Whiskey Prices

For those of you who have been around the block a few times, can you explain to me how the world of spirits works? I mean, it wasn't long ago I was tripping over Buffalo Trace bottles in the liquor store and now you can't find one. A fifth of Weller Special Reserve was $60 the first time I passed it by. Now it's $90!!! I just paid over $40 for a bottle of Redemption High Rye and discovered the MSRP is $25 (it wasn't worth $25 btw).

I get supply vs demand but do prices just fluctuate as a new batch come out? I am assuming they don't release daily? What the heck drives availability and cost?

For drinking questions we have lots of staff experts...pricing questions go to WAWI.

Sazerac who owns Buffalo Trace Distillery (which is home to Wellers, Eagle Rare, Blanton's, Pappy's and more) tried to get a rise in prices a few years back by cutting their production. They hoped that others would follow them and cut production, but no one did. Thus their supply now has dried up pretty much, while others are easy to find. In a year or two they should be back to normal.

I've got nothing. I only drink the finest Rich and Rare Reserve. It's cheap everywhere!!

Covid sales have driven everything up. BT is now considered allocated and the shipments are slow. Everyone is on the OMG band wagon when your talking about Buffalo Trace products, and the secondary market is having a hay day, just like ammo. I picked up a bottle of Blanton's Monday, haven't seen a bottle of BT, Eagle Rare or EH this year. Its time for another bourbon run

Thought was this about airline tickets...

Seriously

You’re joking.

Are you serious?

Got it right finally. I think...

Bourbon is very hot right now, certain ones are almost impossible to get. Lots of the sought after stuff gets allotted. The distributor only gets so much, the liquor stores only get so much, the ones that sell to bars use it to keep certain accounts happy. What does hit the shelves of these rare ones get bought almost immediately if they are priced at msrp. The msrp really hasnt changed much in the last 5 years. Some stores, especially those that dont sell to bars do 2 things. They either double or triple the price or they hold for their best regular customers in back. Basically it's a pay to play game. I'm having a hard time getting anything right now due to specs buying goody goody.

Btw, don’t fly spirit

Sorry. Changed the title.

Me too. I was going to warn you guys and refer you to the long line of angry folks at the airport for proof. (I could have used a few different adjectives there)

I don't call hard liquor a spirit. It might be right but just seems weird.

Now I refer you back to the folks who've been around the block....

This development puts our very own BCBassCat in quite the pickle.

Whiskey prices! Much better.

Fewer airline comments.

Please carry on.

It's all good Sam, is it ok if I call you that?

I was being serious because last night my wife and I were attempting to schedule a flight to Vegas because Ratz and rj snubbed us and we want to go to Vegas too. So she was looking up flights and said something about spirit airlines being the cheapest. I told her to forget about using spirit, as I've heard horror stories...

It's all good Sam, is it ok if I call you that?

I was being serious because last night my wife and I were attempting to schedule a flight to Vegas because Ratz and rj snubbed us and we want to go to Vegas too. So she was looking up flights and said something about spirit airlines being the cheapest. I told her to forget about using spirit, as I've heard horror stories...[/quote]

Beats what my wife usually calls me.

I wouldn't expect the supply to get better in near future. I'm now on a waiting list to buy a barrell of one of Sazeracs more sought after brands. There is no discount to do this, it's expensive as hell and I'm just doing it to guarantee a supply for my business. I suspect it may take almost a year to get it.

I have been drinking more bourbon lately. Found a bottle of Buffalo Trace the other week and it wasn't all that great. You can pick up Elijah Craig Small Batch, 1792 Full Proof, Wild Turkey Rare Breed. All great and easy to find bourbons that are better than Buffalo Trace. I've got a bottle of the Elijah Craig Small Batch about halfway down that has been great.

Very courteous intro line.

One good thing about Ohio. They have restrictions on whiskey prices. I can get a bottle of Wellers Antique 107 for $50
Wellers green label for $30

60 bucks for Weller Reserve? I just bought a 1.75 bottle for 49.00 and that is as high as I've ever paid.

EC is on my short list. Been on Rye's lately. Still wanting to try some Rittenhouse. Bulleit Rye is really good, btw, mixed or neat.

Switch to quality rum and tequila. There are still a few good values in whisk(e)y but not many.

Some tequila is allotted now too. 1942 has gotten harder to get. I order 4 a week and get 1

I went to Irish whiskey a few years back and have been happier than I was trying to keep up with the explosion in bourbon.

Not what I want to hear, WAWI. I guess we better get used to it, at least for a while. Thankfully, the bottom shelf is still full.

Has anybody mentioned fireball yet? It's pretty cheap and tastes like cinnamon.

Its flowing like water lol

Alot better value there. Jameson 18 when you want to splurge a bit

It's crazy and difficult to understand. There are distillers and there are distributors and there are retailers. All different and unique entities. It's not as simple as supply and demand although that is an influencer.
I have a friend in Michigan that buys Eagle Rare at the grocery store for $32. I can rarely find it here and when I do the price is something $60. I have another friend in Florida that bought a bottle of Dickel 13 yr BiB for $90.I got the same thing a few months ago for $38 at Specs.

There are a lot of really good bourbons that aren't hard to find, so I rarely pay anything over list. Elijah Craig Small batch is nice, Markers 46 is really good, Knob Creek is always on the shelf, etc.

Drink beer. We make plenty.

What I dont understand about the the bussines model of certain distillers is they know how much the product is getting marked up down the supply chain yet they hold their prices. Eagle Rare costs me about 27 bucks when I get it, blantons is 49, the weller cypb is 42. Cypb sells online for 600 to 900 at times. Pappy is even worse. You would think they would push their prices up.

I can't do all those flavored whiskeys. With the exception of American Honey. I like the taste of whiskey and bourbon by itself.

I guess they can't build a pricing/GTM plan based of a few unicorns. Look at the shelves in stores, there are a bunch of bourbons. I guess they need to distributors to buy all their product.

Valid point! Even when you doo get ahold of allocated bottles at spec's or total wine, they're still at the normal msrp. The smaller places and secondary prices are getting stupid. Although it is kinda nice stocking up at msrp and then secondary them. Just last week i was able to swap a Blanton's for a Wild Turkey Master's Keep.

We treated some friends to dinner at the Oar House is Rockwall last week. An after dinner drink of Blantons, neat, was $25 per. Now do that math.

I bet they could keep some on the shelf at $100 a bottle but does that take it off of the most coveted of bourbons list?

Maybe they like the attention more than the increase in profits?

Wait, what?

Oh, I drink my share.

It all depends on where you’re shopping. Certain momnpop stores price gouge. Big box stores have the best pricing. Some momnpops just mark up a little bit more just because they have to run higher margins than the big box stores but some mark their stuff up as high or higher than the secondary market flippers do.

Lucky if my friends spend $25 total with tip.

I agree there are tons of people that drank tons of hooch last year.

There is a lot that goes into this. Some hype drives up prices, but also players got surprised by the uptick in demand. Take Eagle Rare for example. It is a 10 year aged bourbon. If demand skyrockets in 2014, they can't just up production in 15.

Now since that one has become allocated, you have the question as to whether they will ever up production or take advantage....

As a bourbon guy, and a blue collar guy this kind of thing is tough. ER was $29 and there was usually6 or 8 on the shelf before it was popular. Now I have to hunt for good bourbon at a decent price.

That said, I just splurged on a crazy expensivebottle that I am scared to open after attending a tasting with the creator. (Bardstown discovery 3)

I may have to move my price up, I charge 17 for blantons and feel dirty doing that..... if you charge less they will drink it in a night and you will have none. I'm down to 2.5 bottles of it and its pissing me off. I have even restricted my consumption to other brands trying to hang on to my stash. I generally drink a bottle of blantons every 2 weeks just cause......

It appears every bourbon I find that I enjoy, ends up being a unicorn in short time. I'm all about supporting the small guys, always have been, but its hard to pay 50% over msrp when the box stores sell it for less. I need to take a vaca and roll across bourbon country for a couple of weeks and stock up

I'm afraid I will end up drinking some swill like makers or tx....

I kind of like Makers. I agree with TX though. It isn't very good any way you slice it. All I taste is vanilla neat and it tastes funky and bitter when mixed...but it is a good looking bottle.

I always end up going back where it all started with me. EW. Just bought a bottle of white label and will be buying another. It's something I can still afford.

I was reading an article recently that talked about how millennials are driving up the demand for wine and spirits while beer sales are trending down. Kinda interesting...

I just bought a bottle of Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey.

Go figure. I thought they just smoked dope.

You sip or mix? Pinky in or out?

don't do it!

Evan Williams is the best buy on the shelf.
Keep it simple and save your money, life ain't as long as you think.

I have a bottle of EW BIB. And I agree, good stuff! But I have room for 6-7 bottles at a time, depending on the size/shape of the bottles. Might as well stay stocked, right? Ezra Brooks, Rebel Yell, Old Overholt are all cheap and will get sampled.

I raised blantons to 18, I wanted to make it 20 but my conscience wont allow it yet.

$19.99!

No kidding, I stopped at some hole in the wall place, this lady pulled out a bottle of Angel's Envy from behind the counter, rang it up at $78! That [censored] is $49.99 all day here in San Antonio. Bought it anyways, nothing else was worth a dang.

The small liquor stores are under allotment from distributors. They rarely get it either.

Yeah, she looked around, over her shoulder, and quietly said, "well... we do have a bottle of this..." dang, I thought she was going to pull out a bottle of pappy or something from the way she was acting.

A strategy that has worked for me is to find a large liquor store where there is a low population density of yuppies and millennials. Also, liquor stores that are larger than you would expect for the size of the town.
For example, there's one on the edge of Kilgore sorta close to where 1shot lives that has a nice selection at really good prices.

Just bought another EW BiB and also bought the EW Honey. I almost pulled the trigger on the EW Fire

I just walked out of Total Wine with a big bottle of Weller Special Reserve. 1.75L for $39.

I am currently having a makers and it's hard to even drink. I feel like I should buy a mobil home and move into it.......

You got your shopping cart, cardboard, and sharpie ready?

Cheap wine is still a good bargain.

WAWI, have you ever had Peju cabernet? It's a Napa cab. This guy who has more money than likely anyone I'll ever know said it's his go-to everyday cab. He even took a bottle of it out to the deer blind, so I don't know exactly what that means. It's about $50 a bottle. Didn't try any, but may splurge one day.

Makers is mixer. Nothing better with cola. Not good neat.

I'm choking down a tx blended, if it makes you feel any better.

Now I'm have tx and diet coke. You never hear of blantons and diet coke. You hear of crown, tx, makers and diet etc because they cant be consumed without something to cover how bad they are.

The best ones neat aren't the best ones mixed and vice versa based on my limited experience. Ps, TX is nasty mixed.

Don't use diet coke. Coke Zero is ok. 3:1 ratio with ice. Let it sit 5 minutes to mellow. Makers is awesome. You're welcome!

mixing blanton with anything other than a small amount of ice should be illegal.

Lose the ice also. NEAT

I’d love some Blantons right about now.

As I stand here and enjoy my Stella Artois, I fully understand there is a place for Natty Light.

You behaved the last time you had it. That was a test.

I only have one Blantons left

Yep, since I retired I went from JD and 9 or 12 year CC to regular CC. I tried Rich and Rare once. Not bad for a cheap whiskey.

Cracked open a 1792 tonight. Tastes good but a pretty hot finish. Haven't tried mixed yet.

Woodford still in 1st place, neat.

Just go sit in your neighbor’s across the street.

I looking at the pos right now, he makes me sick

it's got yodelin

Going to add that to my Fav Willie song list.

Probably should've got some EC single barrel, but we'll give it hell either way.

Head to head. EW BIB > 1792. Much greater! Surprise, surprise!

Haven't even SEEN BT in 3-4 weeks.

Started reading these pages and had to check. One bottle of Eagle Rare still wanting to be opened, one of Buffalo Trace that has been visited twice, and a new bottle of Rowans Creek that was looking good. Rowans and I will check back here later.

Tryin’ Early Times BIB tonight...

I may have a willet in a few.

ER here tonight

Old reliable this turn.
Just happened to stumble onto a couple bottles of Blantons, ER and EC barrel proof today though ay SRP from specs