Booker's MSRP and allocation?

[Hop]

I passed on it in a couple of stores today for $55 but did see it was out of stock in another where thats never happened before so the hype is driving sales

[lcpfratn]

I was in four different stores today looking for a couple of specific items, and noticed that they all had the same amount of Booker's on the shelf as usual priced in the low to mid $60 range, which is typical around here unless a store gets a multiple case deal and then you might see it between $55 and $60...and it has historically still sat on the shelves for a while even at the lower prices. They might start to thin out before the end of the year as more people become aware of the pending price increase, but I wouldn't bet on it.


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[lcpfratn]

There are some well written "opinion" articles on the Booker's pricing decision over on BreakingBourbon and BourbonBanter. Check them out if you haven't read them already.


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[JoeTerp]

3 hours ago, lcpfratn said:

There are some well written "opinion" articles on the Booker's pricing decision over on BreakingBourbon and BourbonBanter. Check them out if you haven't read them already.


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Thanks for pointing that out.  I enjoyed the reads.

[Bbstout]

10 hours ago, lcpfratn said:

There are some well written "opinion" articles on the Booker's pricing decision over on BreakingBourbon and BourbonBanter. Check them out if you haven't read them already.


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Nice opinion piece. I plan on doing a SBS between Booker's and KCSB. I really hope I prefer KC as TW sells it for $37.

[Limegoldconvertible68]

2 hours ago, Bbstout said:

Nice opinion piece. I plan on doing a SBS between Booker's and KCSB. I really hope I prefer KC as TW sells it for $37.

Remember when doing the side by side to make sure you drink 3 times as much of the KCSB to make thing even!

[Richnimrod]

1 hour ago, Limegoldconvertible68 said:

Remember when doing the side by side to make sure you drink 3 times as much of the KCSB to make thing even!

Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!!!!!!!!    That is perfectly logical, if not necessarily advisable.

[tanstaafl2]

I heard last night from a reputable source or two in the industry that the local distributor has decided to join in the fun and has already raised the wholesale price on the Bookers they have in stock as stores look to buy more. Not the full raise to whatever the wholesale equivalent of what the new $99.99 MSRP will be but certainly more than what it cost to buy last week. Everyone looking for cut I suppose.

[Thig]

When the MSRP was 59.99 I could buy it all day from an on-line retailer for 39.99, that 66% of MSRP.  So if the MSRP goes to 99.99 and I can still buy at 66% that would be 65.99.  Not that I am about to run out any time soon but that is a more reasonable price.

[mosugoji64]

18 minutes ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I heard last night from a reputable source or two in the industry that the local distributor has decided to join in the fun and has already raised the wholesale price on the Bookers they have in stock as stores look to buy more. Not the full raise to whatever the wholesale equivalent of what the new $99.99 MSRP will be but certainly more than what it cost to buy last week. Everyone looking for cut I suppose.

 

Some stores around here bumped the price a while back, apparently when they got wind sales were heating up over the named batches. One chain had dropped the price to $45 in response to Costco selling it for $49 and then promptly goosed it to $65 and gave each named batch its own shelf space. I thought that was insane until the Beam announcement came along. 

[Clueby]

I bought a bottle of "Noe Secret" this week at TW for $44.95.  There were 4 or 5 more of them on the shelf.  They had other more recent batches priced at $48.99 and $49.99, priced per particular batch. I guess their pricing structure varies based on how long something has been in inventory.

[WhiskyInTheBoro]

I have it on good authority that Beam has already named the Booker's batches for 2017:

 

Big Man, Big Price

Wallet Buster Batch

Noe Shame

Off Your Rocker (Pt. II)

 

[smokinjoe]

9 minutes ago, WhiskyInTheBoro said:

I have it on good authority that Beam has already named the Booker's batches for 2017:

 

Big Man, Big Price

Wallet Buster Batch

Noe Shame

Off Your Rocker (Pt. II)

 

Badabum....pssshhhh....

Will you be here all week?  And, how's the veal? 

[mbroo5880i]

Main store tonight had several deep with no price change - $57.99.

[mbroo5880i]

5 hours ago, tanstaafl2 said:

I heard last night from a reputable source or two in the industry that the local distributor has decided to join in the fun and has already raised the wholesale price on the Bookers they have in stock as stores look to buy more. Not the full raise to whatever the wholesale equivalent of what the new $99.99 MSRP will be but certainly more than what it cost to buy last week. Everyone looking for cut I suppose.

 

Sort of like gas prices.  Price increases around the holidays for no reason.  

[Bourserker]

4 hours ago, WhiskyInTheBoro said:

I have it on good authority that Beam has already named the Booker's batches for 2017:

 

Big Man, Big Price

Wallet Buster Batch

Noe Shame

Off Your Rocker (Pt. II)

 

Loved the "Noe Shame", that was a good one...almost made me spit a mouthful of some good juice all over.

 

I caved recently and bought one.  Booker's isn't a regular for me, but I wanted to visit it again and ain't paying 100 bucks.

[WhiskyInTheBoro]

I enjoy all types of whiskey from all over the world. For my tastes, $100 opens up an entirely different level of competition for which Booker's doesn't make the cut. The new-to-bourbon hipster looking for something to post on Instagram might bite at $100 (indeed, because of the price), and I expect Beam is banking on that. I hope it doesn't work out for them, but nothing would surprise me in this market.

[BourbonDrinkingSailor]

First post, so sorry it's over something controversial, but realistically I'm not sure why it came as a huge surprise to everyone that bookers would be going up. The new stained boxes with the engraved bookers logos, named individually labeled batches with unique logos, new bottles without the old foot on the bottom. These are all expensive changes to make that have been being phased in since early 2015. Then of course you have the 25th anniversary which sells for a fortune on secondary and the rye getting named whiskey of the year. All of it definitely seems like they have been working to "premiumize" bookers and differentiate it from their midline offerings. Just my .02 so I'm sure other's opinion varies. 

[dcbt]

As I was adding my Bookers purchase last night to my spreadsheet, I see a trend of my last 3 purchases:

Batch 15-01:  7 years, 2 months

Batch 15-02:  7 years, 0 months

Batch 16-05:  6 years, 7 months

 

[amg]

18 minutes ago, dcbt said:

As I was adding my Bookers purchase last night to my spreadsheet, I see a trend of my last 3 purchases:

Batch 15-01:  7 years, 2 months

Batch 15-02:  7 years, 0 months

Batch 16-05:  6 years, 7 months

 

I've got bottles from 2013 that are just barely over 6 years, so I dunno if I'd call it a trend. It's true that there hasn't been a batch over 7 years since 15-03, though.

[fishnbowljoe]

On December 13, 2016 at 6:08 AM, fishnbowljoe said:

Just for the heck of it, I sent Beam an email asking what was up with the doubling of the price of Booker's. Below is the reply I received. Standard company line, and what we've heard and read hear and other places.

 

Hi Joe,

Thanks for reaching out to us with your question. As you know, Booker’s is a really special bourbon, and Booker Noe had high standards when it came to making it. This robust, full-bodied whiskey is culled only from barrels in the center floors of his favorite rackhouses, where the aging environment and resulting liquid profile were just right. As demand for Booker’s prized creation has continued to boom, our supply of these special barrels has diminished. As a result, there will be fewer batches of Booker’s Bourbon released in the coming years. We adjusted the pricing to reflect the premium nature of Booker’s and to offset the fact that our fans’ demand for the product, which we are so lucky to have, has limited its supply.

We understand that this new price can be difficult for our loyal fans to adjust to. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time of change, and hope to have you as a fan for many years to come.

Megan
Small Batch® Customer Care Representative

 

FWIW, I sent Megan a reply to this email. I let her know how this is being perceived by some of us consumers/bourbon lovers. I also mentioned the disappointment of a lot of folks with regards to the disappearing act of OGD 114. It's been three days, and no reply yet. Just my thoughts, but I reckon there isn't a form letter covering that. 

 

Joe

 

[mbroo5880i]

2 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

 

FWIW, I sent Megan a reply to this email. I let her know how this is being perceived by some of us consumers/bourbon lovers. I also mentioned the disappointment of a lot of folks with regards to the disappearing act of OGD 114. It's been three days, and no reply yet. Just my thoughts, but I reckon there isn't a form letter covering that. 

 

Joe

 

 

As Kenny Rogers would say "You gotta know when to hold 'em, You gotta know when to fold 'em.  You gotta know when to walk away, You gotta know when to run."  Megan probably took this to heart and like Billy Joe and Bobby Sue, she is still running today.

[JoeTerp]

3 hours ago, mbroo5880i said:

 

As Kenny Rogers would say "You gotta know when to hold 'em, You gotta know when to fold 'em.  You gotta know when to walk away, You gotta know when to run."  Megan probably took this to heart and like Billy Joe and Bobby Sue, she is still running today.

 

Well I think it's more likely due to the OGD 114 mention.  I don't believe that's ever been officially confirmed by Beam.

 

 

[JTaylor]

I have one bottle of this, a C07-B-7 which is pretty tasty, and from what I read it's one of the better batches. But at $100+ to replace it I figure there's a good chance it'll be my last... Sorry Megan, it ain't  that special.

[Caskstrength]

I've been dusty hunting and noticed that older Bookers were typically aged longer than the current releases (eg 2013-06 was around 7.5 years, and another C04-J-19 I saw the other day was almost 8 years).  Recent releases have been closer to 6 years even.

 

Were earlier batches better quality?  I know age isn't the end all and be all, however this is one-third less maturing time - would appear a working capital grab by Beam.  Cheers all.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Caskstrength