I was at a pub last night that has the best whiskey selection in town and they had BT at $10 for a pour and ER10 was $9. My guess is that a lot of people come in after being told they "have to try Buffalo Trace!" so since it is commonly requested, the price has gone up. Oddly enough, EHTBP is only $12 a pour. I had one of the three, I'll give you one guess which. :grin:

Jason

[cowdery]

I've been in bars where the pricing is crazy. One in Ann Arbor had Old Overholt priced like a super-premium. It's reasonable to expect price somewhat to reflect cost. Maybe if they're buying Overholt one bottle at a time, because they don't sell much of it, and they're buying something else by the case because it's so popular, their pricing would reflect that, but that's a guess, and it shouldn't make that much of a difference. Some things are just hard to explain. In this time of price increases, if somebody is pricing their inventory based on cost, the higher price for something like BT versus ER may reflect new versus old stock. Then again, most retailers avoid extra inventory so there shouldn't be that much time difference between those two purchases. But something might have been on deal. You just never know.

[jp_stargazer]

That's a good point, you could attribute it to what the establishment paid the distributor for both bottles. Simple retail economics or pricing conspiracy? One of the two lends to a salacious story...

Jason