The business of allocation

[amg]

11 hours ago, flahute said:

Have you had it? It certainly doesn't taste two years old to me. The word straight is on the label which means it's a minimum of 4 years old without an age statement on the bottle. "Seasons" is not a legal definition as noted by Bruce above. The quote used to say "8 years" so when they dropped the age statement the 8 became a numeral only and years became seasons.

It doesn't need to be labeled straight to require an age statement if under 4 years. All bourbon has that requirement.

[flahute]

12 hours ago, amg said:

It doesn't need to be labeled straight to require an age statement if under 4 years. All bourbon has that requirement.

Correct! I had forgotten about that.

 

Looking it up did reveal this tidbit though:  age "must be stated in hours, days, months, or years, as appropriate." From this we can gather that "seasons" is not a legal age definition. OC 8 being labeled straight with no age statement makes it a minimum of four years.

[JoeTerp]

8 hours ago, flahute said:

Correct! I had forgotten about that.

 

Looking it up did reveal this tidbit though:  age "must be stated in hours, days, months, or years, as appropriate." From this we can gather that "seasons" is not a legal age definition. OC 8 being labeled straight with no age statement makes it a minimum of four years.

Only if they're actually complying with the law (or the TTB is actually enforcing the standards). 

[amg]

2 hours ago, JoeTerp said:

Only if they're actually complying with the law (or the TTB is actually enforcing the standards). 

The big producers seem to do a better job of self-regulating in this regard than some of the small guys (ahem, Hudson Baby Bourbon).

[Malakai432]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 4:37 PM, inf3st said:

I promise you that it's even harder telling someone you can't sell them something than being told no. They guy is right in making sure to take care of his regulars. He is a dumb ass for putting the stuff out though. I am in a situation similar to this. I have customers that drive 30 min at least once a week to shop at my store and because of the amount of allocated product I have. I have some that drive 2 hours once a month. But as long as I see them frequenting the store I do make sure they get something. It may not be BTAC or PVW that they get but they will get something. Allocations suck for everyone. That I promise.

 

Yeah why the heck would he put his stuff out if it wasn't for sale to regular customers.  Keep that in the back, sides he should know his regular customers may be interested certain allocated spirits or possibly call them directly once they come in.  I walked into a store the other day and there was one bottle of Thomas H Handy Rye (limited 1 per customer) sitting right there in a glass case and the manager didn't give two craps and this was a liquor store I've never been to.  I even told her I was looking for a GTS but they didn't have any on display at least but she pointed out the Stagg Jr.  I do agree in taking care of the regulars for sure but keeping it out and telling people that they only save it for their loyal customers when it's clearly on display would probably convince me to look elsewhere.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Malakai432

[Malakai432]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 6:10 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

FWIW, sometimes being a "good customer" doesn't even help. 

 

Yeah it seems that my local store where I spent thousands of $$$s over time doesn't really cut me any breaks, one guy did break out a bottle of OW107 once, and he did have some highly allocated expensive blended Scotch like Compass Box Circus, and some rare allocated rums which is nice of him to show me but I can't ever get a bottle of good allocated Bourbons from that store.  It is pretty cool of them to show me certain allocations, but they're usually expensive rare scotches, tequila, rum that even though rare, due to high prices will still sit out there for awhile.

 

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Malakai432

[clindt]

On 10/31/2016 at 3:35 PM, Clueby said:

Eight seasons would be two years, right?

 

The 10 year old age stated says aged for 10 seasons. 

[BigD]

I'm new to the bunkering idea but it does make some sense, kinda like a squirl gathering nuts for the winter... So I gathered all the bottles I had lying around and stockpiled like my ECSB and heck I have 20 bottles of unopened bourbon in there!   I do have one pesky bottle of JW scotch that someone gave me in there as well.    

[Kepler]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 3:27 PM, Clueby said:

Stopped into a store I had never been in before that is about 1/2 hour from where I live. They had a pretty good bourbon selection on the shelf with good pricing. Blanton's , EHTSMB, AE,  WSR, etc. Decent selections but nothing too special or hard to find. The clerk (possible owner/Co owner) asked if there was anything I was looking for. I said I heard he had a good selection and was looking for a few things that were hard to find, like OWA or ETL. He said those are only for his "best customers". I said it looks like I should shop there more and become one of his best customers and he just shook his head and sort of discounted me and walked away. I then noticed a glass case with a lot of "allocated" bourbon, including ETL, W12, ORVW, etc. As I started to walk up to it he called out loudly to me that those are "display only" even though they were marked with prices.  I asked him if he doesn't sell anything out of that case? He again stated that only for his "best customers". He said he gets the "best stuff every week" and people travel to buy from him. I told him I had traveled a half hour to get there because I was told his selection was good but probably wouldn't be back if he refuses to sell anything from his "display only" case. He just replied with..."I take care of my own". In a situation like this  I'm not sure how you make new "best customers" unless you are expected to spend a year purchasing lower tier products to earn his special privileges. I just don't like this whole new business of allocated bourbon.

I used to shop at a store whose manager on multiple occasions told me that I had zero chance at any of the prized fall limited releases, because they also ran a wholesale operation that supplied bars & restaurants, and they were her "best customers."  At least she was honest. I replied that she should consider allocating a portion of her total allocation to retail customers, but I received a blank response. 

 

I don't shop there anymore.  It's all good because I've found a much better local store that has really excellent customer service that values their retail customers. 

[Canarse]

On 10/27/2016 at 6:39 PM, Clueby said:

On 10/31/2016 at 11:08 PM, flahute said:

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Canarse
Attempting a delete due to quote issues.

[Canarse]

8 hours ago, Kepler said:

I used to shop at a store whose manager on multiple occasions told me that I had zero chance at any of the prized fall limited releases, because they also ran a wholesale operation that supplied bars & restaurants, and they were her "best customers."  At least she was honest. I replied that she should consider allocating a portion of her total allocation to retail customers, but I received a blank response. 

 

I don't shop there anymore.  It's all good because I've found a much better local store that has really excellent customer service that values their retail customers. 

 

Crappy liquor stores are the worst.  I live in NC where we have a state warehouse and county control.  My local county almost never has allocated bourbon available to me even after I spent a lot of $ and got to know some of the employees.  They tell me it all goes to restaurants, but I have haunted the local bourbon/cocktail establishments and they don't have it either!  Someone is taking this bourbon home, IMO.  It's either the ABC employees or the restaurant owners.  Thankfully I have found a store in another county that is interested in taking care of good customers.