What Bourbon Did You Pass On Today (Fall 2019)

[CUfan99]

3 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I went to my local TW and saw a display of a new PS 4R, which always grabs my interest. I got excited when I saw it is OBSQ, which is one of my favorites. Then I saw the price: $89.95. Holy crap! I was under the impression these were going to stay around $70 for a while. Nope, they have gone from around $55 three years ago to $90. Hard pass.

I walked out with my intended target: WTRB for $41.99. 

There’s certain bottles when you see them that make your heart stop a second. PS 4Roses are one of mine. A sight of RB doesn’t have that effect on me but many a day while sippin the 116.8 batch I wonder why I keep hunting other stuff so much. 

[Phil T]

5 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I went to my local TW and saw a display of a new PS 4R, which always grabs my interest. I got excited when I saw it is OBSQ, which is one of my favorites. Then I saw the price: $89.95. Holy crap! I was under the impression these were going to stay around $70 for a while. Nope, they have gone from around $55 three years ago to $90. Hard pass.

I walked out with my intended target: WTRB for $41.99. 

I understand your frustration. When I first started buying these they were $45. And I could get every recipe, and they were 10-12 yrs old. Now they are $90 and 8 yrs old.

[Vosgar]

2 hours ago, Phil T said:

I understand your frustration. When I first started buying these they were $45. And I could get every recipe, and they were 10-12 yrs old. Now they are $90 and 8 yrs old.

Couldn't agree with you more as I'm sitting here enjoying a $50 2015 PS OBSQ, 11yr 2mo. and an even 116 proof. A beautiful whiskey!!

[HoustonNit]

I went to my local TW and saw a display of a new PS 4R, which always grabs my interest. I got excited when I saw it is OBSQ, which is one of my favorites. Then I saw the price: $89.95. Holy crap! I was under the impression these were going to stay around $70 for a while. Nope, they have gone from around $55 three years ago to $90. Hard pass.
I walked out with my intended target: WTRB for $41.99. 

TW is weird the standard stuff seems to cheaper than most but they charge a premium on PS stuff more than most mom and pops.

[gurgalunas]

10 hours ago, HoustonNit said:

 

TW is weird the standard stuff seems to cheaper than most but they charge a premium on PS stuff more than most mom and pops.

 

I've always thought this strange too...  but, mom and pops need to move the large quantity of bottles to free up capital.  They keep pick pricing aggressive.  Big box stores actually create scarcity by spreading the barrel over multiple stores.  Add in the buying power for the normal shelf fodder to be priced lower, and it kinda makes sense.  Kinda...

[Double C's]

21 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I went to my local TW and saw a display of a new PS 4R, which always grabs my interest. I got excited when I saw it is OBSQ, which is one of my favorites. Then I saw the price: $89.95. Holy crap! I was under the impression these were going to stay around $70 for a while. Nope, they have gone from around $55 three years ago to $90. Hard pass.

I walked out with my intended target: WTRB for $41.99. 

I had the same reaction last week when I walked in there and saw the price on those bottles. I was even surprised that they are charging $32.99 for their store pick of elijah craig. I have watched the pricing on 4R stuff steadily climb up since early last year at most stores. Last year I was able to buy a couple of 4R ps for about $62 each and now that places are charging $90 I just walk buy them and go for more value priced bottles.

Also, if you want to get better pricing on WTRB they can be found cheaper if you look in the right places.

[Jazzhead]

20 hours ago, CUfan99 said:

There’s certain bottles when you see them that make your heart stop a second. PS 4Roses are one of mine. A sight of RB doesn’t have that effect on me but many a day while sippin the 116.8 batch I wonder why I keep hunting other stuff so much. 

That's what's cool about Rare Breed:  reasonably priced and easy to get,  and it's better bourbon than the stuff that's unreasonably priced and hard to get.   

[ratcheer]

I passed on Evan Williams Single Barrel and bought Old Forester 100, instead. I'm happy with the OF, but I'm still wondering how good the EWSB would have been. Maybe I'll go back and get one.

Edited December 19, 2019 by ratcheer

[PhantomLamb]

1 hour ago, ratcheer said:

I passed on Evan Williams Single Barrel and bought Old Forester 100, instead. I'm happy with the OF, but I'm still wondering how good the EWSB would have been. Maybe I'll go back and get one.

Depends.  I have the 2011 in-the-barrel bottle right now and it's pretty tasty.

[Richnimrod]

3 hours ago, ratcheer said:

I passed on Evan Williams Single Barrel and bought Old Forester 100, instead. I'm happy with the OF, but I'm still wondering how good the EWSB would have been. Maybe I'll go back and get one.

I agree with PH (above)... it depends.   

Being a Single Barrel offering there will always be some variability; but over the last few years I've finally been forced to give up the search for a really good one, not that there weren't any, I just wasn't finding 'em.   

I used to average a very good to excellent barrel about every 3rd one I'd try (and loaded up on those excellent ones!).    But, it became an exercise in futility that I eventually gave up after about 7 or 8 barrels without one being above average, and a couple being rather below that bar.     As the price increased, and the age and quality decreased (for my taste buddies, anyway) it just became a losing proposition . . . for me anyway.   Others may have better luck; but mine ran out.

[markandrex]

I got a call from one of my regular stops, they just got in OWA at $109.99. I wished them a Merry Christmas as they wouldn’t be seeing me before the New Year.

[Kepler]

Another one bites the dust. Yet another honey hole goes down. Got a call from a local store where I got fall LE's from in the past. Last year got an ORVW10 for a little over MSRP. This year I went in to pick up my bottle and the price was 2 and a half times MSRP. No thanks. Luckily my main local came through for me this week and I got a good deal on the same bottle. 

[Tony Santana]

Passed specifically on a 1792 Full Proof that was a barrel pick of a local whiskey group.  Passed generally on everything else in the store.  1792 intrigued me, but I've just bought so much whiskey something really has to be a rarity or pique my interest before I buy anything more.  At least until the New Year.

[Double C's]

I passed on the following on my lunch break today. It sucks finding unicorns but seeing the prices retailers are trying to gouge people for. When I called the manager out about their pricing at store A I was told they looked the prices up "online" and that it why they were priced as such. 

Store A

EC18 @ $250, WLW @ $1000,  at that point I was afraid to ask the prices on the GTS, THH, ORVW, and PVW 15.

Store B

Blanton's @ $120, Booker's 2019-04 @ 80, Eagle Rare @ $50, WSR @ $32

[lcpfratn]

I passed on the following on my lunch break today. It sucks finding unicorns but seeing the prices retailers are trying to gouge people for. When I called the manager out about their pricing at store A I was told they looked the prices up "online" and that it why they were priced as such. 
Store A
EC18 @ $250, WLW @ $1000,  at that point I was afraid to ask the prices on the GTS, THH, ORVW, and PVW 15.
Store B
Blanton's @ $120, Booker's 2019-04 @ 80, Eagle Rare @ $50, WSR @ $32

A few of those prices aren’t really what I’d call price “gouging”. Booker’s is $79.99 in most stores in my area, and that is at normal mark-up. I’ve also heard from a very reliable source that Booker’s is going to have a $10 price increase soon. WSR is priced a little high at $32, but I wouldn’t call that price gouging.

[parksmart]

Whistlepig Boss Hog Samurai Scientist for $399.99.  Tempting......

[fosmith]

3 hours ago, lcpfratn said:

Booker’s is $79.99 in most stores in my area, and that is at normal mark-up. I’ve also heard from a very reliable source that Booker’s is going to have a $10 price increase soon.

$80 much less $90 for Booker's is a deal breaker for me.  I can get Stagg Jr. and ECBP for $60.

[mbroo5880i]

On 12/17/2019 at 7:03 PM, Phil T said:

I understand your frustration. When I first started buying these they were $45. And I could get every recipe, and they were 10-12 yrs old. Now they are $90 and 8 yrs old.

Yeah, I remember a local Indy chain had all 10 recipes in color coded labels by season, spring and fall, for $42.99.  They then went to $49.99, $52.99 and then into history.  I remember the store manager who was a friend of mine telling me to buy as many as I could at $49.99 since the price was going to increase to %52.99.  I have only seen a few FRPS since and they were $69.99 and above.

[GeeTen]

7 hours ago, parksmart said:

Whistlepig Boss Hog Samurai Scientist for $399.99.  Tempting......

Ask to see the bottle - buy it if the label is written in Japanese!  Then call me, please!   

 

[PowderKeg]

19 hours ago, Tony Santana said:

but I've just bought so much whiskey something really has to be a rarity or pique my interest before I buy anything more.  At least until the New Year.

And this is what I need to do too.  Got enough to easily last many years at the current consumption rate, I should change it slightly to New Years 2022.  Although if go to 3 fingers in mason jar....

[Tony Santana]

6 minutes ago, PowderKeg said:

And this is what I need to do too.  Got enough to easily last many years at the current consumption rate, I should change it slightly to New Years 2022.  Although if go to 3 fingers in mason jar....

Of course, that's what I said rounding into the start of this year.  And I'm pretty sure I'll end up 2019 with more bottles than I started with.

[ThomasGazelle]

On 12/19/2019 at 9:04 AM, PhantomLamb said:

Depends.  I have the 2011 in-the-barrel bottle right now and it's pretty tasty.

I was fortunate this year and found two 2008 bottles and they were both tremendous....and sadly didn’t last long.

[PhantomLamb]

59 minutes ago, ThomasGazelle said:

I was fortunate this year and found two 2008 bottles and they were both tremendous....and sadly didn’t last long.

That’s awesome. For the price point, I don’t think it’s a bad deal.

[yobber76]

I am currently fighting the urge to walk into any LS or Liquor Dept. of a grocery/drug store. Being new to the hobby, I have bought probably 25 different  bottles of Bourbon since September, plus doubles of some hard to find when I ran into them at MSRP. You start to get consumed by the thrill of the hunt. I think I will take a couple of months to taste all of them, consume some of them, and decide what I like and if some are worth the current price, and if I like them enough to buy again vs focus on some favorites. 

[fishnbowljoe]

57 minutes ago, yobber76 said:

I am currently fighting the urge to walk into any LS or Liquor Dept. of a grocery/drug store. Being new to the hobby, I have bought probably 25 different  bottles of Bourbon since September, plus doubles of some hard to find when I ran into them at MSRP. You start to get consumed by the thrill of the hunt. I think I will take a couple of months to taste all of them, consume some of them, and decide what I like and if some are worth the current price, and if I like them enough to buy again vs focus on some favorites. 

You ain’t the first one this has happened to brother. You also probably won’t be the last. 

 

Biba! Joe