Looking at old Show Us Your Stash

[FasterHorses]

For the old timers.. Just crazy what you see  not to mention the numbers of bottles. In particular I was looking at the 2014 thread and after noticing a lot of the same bottles that are in demand today..I was wondering was there a sense of the boom being inevitable? Was it still a big deal to those of you who were drinking bourbon then, to find a ER17 or FRLE or even a W12. I see Rows of Jefferson 18s and rows of ORVW squat bottles even then..so was it similar to today but just fewer people and lower prices. Did you truly take it all for granted  and just happen to stockpile average  (at that time) bottles..that soon became unicorns and trophies? Did some of you know what you had even before the rest of the world caught on? Just curious what it was like and how much you must miss those days. 

[Harry in WashDC]

Although I started noticing periodic shortages of relatively common stuff (basic BT) and long absences of stuff I liked ($54 LotB just sitting there) as early as 2005, I didn't become alarmed until about the end of 2010 when I started having increasing trouble finding LOTS of bourbons I liked.  Store managers weren't really giving me good answers and were more interested in selling me stuff I'd never heard of (Pendleton?  Like the blanket company?  Black Maple Hill - guaranteed it was blended in a garage).  This was partly my fault because I didn't know I had to "pick" my stores; I thought I could just show up,a and what I wanted would be there.  By the end of 2012, I was buying multiples of even basic stuff - WT 101, basic BT, even EWB 86 proof "just in case".  ASIDE - Four Roses?  Even my Dad wouldn't drink that in the 1960s, and he drank Old Crow.

 

SO - I turned to the internet in mid  2013 and started searching for bourbon news while reading a couple of "bourbon" books I bought from Amazon - Chuck Cowdery's  "Bourbon Straight" and Mike Veach's "KBW, an American Heritage".  Both mentioned SB.   I joined SB on 1 JAN 2014 (THX, callmeox) after lurking for awhile.  SB had what I was looking for - low pressure, good info, very little bragging, and KNOWLEDGE about the spirits, the spirits business, and trends we were likely to see.  Haven't missed a week of SB postings since.   AND, I sure learned a lot about bourbons - even 4R.  Old Crow, though . . .

 

 

[flahute]

I was aware of what was coming in 2013 and did what I could to stock up on BTAC, PVW, 4RLE, WFE, and others that are now allocated. By then it was too late for PVW (though ORVW was still gettable). I did fairly well getting out in front of things for the rest of them.

I also learned to stock up on what was at the time available every day when I got the sense they might become the next big thing or if it had an age statement that was in danger of going away (which many did).

[evasive]

I’m not at all an old-timer on this board or to whiskey hoarding, but I did buy my first bottle of Booker’s in 1998 or so.

I usually just kept 1-2 bottles of bourbon on hand for brown cocktails and bought a replacement as needed. If I drank whiskey neat, it was from Scotland, but my circle of friends was all about whiskey cocktails more than a decade ago: old fashioneds, Manhattans, sours, etc. My go-to cocktail bourbon was EC12 until eventually it wasn’t there anymore. [shrugs]

About 4 years ago I decided to revisit bourbon as a sipping whiskey, and here I am.

[FasterHorses]

Thanks for the replies.. seems unreal now but you guys lived through those times. I cant wait to look through some of the pre 2014 stash threads. Was there a realization of how good you had it before the boom completely hit or is that something you only realize after its gone?

[The Black Tot]

On 12/17/2019 at 10:33 PM, FasterHorses said:

Thanks for the replies.. seems unreal now but you guys lived through those times. I cant wait to look through some of the pre 2014 stash threads. Was there a realization of how good you had it before the boom completely hit or is that something you only realize after its gone?

 

I started in about 2011. It was very regional, in my experience. The internet hadn't started telling everyone where everything was. So you'd go to Chicago and there would be Parker's Heritage sitting 5 deep on a shelf for 80 bucks, and cases of Old Blowhard unloved - then you'd go to Texas and have to make serious moves to get one Old Blowhard...but they'd done a store pick of Willett, and OWA and W12 was stacked in cases.

 

I wish I'd learned about 4R earlier than I did - I bought the standard single barrel at the distillery on a tour, and I didn't love it (it's still not my fave, I much prefer the small batch). So that put me off of 4R for a while. I had no idea that I could have bought a single recipe OESO that day and my trajectory would have been VERY different with 4R. As it stands I only found their potential (for me) after the prices went up.

 

I knew enough that I had to hustle at the time to put stuff away. Unfortunately my palate was still developing, there was a lot I hadn't tried and didn't know about, and I didn't know where all that was going to settle out. I did stupid things like passing on VWFRR because "I didn't like rye" and Booker's 25th because "I didn't like Beam". Those ones are the only two that really sting a little, now.

 

I did pretty well putting the last of the readily available good stuff away. As well as I could have done with my experience and cash at the time.

 

Yes, I knew it was about to get tough. And when I moved to the UK, I could see that rum was where bourbon was a few years before, and that knowledge made me push much harder to get a starter rum stash put away.

 

It was a whole lot of fun, that is for sure. And I'm in on the ground floor for the next glut in a few years.

[Richnimrod]

7 hours ago, The Black Tot said:

Yes, I knew it was about to get tough. And when I moved to the UK, I could see that rum was where bourbon was a few years before, and that knowledge made me push much harder to get a starter rum stash put away.

 

It was a whole lot of fun, that is for sure. And I'm in on the ground floor for the next glut in a few years.

First let me apologize for editing down your previous post (only to more briefly make the following point).  

 

OK, Tot!  You're about to be warned!    

 

Ya' better start grabbing up all the craft Vodkas you can find!      They will disappear sooner than you think ...or maybe not that much sooner, as more of the crafters are predictably going to suffer from under-capitalization and from sub-ordinary offerings.       Therefor; scoop up every craft Vodka you see for the next 3-years... actually we all shoulda been doing this for the last 5-years; but, for sure now it's going to get critical!  

[The Black Tot]

10 minutes ago, Richnimrod said:

First let me apologize for editing down your previous post (only to more briefly make the following point).  

 

OK, Tot!  You're about to be warned!    

 

Ya' better start grabbing up all the craft Vodkas you can find!      They will disappear sooner than you think ...or maybe not that much sooner, as more of the crafters are predictably going to suffer from under-capitalization and from sub-ordinary offerings.       Therefor; scoop up every craft Vodka you see for the next 3-years... actually we all shoulda been doing this for the last 5-years; but, for sure now it's going to get critical!  

 

I tried in my usual haunts, Rich.

 

I think you got there first and got 'em all.

 

Devastated...if only I had consulted you sooner!

[Richnimrod]

3 hours ago, The Black Tot said:

 

I tried in my usual haunts, Rich.

 

I think you got there first and got 'em all.

 

Devastated...if only I had consulted you sooner!

Sorry, Dude, Y'a Snooze; Ya' Lose!   

Merry Christmas, anyway though!   Gary and I will tip over a bottle of one of those rich and delicious craft vodkas and toast you 'in absentia' though, Buddy!

Hope to seeeya in B'town in the Spring...?

[The Black Tot]

6 minutes ago, Richnimrod said:

Sorry, Dude, Y'a Snooze; Ya' Lose!   

Merry Christmas, anyway though!   Gary and I will tip over a bottle of one of those rich and delicious craft vodkas and toast you 'in absentia' though, Buddy!

Hope to seeeya in B'town in the Spring...?

 

Happy advance yule in return - Still to early to say about B'Town. I've got hotel reservations just in case!