BTAC Release Map

Please Read: Each state is highlighted once one bottle is reported. Generally, that means that store, and a lot of times that city, is already sold out. This map isn’t an official release tracker from Buffalo Trace but a network of bourbon drinkers looking to help each other. Stores are dealing with smaller allocations and greatly increased demand. Please be understanding of this fact. Happy Hunting!

This is the 3rd annual BTAC Release Map. Here’s the drill I’ll update each state when the antique collection is released in that state. Remember, distribution can be tricky sometimes and just because it has released in part of the state doesn’t mean you’ve missed out.

It’s an improved map. If you hover over the state that has released I’ve started to add the cities. If you need more help check out my post “How to Hunt Bourbon” Happy Hunting!

If you find a bottle please shoot me an email at Blake @ Bourbonr.com. I welcome any tips about state releases as well!

2015 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Release Map

Don’t want to worry about hunting a bottle? Find a bottle at Bottle-Spot

9/15 – Georgia becomes the first state to release Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Let the games begin!
9/23 – Buffalo Trace Antique Collection has hit North Carolina

9/24 – Southern Illinois receives BTAC (WLW and Handy)

9/25 – Montana now has BTAC

10/2 – BTAC is in Iowa and Virginia

10/5 – Delaware sees its first bottles of the Antique Collection. Now Maryland (Montgomery Co. which apparently does its own thing and the rest of the state will probably release later this month) has notified winners in their lottery system

10/6 – Antique Collection hits Kentucky and California with 2 huge asterisks. In Kentucky, a Party Source in N. KY’s allocation was so low that they don’t plan on releasing but are saving for in-store tastings (can’t blame them). In California, I confirmed a bottle but this appears to be an accident as all of my other contact (big box stores) haven’t received theirs yet. This is good news and bad news. Now is the time to start hunting!

10/7 – Nebraska now has BTAC

10/8 – BTAC is in Indiana (sold out in a store in Indianapolis to be specific). People in Indiana I’d like to see get a bottle: Larry Bird, Bobby Plump or Norman Dale and Lil Sebastian

10/9 – There have been several sightings of BTAC (apparently there are 2 distributors so only GTS, Saz and ER17 for now) as well as bottles of BTAC in Nevada (specifically Las Vegas). ~~I’m also hearing rumors of the Antique Collection in Utah. I’ll report back shortly~~. Utah has officially released

10/12 – BTAC confirmed in New Mexico

10/13 – Wisconsin receives a smaller than normal allotment of the Antique Collection

10/14 – BTAC continues its trek across Big Ten country releasing in Michigan (Southeast confirmed) today

10/20 – BTAC shows up at Restaurants in Ohio. Appears to be the same story in Rhode Island.

10/21 – Washington DC receives BTAC today

10/22 – Mississippi receives it’s first bottles of the Antique Collection

10/23 – Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (at least Saz and ER17) spotted in Missouri.

10/28 – Everything’s bigger in Texas… except for their BTAC allocation.

10/29 – Minnesota releases their BTAC

11/3 – BTAC hit NYC this morning/yesterday night

11/9 – The Antique Collection hit Alabama. Roll Tide! Tennessee received their allocation as well

11/10 – West Virginia is now on the BTAC list

11/16 – South Carolina releases BATC and Pappy together. BTAC has now made its way to New Jersey

11/17 – BTAC in Arizona. Buffalo Trace Antique Collection has also arrived in Louisianna and Massachusetts

11/18 – BTAC in North Dakota

11/19 – BTAC releases in Colorado

11/20 – Florida receives BTAC (and I remain bitter without a bottle). Now in South Carolina

Thanksgiving weekend – Maine and PA lottery winners announced

12/4 – Connecticut gets BTAC

12/8 – BTAC in Washing and South Dakota. Antique Collection now in Oregon

1,027 comments

Is there a link to the previous year’s BTAC maps? I’d be interested to see how the releases progressed by state in the past.

Yes, here is the 2014 BTAC http://bourbonr.com/blog/2014-btac-release-map/

Where in Georgia was the Eagle Rare purchased?

Atlanta area

Blake, you think this was a distributor mistake in releasing them early? Only ones I’ve seen pics of have been the ER17.

I don’t think so. It hit this same week last year. I think the distributor will just slowly leak out bottles

I called Tower Buford Hwy and they said they only received 1 bottle of the Eagle Rare and they weren’t sure what they were going to do with it yet. They said that there were only 50 bottles for the entire state.

Total Wine received 18 bottles of ER 17 between Alpharetta and Kennesaw

Confirmed VA will honor the waitlist which is about 3 years long for BTAC and 2 years for PVW20. ORVW and PVW15 will be free for all just like last year. That’s all I know for sure. Good luck guys.

TS, do you have any idea what stores will receive them? All of my requests/searches/inquiries with the 5 ABC stores within 10 miles of my house just end up in questions and no follow up unfortunately.

Basically, VA ABC is removing the waitlist. However, they will remove it after they deplete all of the names on the list. The method is simple: if they call a person and the phone is not in service, then they call the next person. If a person on the list answers, they have a week to pick it up or it goes to the next person.

Which product are you referring to when you ask which stores?

I know the PPVW 20 and 23, as well as everything from BTAC won’t be distributed because of the wait list. You mentioned that the 15 year as well as the old rip were going to be free for all. I was curious if they were already going to be destined for certain stores or not.

23 has no waitlist. Last year they got a case by accident so they put it out. Cannot confirm whether 23 year is coming this year because it is not on the website. With pvw15 and orvw as well as all of your fall releases it is simple. When the allocation arrives, they are divided by region and dispersed to their high business stores. So it is rare you will find it in a podunk abc store in the middle of nowhere. Where do you live?

I live in northern Virginia, specifically in Centreville, but there are a handful of stores close to me all throughout Centreville, Chantilly, and Fairfax.

I’m near fort belvoir. Your bets are fairfax, arlington, and tysons corner. Had them last year.

I spoke with an official at ABC in Richmond and they said that VA received 108 cases LESS than last year. They are using their allocation to honor the wait list names listed prior to Sept. 2012. After that is taken care of and for future years, it’s straight to shelves.

Do we know which store in Atlanta that has it?

ER has a different distributor in north GA than Stagg/THH/Saz 18 – so it probably will be another couple weeks on the rest of BTAC.

WLW confirmed in GA. Good luck to the GA folks. Let the hunting begin!

Were you the lucky buyer?

I wish Blake. I’m in NY so probably won’t see this until December?

Saw a post on reddit.

Those of us in California may be waiting a while. Last year we got them very early October. However, I was told this year that the delivery for California will most likely not be until the 1st week of December. I have been trying to get the Sazerac 18 yr Rye for what seems like forever now. Last year, the store I go to, only got 3 bottles total of the 18. Said they are anticipating very limited quantities again this year.

I stopped trying altogether, most of my local shops won’t even go through the trouble that the distributors make them go through. The ones that do sell it for $500 and up. I’m on two stores list and got phone call offers for ORVW for $399, Lot B $499, 20y $1799 and 23y $2399. Handy $300. I politely told him no thank you. I don’t mind paying a little mark up but I don’t want to be bent over the barrel either. One day I will get the chance to buy my own bottles at a reasonable price until then there is a lot of good bourbon out there at a realistic price.

Blake, I think you missed some of the later comments on this. The guy who posted the pic was from GA but the picture came from a friend of his who got that bottle in SC, near Augusta.

Nope. The guy I spoke with bought his bottle in GA

Blake- I am looking for bottles of Orphan Barrel Forged Oak and Old Blowhard. I live in Indiana. How can I find these and can they be shipped to me?

Thank you
Debra Foland
Greentown, IN

Both those releases have come and gone. I have an extra Forged Oak if you want it. ($88 + shipping).

Otherwise, check bottle-spot.com

Debra,

Email me for the Forged Oak.

Thanks,
Rob

Can you send an email to me with your email details?

My email is debra_foland@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Forged oak is still on the shelves in quite a few stores in Colorado. As for old blowhard, you probably gotta go to bottlespot.

I have seen these both on shelves in stores in Indiana in the last 2 weeks. My recommendation is to look.

Forged oak is still available at several locations in louisville. I know a store in Indiana with barterhouse still. Rhetoric is also available several locations but priced at $119-129.

Where in Indiana have you seen them? I already have Barterhouse, Lost Prophet, and Rhetoric.

Do you live close to Louisville. I’ve seen it as recent as yesterday. The forged oak

Forged Oak can be purchased online from ezra.com

I checked. They are out of stock plus do not ship to Indiana.

Update- I talked to Ezra. Getting a bottle. Thanks!

For those trying to find the site mentioned it’s ezras.com with an “s”.

I can get a couple bottles of blowhard if you’d like

Would love a Blowhard, only one I’m missing….

Reggie that is awesome! I definitely do not want to sound like a mooch but if there is anyway you had an extra bottle of the Blowhard I would love and pay big bucks! I got to try it here in Atl for about $24 a pour and wow, only orphan barrel I had not tried and it was amazing. I have a couple extra rhetoric 21 year not sure if you would be interested in trading, if you have any extra bottles I would really appreciate anything. My e-mail is cranford.matt@yahoo.com, thanks again and happy hunting this year for the pappy and btac!

Hi Debra, I have a bottle of Old Blowhard. I would be will to trade if you would like.

Debra you can reach me at Starvehollow@aol.com.

Does anyone have a guess as to the rarity order of this years’ releases? It seemed like last year WLW was the most rare with Stagg or Handy being the easiest to find . This year it seems like the WLW supply should be up and the Stagg level is way down.

George T Stagg is way down this year. Basically cut in half from over 10k bottles to just over 5,321.
Good news is WLW is up almost 4k bottles to 7,780. Sazerac down slightly but basically steady at 4,011. Eagle Rare down over 1000 bottles to 3,406. Thomas Handy up to 10,825 and again due to its younger age will be the easiest to find. So basically 30k bottles overall of BTAC this season.

Thanks for the response. Now to decide, if given the opportunity, which single bottle to buy. I know the rarity should not matter too much but it is a helpful piece of information having only tasted two of last year’s releases.

The BT website has the number of barrels selected for each in the letters. I would assume this is accurate

Slightly off topic, but anyone know where I can find an Elmer T Lee Commemorative? Have been looking around and can’t seem to locate them anywhere

That’s been gone for a while. I’d check Bottle-Spot.com or something like that

Marc I have a extra one

Lee, If he is not interested, I missed out on that bottle and would be very interested.

They pop up on Dusty bid every once and awhile.

Man, i really hoped to lock down one of these bottles. These numbers don’t provide a whole lot of steam for my faith…. however, i will stay strong and keep looking!

I can confirm BTAC has landed in GA, I found a WLW today.

Congrats, Joe!

Joe, where’d you find it?

Where in georgia did you find it?

any idea on stores and time frame for phoenix,az release??

I hope to repeat my success of last year, with another bottle of Eagle Rare 17 Year, but I know realistically, I could end up empty handed. Either way, I managed to snag an Elijah Craig 23 Year, so technically I won’t be Rare release empty handed. It is time to start going to the store that doesn’t do a lotery every day now as the release should be any day within the next two weeks where I live! Gonna be in three lotteries this year. One mixed any super rare Whiskey and one place is doing BTAC and Pappy as separate lotteries.

I love to see the networking and helpful posts!!!

No new updates? Live in Wisconsin and hoping to find a WLW.

An employee at Total Wine in MD said they got a few bottles of the “wheat” last week when I asked about BTAC when I was there. That could have been regular Weller or Pappy or WLW or a lie. Said 18 Year Sazerac was still listed as coming. Nothing about Eagle Rare 17 coming in the system.

Total Wine in Dallas (off 75) said that they may be getting it Oct 1 because that’s what the system said. Not sure if that’s just an est date or actually delivery date. Will keep you all posted, but save me a bottle if this is true 🙂

I would be curious to see the follow up on this, TW has been very unsure of when/if they get any in the past. Also most of their employees are unsure of the difference between normal BT and BTAC

margie send me an email

jrobie79@yahoo.com

EVERYBODY (distributors) is getting VW on 10/1 — that is the “alleged” official release date from what the grapevine says… but you know this grapevine. Like Blake said “expect it in your area around the same time as last year.

ER 17 dropped in Atlanta last Wednesday. Unfortunately, I just had this confirmed today. Place I looked at was a “superstore” that had 2 cases, stocked regularly on the shelf. No wait list. Gone within the day.

I live in VA right near the NC line. Both are ABC states but of course they each have their rules. NC seems to be better about honestly allocating rare stuff based on request lists as opposed to VA which really seems to be a who you know situation. 2 years ago I was able to score Stagg, WLW, and PV15 from my ABC store friend in NC. Here in VA it was a total waste of time. Last year I totally struck out. This year I am at the top of the NC stores list so I am optimistic that I will get at least one bottle of something. ABC states are a pain in many ways but at least we only have to pay retail. No stupid markups!

Just bought my 2015 release George T. Stagg in North Carolina.

Let me know if you want to trade for a VWR Lot B or another bottle

Where in NC?

Can you send me the store? I’ve been hunting, but no luck so far.

Things typically his the triangle area first before making it down to Mecklenburg county and other areas.

I asked at my Durham store yesterday and they said they haven’t received their allocation yet, so I’m still hoping to get a call. Got a Stagg last year. This year I want a WLW, if I’m lucky enough to get a chance.

not asking you to divulge exact store (although that’d be great, if you wanted to email it to me), but can you at least let me know what part of the state you found some in? I’m in Greensboro and have been checking regularly, but none of the stores here have gotten theirs in yet. Thanks.

Just got a call from the North Carolina ABC Board. I was on the waitlist and will be able to pick up a bottle of Weller later this week!

a county wait-list, or a state wide? I’ve never heard anything about a state wide wait-list in NC.

I called Wake County ABC main office line last October and asked to get on the list for this year. Assumed nothing would come of it, but sure enough got a call this week and picked up the WLW yesterday.

And I’m not sure if it was a county list or state list. Since I live in Wake County, they are the same to me…..

I’m new to the NC/Charlotte area — when you say “list,” how does one go about getting on said list? I know it’s too late for this year, but it can’t hurt to be prepared for next year.

goto MeckABC.com and sign up for the mailing list (list bourbon as our interest)… they don’t do a ‘wait list’, instead they send out an email blast, and the first people to respond get a chance at a bottle.

Thanks, John. I appreciate the info.

So to everyone who has found a bottle so far this year; how much did you pay for it?

150 for a handy

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE>> after you have bought your BTAC dont just say the state. say the store that you got it as well so we can try to get some too

Good luck with that. No one in their right mind is going to give up a local honey hole. Unless it’s a warehouse like Total Wine, in which case they’ll be all gone by the time it’s posted.

I think there’s a happy medium — no one wants to give up their go-to local store, but it wouldn’t hurt anything to say what city you found your bottle in. For instance, I live in Charlotte. I see that someone found a ’15 GTS yesterday/last night. If s/he’s in Charlotte, then I know I should probably start hitting the nearest ABC stores ASAP. If s/he is in the Raleigh/Durham area, then it’s probably more of a longshot that I’ll see it in Charlotte today (as it’s my understanding that each county/area doesn’t necessary release on the same day). Same holds true for bigger states — CA, TX, etc. — a little more detail as to city would be beneficial to the group.

There’s definitely a happy medium. I highly doubt anyone will give up there stores if they do, good for them that’s very generous. The way allocations are going some may not even give up the city.

I only ask for state if someone is willing to give the city or store I will add that information as well. Hopefully we can all help each other!

Even a county would be helpful since most ABC states are organized by county.

Everyone in Charlotte, I talked to said they’d be doing the email blast for the BTAC. (although, half the people I talk to in the stores don’t know what I’m talking about and tell me I could place a special order form)

Last year, they also said an email blast would go out for BTAC, but they ended up randomly sending a bottles a time to stores over the course of a few months.

Ended up just putting on the shelves. Did the same thing with Parker’s Heritage. By the time it showed up on the website it was long gone.

Good luck in NC. State controlled ABC. The taxpayer dollars paying employees who hoard bottles and then flip them for even more personal gain. NC sucks as a “rare” liquor state. Good ole boy system at its best!

The reason people don’t want to be very forthcoming with this info is that in many cases they worked very hard to come by the bottles they got. There is absolutely no secret about how to get these bottles: you need to invest time in building relationships with stores. Obviously don’t do this with a store that is never getting highly allocated bottles. So when September hits, the last thing the people who have put in this effort want to do is simply publicly post what they’ve worked hard to find out.

Thats completely fair. I didnt mean to imply giving up the hidden gem store however If someone says they purchased some in illinois. It’s shenanigans. Just say where you are or the general area if you dont want to be entirely too specific. You can say chicago and be just fine, but if your in east jesus west illinois you can say Western illinois got it and thats ok too!

I feel you and trust me, I know that it sucks anticipating this stuff all year and then completely miss out. I had 2012 GTS at a bar and figured I could just wank into a store and buy it. When I figured out it was a yearly release, I stupidly assumed that I could just walk into any store in the fall and buy one. Needless to say I got no BTAC in 2013. But it isn’t hard to look at Google Maps, figure out the stores around you and then start hitting them up. You can figure out if they get/have gotten BTAC. There is a lot of time spent and frustration with this method as well, but I had no problem getting stuff last year. My advice to you is that if your state hasn’t gotten it yet, get in your car and start doing some recon.

In KY, it is mostly first come first serve. So if you camp out you can get one. People think it is “Easy” to get limited stuff here, but it is actually very hard. Supply is higher here, but demand is outrageous. I think we get lots of people from other states who come here too hoping to score. I have tried making relationships with managers/shop at the same store. But the stores that get the allocated bottles here are a chain and they will not hold bottles for people (or so they say).

Does anyone know if BevMo is selling BTAC like last year (via e-mail lottery)?

@KyBourbonGuy. I was a loyal customer at a new liqour store on Southland drive in Lexington a couple yrs. ago. I spent over $3k there annually and the owner Paul would save me a bottle or two of the good stuff. As his customer base grew he reserved the good stuff only for his “Well Healed Friends” while he turned his back on his loyal customers like me. I will never do business there again even if he offered to give me premium products free. People like that who think that if they hobnob with people who act like they have money and influence makes them have money and influence are nothing but losers and give the bourbon industry a bad name. Screw him! My friends and I no longer do business there.

you should write him an angry letter

glad to hear that!!!! I have grown to know several people at liquor stores and always chat with them when I go in. But they have never helped me out, even though I actually try to do my shopping at one store, in the hope they might old stuff for me one day. They did offer to hold me a bottle of blade and bow! haha.

One store on Richmond Road, when you ask for allocated stuff, they have to hold a mini congress and talk amongst themselves for a minute before they give you an answer.

Red Dot Liquor in Frankfort is the only store that I know of that rewards their loyal customers with the good stuff. They actually keep track of purchases of individual customers and allocate accordingly. They also — I’ve been told — will hold back a bottle or two of Pappy and btac then put it on the shelf after the dust settles giving ordinary customers a chance to get a bottle or two. The Party Source in N. KY is another legit store that plays fair and the staff is real cool and genuine. However, ALL of the stores in Lexington that get large allocations of the limited release stuff are motivated by greed, corruption and cronyism. If you are a flipper, family member or employee with store connections or are personal friends with a store owner you are guaranteed as much btac, Pappy as they want even if they never spent a dime there. Yet regular customers and their friends who spend a lot of money are shut out. It’s the most screwed up thing I’ ve seen.

Party Source has a list that they keep customer’s name on for rare and special releases that I am sure are very close to the employees whom work there. I have many friends along with myself that are subscribed to their news letters and “alerts” and none of us have been alerted about any special releases since we have joined. We do get the news letters though so they do have our email address. It is too hard to say these days whether these customer lists truly exist or not.

Haha!! Same thing happened to me at THE SAME STORE. I was buying from there week after week and he acted really shitty about special releases last time I was in there. The way I see it, Ill just buy my stuff at Liquor Barn thats commonly on the shelves and stand in line for the good juices than let that stupid fucking punk at unlimited spirits on southland drive dick me around another year. I was asking about weller 12 recently and some lady in there was watching the whole thing… she was obviously waiting on me to leave the guy in charge could go into the office and grab whatever he had stored away for her husband. People know he’s been doing it, nothing new. Fuck Unlimited Spirits on Southland Dr

And I thought I was the only one. I started going there after they opened because I liked the locally owned aspect. After a couple of years buying mostly all my bourbon there, him writing my name down several time and not getting a call for anything I have went back to Liquor Barn. At least there I know I have a chance if I can “predict” when the good stuff is coming.

If you aren’t a super customer at Bevmo you will never get a bottle. I was email last year about the BTAC and Pappy, both times I had a C code, if you don’t have a P then your are SOL. P means preferred.

Buffalo Trace staff at last night’s Whisky Fest in New York said it would be out here in November. I got to taste most of the releases. I’m more of a rye fan, so the Sazerac was my favorite.

They had the Saz 18 last night? How did I miss that? I tried the WLW/GTS/THH/ER17

They were all there if I remember correctly, and I think the 2 ryes may have been the last two bottles left.

Slightly off topic, but the Heaven Hill booth was pretty generous with the super ridiculous John E Fitzgerald release coming out (SW 20 year old).

What city or region in S. Ill?

I go on vacation and it hits Ill? Nooooooooooo. I am going to go get a good cry in.

I feel you man. I got shipped up to Iowa for work and I got the email from my store. They only got a few bottles on a first come first serve basis. At least it was a one bottle limit. I knew better than to volunteer to go out of town during the “season”. I’m just fortunate to live in a two state region.

Nothing personal. That guy can conduct business how he wants. I’ m just sayin’ whether it’s a liqour store in NY price gouging 1000%, a flipper buying up 99% of allocation or some hick giving in to cronyism at the expense of his loyal customers, word gets around and those greedy sob’s ultimately end up shooting thenselves in the foot with lost business.

live in Alabama here, it has not hit the stores yet. This is an ABC controlled state, spoke with the product manager for the board last week, she informed that it would hit “specialty stores” same time as last year (Nov. 13). 2 bottles of PVW per person, but you cannot get 2 of the same year or 1 bottle of BTAC. Last year the stores were the Hollywoodblvd store in Birmingham, the galleria store in Hoover, East Chase store in Monrtgomery, ABC in Madison near H’ville and the Tuscaloosa store. Good luck to all.

Called couple stores here in ATL and seems like total wine would not give me an answer but most of the other bigger stores and smaller stores I have talked to are holding their allocation and doing a form of lottery so talk to your local store. Very curious when were going to see the rest of the BTAC because the stores I talked to that got any in only got WLW and ER17, wasn’t expecting the early release. I just wanna know when the first Pappy hits in the Ga area, thanks everyone for the info and happy hunting!

Spoke with liquor manager at Hy Vee in Des Moines, IA yesterday. They got 3 bottles of William LaRue Weller on Friday. They gone. Owners of a couple other stores I stopped at told me they didn’t get any bottles of BTAC

Can now 100% confirm BTAC has been released in Iowa. Just picked up a bottle of Saz in Des Moines, Iowa

Yesterday I spoke with the spirits manager at Davidson’s in Denver. He said that they met with the distributor for CO. He said that it is his opinion that it is in state but it is being held back for some reason. He also said that though they weren’t given any specific numbers or dates he thinks that they may only get six total bottles of the entire BTAC. He also said that they have Old Forester Birthday in the store but they are holding it to release with the other rare stuff. He does not know how they will decide who gets it. He left me with the strong impression that mere mortals don’t stand a chance.

Six bottles is a pretty standard store allocation. Last year in DC, we got extremely little WLW and the standard store allocation was: Two each (GTS and THH), one each (ER17 and Saz18). Not every state or even store is the same. With the low production of GTS this year, I’m expecting that six bottle lineup to be different. I’m personally hoping that means more WLW where I am.

I have a bottle of Elmer T Lee commemorative bottle

Not sure if anyone is still looking in Montana. Bozeman is the only area that I know has already gotten their allotment. Belgrade is the primary distributor for the area, and they received some of everything except the Sazerac 18 year. They got 18 bottles of Stagg for the area, and less of each of the others. As of today, East Main liquor in Bozeman still has a bottle or two of the Thomas H. Handy Sazerac left. Belgrade liquor and MT Spirits in wine are both out already (on another note, Belgrade will be getting 6 bottles of the Four Roses Limited Edition today). Neither of the stores I spoke to in Great Falls (Nobles and the state store by target) have gotten any yet. Grizzly Liquor in Missoula has not received any yet, but still thinks they will get some.

I just picked up a bottle of Stagg in Montana. The store received 10 misc. Bottles of Stagg, LaRue and Handy

Where? I’d love to get my hands on a bottle of WLW.

they are gone now

Any chance you would be willing to share where you found your bottles? I would really appreciate it! I’m hubting hard in Montana. If I find anything I would gladly let you know as well. I will send you my email if you don’t mind to let me know. Thanks!

I can’t believe it’s hunting time again. Last year was my first season and I scored PVW 23 (1), 20 (3), 12 (1), 10 (1) & Stagg 17. I don’t think I’ll do as good this time around. I can’t get myself to open the Stagg unless I score another this year and it looks like that’s Mission Impossible based on the evaporation toll. I also see that Pennsylvania is changing it’s sales method to stop non-PA people from getting anything there. Good luck to all!!

I see you’re correct…. They needed to do something to fix that mess.

I’m taking full credit (or blame) for the change to the lottery system in PA. It looks like all my bitching on Twitter last year about the out of state-ers crashing the website, buying up multiple bottles of the good stuff, and then having their ill-gotten, MSRP-priced spoils delivered to somebody like a family member/friend in PA or to a state store conveniently just across the border from them, finally paid off. The fact that we really can’t do the same thing to make things somewhat fair is what really irritated me.

What are you talking about? Of course you can go to other states and get their good stuff and bring it back. PA has laws against this, but so does most every other state. People come to KY during all of our big releases and take 50% of our bottles.

Was there an official announcement from PA?

http://www.yourerie.com/news/local-news/pennsylvania-liquor-control-board-to-debut-limited-release-lottery

A WhiskeyPorn reddit post noted a WLW find in LA (which I assume is Louisiana not Las Angeles). Note sure what year though.

He mentions LA Galaxy elsewhere, so I think he means California.

It’s out in Virginia. Looks like just the Stagg so far but I was able to get some today.

Blake – any chance you can add context to some of these states. I thought i’d see it in the comments, but not sure how/where in VA was BTAC reported. My regular ABCs are claiming 2 weeks out…

So far VA is just Stagg and going to guys on the lists

Arrivals in Maryland (Montgomery County)

Montgomery County, MD emails just went out with those that won a bottle in their lottery. I was lucky enough to get a bottle of William Larue Weller. The bottles can be picked up as early as tomorrow. Although I didn’t do an exact count, it looks like about 1 in maybe 7-8 people won the right to purchase a BTAC bottle in the county.

The highest winning number was 1397 so you had roughly a 1 in 14 chance. It should be stated that Montgomery County and the rest of MD do not get their stuff at the same time.

I wasn’t so lucky in the lottery. That coupled with the news from PA is making this a terrible Monday. If someone replies to this with an offer to sell me Handy for $500, I may just snap.

Would you consider a bottle of 2014 Handy?

Any additional insights on the rest of MD? How does MoCo differ?

Montgomery County, which borders DC, sells liquor only through county stores, basically ABC on a small scale. The rest of the state just has regular old liquor stores. MoCo and rest of MD and generally never in sync as to when they get things. Nor is DC even though it’s right there.

Can you be selected in the Montgomery County lottery for BTAC or Van Winkle if your zip code is not in Montgomery County or Maryland ?

Where in Delaware?

Looking at it more closely it looks like about 215 won out of 1397 so thats a 1 in 6.5 chance

Yeah I don’t know what I was thinking earlier when I said 1 in 14…

@ Tim m
I am curious as to where in DE too. I am far north DE; starting to call around now. If I hear anything I will let u know

Thanks Gordon. I called a bunch of stores and none had any or could confirm getting any. These are all places that received BTAC and Pappy last year.

Can you tell me what liquor stores you’ve seen them in the past? I’d just like to know the names of the places so I can be on the look out next year, since it seems like they didn’t get any this year…

I also, wasn’t so lucky in the Montgomery county raffle. I did better last year there. Anyone want to trade for my EC23?

I will be in Maryland tomorrow and will be swinging by some spots to see if anything landed.

MD hasn’t hit yet – just Montgomery Co. It is the only county in MD that is govt. run and it does not see the shelves – lottery only. The rest of the state has not released their allocation, so he probably shouldn’t have said that it has been released in MD.

The map is done by state and not by county.

Montgomery Co is independent of the entire state (and only available through lottery), so anybody checking this and hoping to find ANYTHING in MD will be disappointed.

Can’t find any near Wilmington so far. The Total Wine & More near there, in Claymont, isn’t apparently getting any, surprising, considering they are the biggest Total Wine in the country; nor is Kreston’s apparently receiving any. Figured if any places in DE were to get BTAC it would be those two. Would love to know where it was spotted , but then again who knows with Republic National as they are very dodgy; they only get about 1 in every 5-6 orders right for my retail shop here in DC.

My shop unfortunately does not carry Buffalo Trace so I won’t have an easy solution (wish the owner would change his mind about that). Was hoping to hit the lottery (want the last SW bottling of Saz 18 so bad!) and had two of my friends tag along as well but all of us got passed over. None of us live in Montgomery County, but my one friend does work there and shops at the county store all the time, as do I (prices are nice and low as well as great selection). I wonder if they did this intentionally for non-residents as they did have you enter in your zip code when completing the survey. Wish it was the old way with Lauri Theis and it was first come, first served.

Guess I’ll have to try and hit the lottery for Pappy in MoCo or get lucky in VA for PVW 15, PVW 23 or ORVW and do a trade. Anyone on here know of any shops in DC that are good for a bottle of Saz 18? I’ve heard that standing in line at the Costco in NE is a good bet as they do LOTS of Buffalo Trace sales (would love to know whom to talk to over there). If all else fails, I might have to beg Bill over at Jack Rose for a hook-up or to trade a few bottles of late 60’s/early 70’s Turkey to him for a recent release. Got TONS of wine and Crown XR Red (Waterloo) but doubt I could get a trade in for that. Any wine to bourbon traders out there? If so, hit me up! Thanks, all!

I have a 2010 Saz 18 I’d trade for a PVW15. Let me know if you’re interested.

I’m always interested in wine trades, but don’t have much bourbon at the moment. My Stagg and PVW15 from last year have been opened. I DO have a Birthday Bourbon and a Michters 10 year, and am attempting to get a PVW/BTAC this year. Would love to hear what you have.

Is there a South Carolina release date, or has it passed ? Thanks.

Seriously? Just look at last years map rather than assuming someone will do the work for you

Ha – Good idea. Seems that BTAC hit the shelves on 11/3 last year.

That’s what the map said… but I didn’t hear of anyone actually getting anything near me for a couple more weeks.

I’d love to know where the information came in that BTAC has been released in Delaware. None of my local Wilmington contacts have received their allocations, and most are unsure if they are even getting any. Context around this would be appreciated. Until I see some, I will assume that BTAC, at least in northern Delaware, has yet to be released.

Check my twitter. It was reported there

Interesting. Must be somewhere in lower Delaware, I guess.

It was in costal DE, Rehobeth Beach/Ocean City area.

Store had 3 bottles of GTS, I bought 1. Other store 2 miles away said they weren’t getting any until end of month

Thank you for the details! Based on the last few years, I think northern Delaware area will be getting their allocations (if any) in about 2-3 weeks.

Blake is dumb. There is no BTAC is MD.

Based on the 3-4 other guys that have already commented about getting a bottle I’m going to beg to differ, Basei

Thank you Blake for posting a map and providing updates to everyone on the BTAC release. You’re doing this for free and trying to be helpful to be met with insults. A personal thanks from me.

Agreed.

Seriously, one of the best whiskey blogs out there…cheers!

The key is to read the explanation made on the site. ONLY Montgomery County stores have their BTAC in MD, and they are handled through a lottery. I also live in MD and harass these poor store owners to death, so I can confirm that the other counties don’t have any yet.

These maps were basically the only reason I was able to get some Van Winkle and BTAC last year after striking out in 2013. Keep up the good work Blake everyone appreciates it except this one guy who apparantly cannot understand how the map works

Blakes website is awesome. Thanks Blake.

Thanks Blake!! Your work is very much appreciated!!

You’re doing great, Blake. Keep up the good work.

Yes thanks Blake for doing this. Here in Ga so total wine got 9 this morning sold out in 20 minutes I was lucky enough to snag a Thomas Handy but looking grim very allocated called a bunch of other places here in metro atl nothing else so far still drastically on the hunt. Please other Ga posters tell me anything you got. Thanks

Blake, why are you promoting BottleSpot? BottleSpot is one of the first places flippers go to sell items that they always manage to snatch away from the true bourbon enthusiasts. Hell, there’s already a listing there for ’15 Stagg and WLW asking 600 per!! And you’re suggesting that your readers can go there and buy.

I think he’s just trying to help people get access to these bottles. Some people, including “true bourbon enthusiasts”, don’t mind paying the absurd secondary market prices and he’s just giving them another resource to use. I’m not saying it’s right for people to flip the products, but if someone is willing to buy it then so be it. Blake is a man of the people and just trying to help.

Promoting…or simply a source of advertising revenue for a website we all get to enjoy for free…

Is there another website that people only sell bottles for a little over retail? If you buy off of Bottle Spot, you usually get the bottle you want. At least it isn’t a Powerball or Megaball on Facebook where you might get lucky enough to win one at less than retail. If you don’t win, you get nothing in return. Instead of one person getting chumped, there are usually 14-34 people getting chumped. The person running the lottery is getting flipper prices for that bottle. It really all depends on how much you want to spend getting that bottle you really want. Not all people on there are flippers.

I can absolutely appreciate your frustration with flippers, but I also hope you understand that they aren’t simply people who snatch bottles away from true enthusiasts. In fact, the first two examples of each of the bottles you mentioned posted on our site were for trade, not sale. Honestly that’s the principal I founded the site on, not profiteering. I’d also suggest that the simple laws of supply and demand make it impossible for everyone to walk away satisfied when an in demand product is so under-supplied and under-priced. Even in the absence of flippers those same bottles would likely just end up bunkered away by a few luck, in the know enthusiasts.

As another poster pointed out, there are a few trading/platforms that predated us. We might have been the first dedicated place for these kinds of transactions, but it’s been happening of Facebook, Craig’s List and probably Reddit for years. Our goal is to make things as honest, open and transparent as possible. If you have suggestions for how to do that better, by all means hit us up. I mean that – we love getting feedback and trying to serve our users better.

As a footnote, even if you hate us, I don’t think Blake or Bourbonr deserve any ire – in fact you should credit him for writing this fantastic entry urging calm in the face of bourbon panic, and reminding everyone that bourbon is best enjoyed (preferably with friends), not obsessed over.
http://bourbonr.com/blog/fall-bourbonr-psa/

I’m sorry, but the example I provided in my post is from a KY seller on your site offering one 2015 GTS and one 2015 WLW for $600 each less than 24hrs after it was released in KY. I was simply asking Blake why he would condone this by recommending that his readers buy from BottleSpot flippers by saying, “Don’t want to worry about hunting a bottle? Find a bottle on bottle-spot.” It was just a question addressed to Blake and was in no way implied ‘ire’ toward him like you claim. Since my question is directed at Blake, why are you here defending your site anyway? I personally can care less what you do or don’t do with your BottleSpot site. Jeez…

Simple. I get a ton of emails of people asking where they can get BTAC. There’s only 2 options. At retail, which the map is to help with that or on the secondary which is why I have bottle-spot listed. In my experience bottlespot is a much better option than craigslist or other forums.

You’re assuming that secondary sites like bottlespot or facebook groups are controlling the price and that’s just not true. If someone wants to pay $600 that’s their choice

He does have a bottle spot ad on this site, so he can’t really say anything negative about them since they pay him money 🙂

Or, I vetted them before taking their (not large sum) of money so I have no problem talking positive about them. Not all advertisers that offer me money make it on the site. That’s the joys of this being a hobby

Thank you for your time and efforts with this map. Much appreciated!

Can you advise if the CA release was in SoCal, Bay Area, or elsewhere?

Santa Monica

What general area of CA was the bottle?

Waiting patiently in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, but BTAC was virtually impossible to find last year. This year already sounds much worse from what I’m hearing. Bummed.

BTAC came in at many – maybe all – the Binny’s in the Chicago area today. From my conversations it sounds like some stores received GTS and Handy, others only GTS. Seems odd that they didn’t get WLW considering the higher quantities this year. Unfortunately I was too late to grab a bottle. I did call around to other liquor stores and they mentioned they didn’t get their allocation yet. So there still could be hope!

They got WLW!

Chicagoland is sold out. Smallest allocation ever. Unbelievable

So my husband and his friend hit the road for Kentucky (from Nevada) last week . They are now in Kentucky. They have done several tastings at the distilleries. They are now in search of BTAC. They have been to several liquor stores in and around the Bourbon Trail. Every place has told them that they expect their shipment will be in on the 7th or 8th of October. No one really knows how much they are getting – all they know is that it is coming!! Happy Hunting!!

Keep up the fantastic work Blake!!

Again, another person who thinks they can come to KY and grab limited stuff off the shelf. Doesn’t work like that. Many stores didn’t release BTAC because they “ONLY” got 25-30 bottles. Most stores did get their allotment around the 7-8th. LiquorBarn released theirs a few days ago, so most likely not more BTAC to be had in KY.

I’d love to see a store up her in Wisconsin get 25-30 bottles in. The largest I’ve heard of so far is 11, most are in the 4-6 range. I also haven’t heard/seen a store get any of the Saz 18 in yet up here. Mostly WLW and Handy so far. Can’t complain though, the bourbon craze isn’t as high here compared to other areas and you can get a bottle if you know what you’re doing.

Where in Wisconsin have you known to get anything worthy? Waukesha got PVW last year. Don’t know of any of my hometown Milwaukee stores, that is none willing to divulge their existence. Cant tell if they play lottery, reward loyalty or the almighty dollar. Had some luck in la crosse. BTAC should be coming soon for 2016

It hit NE IL today, every store that I know off that got it got wiped out in less than 15 mins. Was able to snag an eagle rare 17 for 124.00 after tax when I lucked out and walked into a store that had just received it’s shipment 5 mins before. Was hoping for WLW or GTS but no luck. I refuse to partake in the black market so it looks like I won’t be trying WLW or GTS anytime soon.

I checked a couple of Binny’s and a store I got GTS at last year and they all said they haven’t gotten it yet. The other store said early Nov, but they did get it Oct 15th last year.

Forget about getting your btac because it always ends up in the hands of the flipper before it even leaves the distributor. They have the retail market cornered. The guy who actually appreciates what’s in the bottle and shares it with family and friends is ultimately screwed. No worries though, you can always buy it from the flipper who screwed you then turns right around and offers it to you on BottleSpot the day it is released for 800%+ mark up. Lol!!! Limited bourbon is now nothing more than a commodity — something that is bought and sold for profit. Seems lik everyone has their hands in on the action at the expense of the people who genuinely enjoy the juice. That’s too bad.

capitalism is BO$$

That’s just not true. Yes there are flippers out there but far from having the market cornered.

Echo Blake’s remark. Yes it is easy to be bitter and frustrated, but not every store handles things unfairly – whether they do a lottery or simply put the bottles out with a modest (less than 20%) mark up. You have to work, you have to be lucky. Last year, for example, through some driving, a lottery, and some friends, I managed to snag 1 Pappy, 2 Van Winkles and 2 BTAC – and I have NO connections other than folks at stores that I have cultivated and no special favors other than a quick wink to let me know to check out the locked case.

You want to stop the flippers… stop buying from them!! REAL EASY!! You want to stop the RETAILER PRICE GOUGING!!! REAL EASY!! STOP BUYING FROM THEM!!!

A couple stores in the Central Jersey area still have Van Winkle from last year. $999.00 for a 15, 2 20’s for $1100.00 each AND A 23 FOR $2700.00!! LET THEM ROT ON THE SHELF!!!

BOTTLEBLUEBOOK.COM — PAY NOTHING MORE THAN UNDER THAT PRICE AND ALL IS RIGHT & FAIR — (NOT PERFECT, BUT FAIR)!!!!!

This is the only answer. It may take a while for everyone to figure out but eventually things will settle back down

Blake!! You’re in Jacksonville? ROMANO’S on A1A ( and the sister store) are owned by my Sister & her Husband. Only hand tossed Pizza in the area!!

No way?! I’m going to have to check them out

Blake. Sorry. Got mixed up. Their (Romano’s) down Saint Augustine. But(!!) Jersey / New York Style Pizza & other Italian American stuff!! They do a good job! So, if your in that area!

I found a handy this year for 89 bucks. Takes work folks. Nothing good comes easy

You’re wrong!! I landed 3 Stagg, 3 Handy’s, a Willy Larue, and a Saz 18 last year all from my local guys I frequent! My VW score was just as equal. Spend money at a couple of places (a 6 pack or bottle of wine a week is enough) & be intelligent & truthful about your intentions (unlike f’n flippers!!) and be positive & you should be OK.

This was to “mj”.

great haul indeed Lu Cifer. A score like that in NJ would be out-of-worldly. Has anyone in NJ been able to score a WLW at cost in 2014? I mean I was fortunate enough to garner 3 BTAC bottles from last year’s release at cost…which was beyond expectations to be frank. 2 takeaways: friendly,first-name-basis relationships with store mgr / employees is a must, and i feel like haul success is highly dependent on state. just feel like NJ gets no love with WLW…maybe (and hopefully) this year with the higher WLW production, things change.

Actually, it was NJ… Well NY & NJ.

Seems like it landed in Northern IL. REAL low allocations… im not hopeful this year.

Why would the IL allocation be so low this year? Is that much more going to “on-premise” (bars/restaurants) locations or did Southern and Wirtz piss off BT somehow?

I saw a Handy in a North County SD store yesterday. I saw the price and didn’t bother asking what year. $489.99! They also had Lot b for $699.99! Done with that store!

Jeeeeze! Is it typical for stores to mark them up that much? That is ridiculous.

Prices from a store in Newport RI: Handy $399.95, EH Taylor Cured Oak $499.95, Michter’s SB25 $1999.95, PVW 15 2013 $999.95, PVW 20 2014 $1299.95, PVW 23 Family Select $9999.95!!!

LET THEM ROT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I agree, let those rot on the shelves. I would never pay that much for something that I’m going to piss out.

Was the claim that BTAC launched in Chicago true? if so……missed it again.

Yes, it was true

I heard that Ron Swanson already bought up all the BTAC in Indiana and buried it on his property.

Yes! Glad someone noticed the reference

I thought he was more of a lagavulin man? 🙂

Hopefully Tom’s Bistro has this by the oz for a reasonable price.

They have an entire BTAC set right next to the unopened bottles of snake juice

Yes just saw an ER 17 in Indy!

Did you buy?

no it was saved for someone higher on the list. Did get a bottle of Handy at Mr. G’s.

Where?

Elite but looks like I’m going to have to cross my fingers for a lucky lottery pic this year.

Per The Party Source in NKY:
The Party Source is receiving a shockingly small allocation this year of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Frankly, we were stunned at the low numbers. The Party Source will not have a BTAC release this year. We have made the decision to hold our tiny allocation for in-store tasting events and for Spring 2016 when we hope to again be able to sell samples at the Library Bar. We know that this decision will be frustrating and disappointing for many and we apologize for that, but we feel that this is our best course of action this year.

Partysource apparently got 25 bottles in.

BTAC is in Kansas (Johnson County). My local spot had one ER 17 and two Stagg.

Would you mind sharing the store name in Johnson County? For future reference.

I can’t mention the store but the bottles didn’t and won’t hit the shelves there. It’s a smaller location and the owner contacts a few loyal customers that he can be sure won’t flip it. I’d suggest finding a spot local to you, be religiously loyal to it, and you won’t have to find BTAC, it will find you.

I was told there wasn’t any Stagg coming to Kansas. That was per the distributor.

They lied or were misinformed

After reading the numerous accounts of “small allocations” in each state, I should say that one shop owner told me that it was decided the large majority of the BTAC would be going to high-end restaurants this year, as opposed to retail outlets. I obviously can’t confirm this information, but it’s beginning to seem like a reality with there being such a shortage in stores across the country.

Well with this Bourbon nonsense getting worse — does make sense. But, most distributor reps are full of sh!t so…

You are correct on both accounts

One of the liquor stores here in MD, who I have a ticket for their Whiskey Raffle, said they were expecting less this year because of that fact.

Which stores are doing it this year, if you don’t mind me asking? Missed getting my # pickked on the MoCo lottery and would love to extend my chances as they are looking like next to nothing right now.

Definitely Utah has been released but only three or four state stores are selling.
Good news they are state stores and with tax BTAC is $85 per bottle.
Bad news is they are allowing only one bottle per person and if they see you attempting to purchase
another 5 minutes later they will refuse (Bring a friend)
Looks like 280West Harris /1600 South in SLC is best bet with most stock.

GLTA

Wisconsin’s late to the party this year!?

BTAC in Utah is confirmed. I got the bottle of GTS to prove it. Stores opened at 11 and all the GTS/Saz 18 were gone in 30 mins.

The last bottle ( WLW) of any BTAC in Southern Utah was gone by 2:30 pm Friday. It was sold to a man who drove in from Cali.

Another note on BTAC distribution. 54 bottles of Stagg came to Utah and 27 of them were put out for retail sale. Clearly half of the load went to restaurants and I’m ok with that. I’d rather see it at a bar where multiple people get to taste it than in the hands of a flipper. My bottle is of course going to be shared with only the very best of friends.

Any idea as to what bars have them? Been searching and only seen whiskey street in DT SLC for $23 a pour.

According to their website, Bourbon House in SLC has GTS and WLW for $15 a pour.

BTAC is in Indianapolis. Picked up a bottle of George T Stagg today, buddy purchased Thomas Handy.

Were at?

I have been hunting for years and years and have never been able to get anything. If anyone wants to sell please contact me at chasekirkwood@gmail.com.

Make relationships with store owners/managers, find out how your different stores distribute their allocations to sign up for lotteries/get on wait lists, and take it from there. After that it’s a crap shoot, regardless how long you’re been hunting and what you’ve scored before.

Local store in Louisville Ky announced by email list that they would release theirs on Saturday 10/10 at 9am. On Friday 10/9 they sent another email at 6:45pm that stated if you were not already in line you would not get a bottle. Those people waited in line for 15 hours to get a bottle of btac.

Azzholes.

Guarantee most, if not ALL, of them — F’ n Flippers!!!! Any real enthusiast knows that there are plenty of great bottles on the shelf. It’s the F’n Flipper / Weasel (Tiny lil’ rodent brain) mentality that would compel a grown adult to “Camp Out” like their waitin’ for Justin Bieber(sic) tickets like a 12 year old girl. I spent my Saturday night sampling some EWSB, HM10BiB, EC12, Rittenhouse, & Pikesville — ALL under $50.00 bucks – Most better than the BTAC – (IMO — Sans GTS & WLW). Better for the Wallet & the Conscience anyway!

Yikes, that’s rather harsh. I slept out last year for 14 hours, was second & third in line, with wife, and was able to buy Pappy 23 & 20 for normal retail price. We had a lot of fun hanging with other bourbon drinkers, trading stories and drinking the night away. It was great and I will do it again if this store keeps their very fair policy of first come first buy. There is no way I would ever be able to buy a 23 & 20 at such a price. Yes, 30 years ago I was sleeping out for concert tickets and now I’ll sleep out for bourbon.
No regrets!

Alright then Brother!! If that’s your thing than that’s your thing!! Best to you!

Don’t get me wrong. F the Flippers, of course, but not everyone crazy enough to sleep out for a first come first buy deal is a flipper. I’ll never pay Flipper prices and will gladly belly up to a bar for a pour of what I don’t have. Good luck Hunting everyone!!

Sounds like someone is bitter they suck at hunting.

An open letter to the bourbon gods. Like many out there, I have been waiting patiently for the release of the coveted BTAC, and if this year is like last year, Arizona should be seeing their allotment any day now. As fate would have it, I now have a previously unplanned 4 day business meeting out of state next week. My ask is that you either release this coveted juice this week or hold off and not release it next week.

Signed – Don’t have $500 to buy on the open market!

I feel your pain. Last year the store I normally go to told me when they could start expecting the BTAC collection but over the past few years, it has NEVER come on the 1st possible date. Even my connection at the store joked with me me how it is always 2-3 weeks late. I was out out of town as well and I called the day after the 1st possible ship date and as luck would have it, it had come the day before and already sold out.

Good luck with the hunt!

Agreed. Fuck the flippers. The reason why most of us cant enjoy these rare bourbons.

Curious if people here make a distinction between people who flip bottles just to make a few bucks and people who flip them to be able to afford other great bottles?

Good question. For me flipping bottles is a part of today’s bourbon world. When it’s done by enthusiast in moderation I have no problem with that

Agreed. Although I don’t do it. I do however stock up when I can – but I do it fairly. As stated – I spend money, build relationships & I open my rare stuff amongst friends who appreciate it.

I visited a store in my hometown recently, and essentially the owner told me flat out that he’s getting 9 bottles of Pappy, and that he sells them strictly online for upwards of $1300. Needless to say, I won’t be stopping in again.

While I’m not a big fan of flippers, if you made the effort to get a bottle then you can do what you want with it. A retailer flipping all of his allotment, however, really chaps my ass.

This a question I often consider, as I do a little trading amongst friends. What I can’t figure is why the hoarder seems to get by without any admonishment. Too often I see “bunkers” that resemble retail shelves and have to wonder what the market might look like for the flippers if that was allowed back on the market. Don’t get me wrong, I would happily take two bottles off the shelf if given an opportunity, but a dozen each of GTS, WLW, PVW and others seems to me to be just as egregious as a flippers’ price.

How are they deserving of admonishment? This isn’t bourbon socialism.

For every one bottle of Pappy there’s probably 1,000+ people that would buy it. A few hundred guys emptying their bunker would have no affect on demand

I don’t understand how so many people are able to get the inside track on when a store/state will get it. If you are waiting in line over night for 15 hours how did you hear that the store would have it in the first place?

Many stores send out emails or notify their loyal customers

Put effort in calling stores and making friends. Put hours in and you’ll begin to understand how the shit works. Also, states tend to get it on a similar schedule as previous years.

people’s comments are hilarious…’how do they know about this and that…” must be millenials not cognizant of putting in effort.

couldn’t have said it better myself

https://media.giphy.com/media/b9aScKLxdv0Y0/giphy.gif

Those darn Millenials don’t want to do nothin. They won’t even work to pay my part of Social Security!

Kidding of course but I think it’s more new guys not understanding the process of rare bourbon releases. I know plenty of millenials that work harder at bourbon than their day job 🙂

If you want to know about how to be the person who actually works for the rare whiskey, there’s a blog called Whiskey Goals. These guys chronicle their way to a bottle of Eagle Rare 17. I don’t think they got it yet, but they started some time in the summer. Fun to keep up with.

Never saw that site before. Pretty neat…

Agreed – Thanks Hank!

BTAC is in Wisconsin! Numbers are WAY down

In Madison and Milwaukee area?

It’s pretty hilarious that someone has to start a blog (and that people would follow the blog) to explain the concept of building a relationship with someone. Here’s a tip: buy all your stuff from the same store. I understand that the grocery store or wherever might have beer for cheaper, but when October rolls around you’ll be glad that you paid an extra dollar for your beer all year long.

It’s pretty hilarious that someone has to start a blog (and that we would all follow it) to explain the concept of drinking bourbon.

To your point though, I have been loyal to a local LQ store for about a year now and they have yet to be honest with me about when/how I can attempt to buy one of these bottles. Meanwhile, other LQ stores in the area have been very forthcoming with me and I was even able to score a bottle of Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, even though I haven’t shopped there in over a year. Loyalty is a two way street that isn’t always followed. Everyone’s hunt is different, there’s no proof positive way of obtaining one of these bottles.

ALL BTAC & VW is going to Sean Brock’s restaurants!!!! Bastard!! — Just kidding Chef!

Jesse, two of us have been building a nearly exclusive relationship with one of the biggest stores in Denver. We visit weekly, attend all of their tastings, are members in their rewards club, and on their mailing list. We couldn’t even score the E.H. Taylor Cured Oak. We are in lotteries at three other stores but we’re getting no information from our “loyalty” store. Loyalty apparently means nothing in this game.

I went to White Chocolate Grill in Denver on Saturday. They had none of the BTAC releases, no PVW 15, and PVW 23 was $68 a shot. I settled for Weller 12 and OF Birthday Bourbon.

Well, this isn’t a perfect science Kurt. Part of it is vetting the stores to see if you stand any chance and if it’s worth the time/effort/money to build a relationship. The two stores near me that I know get the biggest allocations are two places I never go. Why? Because I know that I would still be buried on their preferred customer list regardless. Regarding Cured Oak, that was nearly impossible to get in a lot of markets. My store who gladly hooked me up with PVW 15, 20 and 23 last year couldn’t get me Cured Oak, because they got zero.

I visited recently. There was VW rye and 12 at Guard & Grace (?) at $35/. Might still be there.

I think the end of the “BOOM” is slightly upon us. With all of the (Justified mind you) “Whining” — better word: “REPORTING” — that goes on on this board regarding how tough it’s getting to get your hands on the limited stuff, I can only imagine it’s thrice (if only that) that in the real world. Are we as a whole getting disgusted by this thing we have created (Man kills God scenario)? I’d say a definite…”Maybe?”. The rare stuff has yet to hit my area ( I have seen Parker’s MALT out there – but I don’t want American 8 Year Scotch!!), but I know that if my regular guys don’t / can’t(?) deliver for me this year (plus a bit of hunting / scouting) — yeah, I’m gonna be a bit pissed. Will I stop drinking Bourbon? Well, NO! But it will certainly effect how I approach the “rare” season. Might not even bother with it anymore! Why set out on the hunt if you’re only going to get annoyed — not even so much about the lack of availability — but the F’N PRICES!!! Here on the East Coast A LOT of stores are run by Middle & Far East Asians – most of these Kats (although very friendly & gracious!!) buy into the “hype” their Dist Reps. feed them. The Reps come in, load them up all year w/ garbage Vodka, Rum, Cheap Wine w/ the promise of delivering the Rare Whiskey’s that they can charge in some case a 1000 percent mark up. And the owners buy into it based upon F’N Wine Searcher!! So what happens? The stuff sits (Good!! LET IT ROT!! at that price). But that is OUR(!!) (Tee Hee Hee) whiskey just sitting there. That’s just sad man!! The web has made a lot of the store owners a bit delusional. It’s the good ones (that still charge retail or over retail – but under Blue Book – bottlebluebook.com) that keep me going. I hope it all changes soon. But it won’t.

Wow…now we’re getting racist about all of this, huh, Lu??? Middle Eastern and Asian owners are the people selling this stuff for crazy prices? Really??? Funny but over the past two years of my hunting in the NY, NJ, CT & PA areas I have found 80%+ stores are run by people who look very similar to me….white. Why don’t you relax dude and stick to the bourbon comments and leave your “observations” to yourself.

Twit… It’s a noticed thing in the area. I have nothing against the race / creed / or religion of a store proprietor (if I did, I would not frequent their establishment). My issue is that the Dist. Reps are taking advantage of some of these folks by misleading them as to the perceived value of the limited stuff just to pump up the sales of cheap crap through out the year.

Maybe you might consider helping out the immigrant population – you know “spread the wealth a bit” – in the area instead of only frequenting the “White Only” establishments as you have indicated.

Thanks for the advice racist moron. Yeah, I go to stores based on the race of the owners. To even suggest that shows who you are. Idiot!

Silly Lil’ Man Ain’t ya Mitch. By the way… My Mother’s Japanese & my Father’s Black. Anything else…?? Hmmm..??

Lu is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle inside of a conundrum. You can’t pin him down.

Btw I understood what you meant and if it were racist I would have deleted the comment

Thanks Brother! Luv Ya Man!

Now you’re saying don’t go to the big stores because they’re buried in customers. And we know you can’t go to small stores because they won’t get any for sure. I guess we need we need to find the Goldilocks of stores; not too big, not too small, but just right.

Certainly not a science.

On the EHT Cured Oak we were numbers 2 and 3 on the waiting list. We were told they were getting three bottles but we were still shut out.

Kurt… Drink Vodka. Always plenty of that!! 🙂

No Kurt, I’m not saying avoid bigger stores. I’m saying part of it is trying to make an educated guess as to where you stand with any given store. A store getting a good allocation is only one factor. I’m also cautioning you to not draw conclusions on your “loyalty store” based on Cured Oak. I was #1 on the list at more than one place for that. You know how many I got? Zero. That was a strange release with a really uneven allocation. Did you follow up with that store to find out why you didn’t get it when you were basically promised a bottle?

Lu, I do that too but only the cheap stuff.

I found a bottle of BTAC Eagle Rare and Weller in Frankfort KY on 10/09/2015.

Those bottles didn’t have to travel far!

I’m assuming it’s hit in Madison WI. Any idea when it would be distributed in Milwaukee / Southeast WI?

I was told it will hit Milwaukee area starting Wednesday. My one guy said he is getting 2 bottles, down from 10 last year. Not sure if DL will be getting a better allotment.

Thanks David!!

Do we know where in Wisconsin it’s been spotted?

Madison store had some lottery drawings already so they had it but it appears Milwaukee area may be tomorrow…haven’t seen anything today yet.

Damn, missed the Madison store then. Follow a few that I frequent on social media, but didn’t see any advertising lotteries yet. Do you happen to know which store? Star Liquor did their lottery late October/early November…if I remember correctly.

Riley’s had their lottery already had their lottery. I don’t think any of the others have yet. I think many of the rest wait until they get BTAC and Pappy before they do the lottery.

Good news everyone!
Those who missed out on getting their # called for the MoCo lottery, it has been more than one week and there are supposedly a few bottles still floating around. This means that they should be doing a second lottery according to shop managers and the e-mail regarding the lottery. Hope they don’t extend the time people have to pick these up so I can hopefully get my number called this time around.
Probably only a few bottles of Handy left over, but I’ll take it if I win and share it with friends, unlike the probably 100+ friggin’ flippers who won first time around.

Looking for a bottle in the Kentucky area as a Christmas gift for my son. Anyone have an idea who to call to get on a list?

Charlene- especially in KY, if you weren’t on a list months ago you won’t get any BTAC bottles by asking to get on a list now. I would suggest 4 ways that you can realistically find something at this point if you are already plugged in somewhere:
1- find the stores that release theirs in a lottery drawing and hope to get lucky
2- find a store that is going to do a first-come-first-served release and be prepared to stand in line hours before they open
3- contact friends or family that live in states that haven’t released yet and see if they can help you hunt down a bottle as well
4- pay the dreaded secondary market prices on Craigslist or Bottlespot, etc.

People think KY should be the place you can’t this stuff but any extra volume of allocations is overwhelmed by a population that has a crazy amount of demand. You simply aren’t going to call a store, get put on a list today and get a bottle when it’s already out in that state. Good luck with 1-4!

What bottle are you looking for?

It looks like it will be released at Liquor Barn stores (at least in Lexington) tomorrow. First come, first served. I was having dinner near one of their Lexington stores tonight a little before 6PM and there were already three people camping out for the release. Best of luck!

I have a couple extra rare bottles. What are you looking for?

BTAC hit the rest of Delaware today and is already gone. Both Total Wines have the tags still out. Apparently someone came in this morning and bought their whole allotments. Employees at both stores confirmed, and I watched one enter a couple into the system and it showed 0 available. What a shame, they really need to start a one per customer system.

I wound up snagging a few more bottles from other stores. I’m pretty confident there is nothing left in Northern DE.

Yeah, they really do need to start a one per customer per state system…

I don’t think Total Wine cares … they probably just want it out of there as soon as possible. As much as it means to us, the whiskey market is nothing compared to the wine market so they have nothing to gain by being accommodating to us.

Total Wine sucks. I hate shopping there. You ever notice how much “knock off” whiskey they stock (most made by the Barton distillery — most pretty terrible). We got few out here – there are better stores with better service with better prices!! Side note — found a shop w/ W.L. Weller 12 on the shelf last night. Bought a few – left a few (only fair!!).

I will be in Portland ME this weekend for a wedding. Does anyone know which liquor stores I should check out? Thx

Local store on Commercial Street tells me they received Eagle Rare 17 and Sazarac 18 two weeks ago, but that they are held for bars they supply on the street. Went to one of the bars and was told they had one bottle of each that went in one night for $20/oz.

I was able to score a bottle of Handy in Madison area yesterday. Haven’t seen/heard about anything in the MKE area yet.

BTAC in MI

Tried right across the OH border near Sylvania/Toledo as well as Monroe, no such luck. Is this only hitting in Detroit so far?

Anyone heard anything about Wyoming yet? And do they get it in Western Wyoming at all?

A redditor in North Dakota and a couple of his buddies apparently got a shitload today.

Those guys are from Philly. 99.9% sure that stuff came from DE. I think most of it from the Total Wine people are complaining about above.

I doubt that stuff came from the Total Wines in DE, the picture doesn’t look like either of their parking lots (no rose bushes).

However, I did get to Total Wine in Claymont by 2:30pm on the day they put it out and it was confirmed that it was cleared that morning. Total Wine in Wilmington had the same story. The Wilmington stores has the BTAC tags still out and confirmed they were on the shelf, briefly. I heard that at the Claymont store someone discovered the boxes and bought them all before they even hit the shelf. Can’t confirm, but there were no BTAC tags out there.

It’s pretty ridiculous that Total Wine has a system like this when every other big box retailer has some sort of system to ensure fairness.

I’ve been told by the Total Wine by me that they’re limiting it to one bottle per customer, but that’s their own policy.

Yeah, 99% the north Dakota comment was a joke

I give up on trying to find BTAC. The 1 store I thought I had a chance at tells me today that all the bottles they will get are accounted for. This is after telling me for weeks that it will be first come, first serve. Bummer!

Time to stop shopping there. Sorry to hear that Bub!! Had that happen to me last year — however I pitched a fit until I got satisfaction — 1 Stagg / 2 Handy!!. All I wanted was a Willy Larue.

My son brought home a great birthday gift for me tonight. A bottle of Colonel EH Taylor Barrel Proof! I opened the tube for the surprise of the year…instead of EHT, a bottle of the coveted William Larue Weller! What a nice son! He also gave me the bottle of EHT.

What state may I ask?

And send your to my house please!!

Louisville, Kentucky. The norm here is becoming people lining up 24 hours before a store releases their allotment. Extremely hard to score a bottle this year!

Good Kid!! Good Kid!! You raised that Boy right! Nice Job!

Now that is a good day – happy belated birthday!

Any word of sightings in Maryland outside of Montgomery County?

Had a chat with a few stores in Harford County. No one has gotten any bottles in stock yet, but some stores aren’t doing a wait list this year. It will just be first come first serve.

Not to my knowledge. A liquor store who does a raffle told me they have yet to get any of the Whiskey for the raffle. Hoping the distributor didn’t just give it to all inside people or the distributor isn’t waitinf to drop BTAC with Pappy. My wallet won’t like that if I am lucky to score some.

I’ve been hearing late Oct/early Nov from a few store owners in Maryland, but it sounds like many of them are as in the dark as we are 🙂

I’m hearing November enough to start believing that it’s true.

BTAC confirmed in Ohio. Distrobution rep says only 39 total bottles allocated to the entire state. All to restaurants and bars. Fortunately got to taste the Handy and WLW here in Columbus tonight!

What restaurants in Columbus had BTAC?

How were they? Did they live up to your expectation?

Hey Joe, my buddy is in cbus for the weekend. Where were they pouring BTAC?

Does Europe get any BTAC?

Used to get some. Probably very few bottles these days. At least at retail

Back in May I saw a few bottles of 2014 GTS in a store off the Royal Mile in Edinborough. At the time it would have been above secondary market price but at this point it might be a deal. Also saw Pappy 20 and 23 in a different store.

Good timing + luck + relationships. Walked into a store at just the right time last week, they had the WLW and a Handy behind the counter, I told them I’d take the Weller. Not sure I could have bought both of them, but didn’t even ask, figured I’d leave the Handy for some other lucky soul. Then later in the day I found out I got a bottle in a lottery run by another store. A Handy – karma was good to me. Then I picked up a Saz at a store where I do most of my purchasing, and they had held one for me.

Beauty Dude!!

What state?

Wisconsin. Don’t bother looking now, I’m sure they’re all long gone.

Saw a few bottles of THH still on the shelves just today in WI so they are still out there. Sounds like no GS or ER17 anywhere however.

Johann, can you please share where you saw the THH on shelves? You can email me at rlx220 at yahoo dot com.

Thepeas,
Just saw this. Email sent

That is awesome, what a haul!

BTAC in dc today….

Just wondering if you knew retail stores & restaraunts?

Any additional info? I checked in with a few liquor stores in the NW and downtown, and they all said they haven’t seen anything.

Jason,
Is this based upon CostCo receiving it physically and having it on the shelf, or based upon a wine-searcher query? If the latter, I know that Cordial (the only place listed as having it in DC per Wine-Searcher) in near-NE does not have it and will most likely not be getting it in the future. I know this for an absolute fact because my girlfriend, whom I live with, is one the 3 people who work there. Figured I’d ask and clear this up for the other readers.

As RNDCs biggest account in DC is CostCo, many shops are saying that they may not be getting it. Schneider’s, MacArthur and Calvert Woodley would most likely be the only other places getting more than 1 or 2 bottles that aren’t already spoken for, especially with the projected amounts for DC via Whiskey Business – http://www.whiskeybusinessba.com/blog/btac-in-dc.

Readers may note that if you miss out on grabbing a bottle via retail stores, you may be able to grab a pour at Jack Rose, Bourbon (Glover Park), Bourbon (Adams Morgan), Barrel (Eastern Market), or Rebellion (DuPont/Adams Morgan).

It is in the city— there is a bottle of 2015 eagle rare 17 at tenley mini mart as of 25 minutes ago. Guy wanted $300. Shamefully I left the bottle on the shelf. Wouldn’t negotiate and honestly, wanted the Weller. He got one bottle of each. 17 should still be available. Ask the man. Not on the shelf. (Although for 300 maybe it will be soon)

It can sit on the shelf right by his $400 Cured Oak. He said he had to buy that from another store and then mark it up, hence the high price. I know he knows about Costco so he may be buying from there. Last year he had a really expensive THH for months. But the weird thing is that he also sold me a GTS and Pappy 12 at totally reasonable prices.

I’ve heard it was Costco. Also heard that Costco got three bottles of Four Roses LE today and there was some sort of crazy line to try and get it.

I also called around to all of the bigger liquor stores in dc today and can confirm none of them have it yet.

Many stores in DC that used to get a decent amount think at best they may get a bottle or two, if any this year. With the word being that all of DC is getting about 75 bottles of BTAC, and some of that going to the stores that price gouge, some going to stores that hold for preferred customers, and some going to bars/restaurants, I am not going to be working too hard trying to find a bottle after getting a WLW already in Moco. Have a couple stores I’m hoping may yield something but not holding my breath.

Just bought Weller 12 at retail. Love Weller 12 and EC 12 for everyday. My store in Kansas only received 2 bottles of BTAC. Struck out. Just enjoy what you like.

Have btac been released in the rest of maryland? Any news on when and when to camp out (total wine)

I wish I had any information about Maryland other than one of the stores I shop at just announced today that they were delaying their Whiskey Raffle. Had they cancelled the raffle, I’d say don’t keep too much hope, as if any store knows the status of the Whiskeys we hunt, this one does.

I guess, if all the bottles destined for MD went to Montgomery County or the remaining bottles coming to MD are all going to Bars and Restaurants, that makes me even more happy about my EC23 purchase back on Labor Day!

I did find something out today about the rest of Maryland today while at a liquor store I am a regular at. They told me that the distributor is going to release both BTAC and Pappy at the same time they were saying. That means at least another few weeks likely.

Still nothing in the Milwaukee area as far as I know. Anyone know when it will hit stores?

Its strange. Usually Madison is one week ahead of Milwaukee. AS of yesterday Discount Liquor still claimed to have no knowledge of when it was coming.

I keep hearing the same as others at retail locations in MKE area, no clue when or how much. I know one bar in the area that received a bottle of WLW and THH late last week. One would think its close.

I picked up a bottle of eagle rare 17 in Milwaukee Wednesday

Awesome and thanks for the info. I know we all want to protect our sources, but any info you can share is much appreciated.

All the info I have is the store only got eagle rare and handy sazerac and only received 3 bottles of each

A wonderful friend at the ABC liquor store in VA called and asked me if I wanted a bottle of the 2015 BTAC WILLIAM LARUE WELLER! He said ONE came in and it had no ones name on it. Guess what I said? Saving it for Christmas evening to enjoy with my husband….

Awesome! Enjoy.

Hope you “friend” doesn’t get caught. They all have someone’s name on them and if that person doesn’t claim it, it’s supposed to go back to the main warehouse. If he is caught, he will be fired, that’s for sure! Seems like you are trolling though.

NO, I’m NOT “trolling” as you say…I have NO reason to come on here and make shit up for people to read! That is not how I roll dude. I made “friends” with this employee because he and I share a GENUINE LOVE of bourbon…we are still friends, and that friendship has helped me to acquire MANY rare and unclaimed bottles of bourbon /whiskies this year….ETL, C. EH TAYLOR, STAGG JR., BTAC, BOOKERS, OFBB.. and to further irritate you, ANOTHER store in the same town in VA
Sold me another bottle of BTAC ‘William Larue Weller’ 2 weeks after I got the first one! And yes, I’m friendly with the staff there including the manager, in
Addition to buying there frequently and spending BIG money…they look out for me when something good comes in and is available w/out names and waiting lists…
So, I now have 2 bottles of the 2015 WLW! AND i paid retail for both! Maybe if you were nice, someone would look out for you once in awhile…jerk.

http://www.horizonservicesinc.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/Explosion.jpg

LOLLOLLOLLOL!!! That was very funny ” Uncle Reggie”! Since then, I’ve acquired even MORE ETL, a Col. E.H. Taylor single barrel, and 8 weller 12’s….so there!!! I have NO desire to lie…I was raised in the church and my parents didn’t play…my dad always used to say he could “put up with” a thief quicker than he could a liar….I don’t lie and I can afford my bourbon habit!

……and on another note….I couldn’t wait until Christmas to open the WLW….I have two bottles, so I figured what the hell…..I opened it and while it is “DA’ BOMB”, lol..lol…it is not worth the secondary prices ….I would NEVER pay over $200.00 retail or otherwise for a bottle. Sorry Buffalo Trace. It is VERY good tho….it’s worth locating a bottle and sharing a dram (or two) with someone you love dearly.

Not seeing any in Michigan. Talked to my local liquor store and he hasn’t heard a peep about it yet (usually gets a good haul) and saves one for me. Anyone else seeing any out there?

Hey Sam – I must have put up my post just after yours. Whereabouts in MI are you?

I’m in Ann Arbor area – local guy mentioned last year the distributor in the area sat on his stock for a couple weeks – and hence they didn’t drop until mid-November.

Crazy to hear the stories of only 5 WLW for the entire state – that cannot possibly be true.

Kind of funny – I have been having a sh!t week but had a little sunshine today. One of the great local places I pop into in western Michigan happened to get their Buffalo Trace single barrel bottles in today so I stopped by. Low and behold, a George T Stagg was sitting on the counter – I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was seeing things! He did have it marked up some but nothing nothing obnoxious. He was just getting ready to post it on Facebook as well, which would have caused it to grow legs real quick – had a little luck today! 🙂

On another note, I stopped into one of the best bourbon shops in western Michigan and the owner mentioned that only 6 bottles of William Larue Weller were allocated to the state and all have gone to restaurants. 😐 Boo to that.

I don’t understand how the entire state of Michigan could only get 6 bottles of WLW. There are almost 8,000 bottles of it this year, they must be going somewhere. Some of these claims of lower allocations throughout the country are not making much sense when the overall BTAC yield from 2014 to 2015 is only down 1.5%. There are close to twice as many bottles of WLW this year as well.

Stop believing what retailers tell you. They are very often misinformed. I was told by several stores that no one in my state was getting BTAC this year. This was after I already picked up almost a dozen bottles. Four being WLW, in a state that’s much smaller than Michigan.

Damn, a dozen!?

Some of this has to be related to the area in which you live, i.e. being more populated and therefore inherently moving more product, no?

Good for you, that is an impressive haul. I am still checking ant decent looking store along with my regular spots. Another bottle or two is bound to work its way out, it mainly seems to be about timing which can be hard for me to do at times.

Not a big area, just was able to get out and start looking around the day I knew it was released. Also supporting a lot of local stores and building connections.

Tim, the real question is, how many of those dozen bottles are you planning on selling on Facebook or Bottle-Spot?? Would be nice to hear that someone is landing tons of BTAC to actually drink and share with friends who love bourbon or not as lucky to pay multiple people to stand in line for them at stores. Congrats on making money on bottles most of us would love to see in person let alone purchase.

LOL. Was to jump to conclusions. Love to see people with sour grapes over other people getting to drink my fancy bourbon than them. It’s just booze.

Anyway, I drink them. I got almost a dozen bottles, not a dozen, and that will be gone before this time next year except maybe one or two I want to save for a special occasion. I popped the majority open over the past week to celebrate my wedding, BTAC was flowing all around. But whether or not someone does this to make a couple bucks or drinks it is really none of your concern. It’s a premium product, not food and medicine. No one is going shed a single tear if you don’t get BTAC this year. I will laugh out loud when I see people like you so mad at not getting their bourbon.

I’ll bite, if you don’t mind. You landed them at 12 different stores or multiples from a few?

I got two a couple stores, but most places would just sell one.

Yeah, I would trade one of my PVW20 (2014) for two of those BTAC’s.

I tend to be skeptical too and that number seemed really, really low. I wonder if retailers are just being misinformed on purpose or if they do this to keep expectations low?

This is completely unrelated to the BTAC, but does anyone want to trade a bottle of Elmer T Lee for a bottle of Rock Hill Farms? Or even two bottles of ETL for two RHF? I can get rock hill all day but can’t find any elmer. Email me if anyone is interested. Ian.shaferfl@gmail.com

Where you at dude? There is a store in my are a w/ a shelf o’ Elmer!

Confirmed in Rhode Island – just grabbed an ER17 – store owner received one bottle – and put it on the shelf!

Thanks! Just updated the map

confirmed Mississippi. Didnt get one yet, but I have a chance

What stores?

Got my handy today in a very very small liquor store. Walked in with my girlfriend, looked on the bourbon….nothing of course, turned to walk out and the girl behind the counter asked what I was looking for. I said you probably don’t have what I’m looking for but I’m looking for btac. She game me the weirdest look. I said, what? Do you have some. She said, yes but I’m not sure what to do with it. I said, sell it to me. She went on about not knowing what it was “worth”. But was currently googling how much the bottle was worth. I made an offer, a very fair offer and walked out with it.
I almost passed that store up just by the way it looked. Goes to show, you never know man

Confirmed BTAC in KC,MO. Staggered release so ER and Saz got released today with others to follow.

Anyone in Los Angeles want to team up and try to hunt down some limiteds? I just moved to NoHO and am trying my best to catch up.

Be ready to drop a pretty penny or win a lottery.

Found a single bottle of George T Stagg on the shelf at Total Wine in Claymont, DE yesterday. Total luck on my part, was driving through the area with friends who wanted to stop for wine.

Sometimes it’s. better to be lucky

Woooot! Awesome! Same thing happened to me, congrats!

Wow, incredible. I was there during the day it was released in Delaware and was told by employees someone cleared them out. Glad to see more than one person got a bottle. Cheers!

Just saw a GTS from last year, still in a store glass case, for $300 in North N Jersey. Right next to the VW12 for $600. Yeah, right.

where in north nj if you dont mind me asking i would take the gts email me please

Attention ARIZONA people looking for BTAC. A few weeks ago I was told that BTAC was “expected” to arrive between the 15th and 23rd of October by some folks at TW and later confirmed by another at Bevmo. On the 17th I was told that the allocation was redistributed to California by the distributer, but not to fear Arizona would be getting an allotment within 2 weeks. I called a Bevmo Saturday and they said Arizona would not be receiving any BTAC, not just Bevmo, all of Arizona. Can anyone out there confirm or refute? I need to be talked off the ledge!

Heard similar reports. First by Bevmo stating the state was only allocated 1 case (no mention of what bottles). Second time, it was stated that they would not be getting any. One TW said they weren’t sure when or if they would be getting it. Another said they should have no issues. No consistency at all.

Has there been any other CA activity that folks are aware of other than the asterisk bottle Blake mentioned up top? If not, would it make sense to reset CA on the map?

Blake, I also live in Jax and was curious if you find it easier to find BTAC and other hard to find bottles at the big box (ABC, Total Wine) or local mom and pop liquor stores? Any help would be appreciated.

I’d stick with big box unless you’ve built relationships with the mom and pop stores

Anyone have any info on West Tennessee, or West Virginia

Nothing in Memphis yet. I check around every day.

Not BTAC but there’s some Single Oak Project available at the Spec’s on NW highway in Dallas, TX. It made me happy! They only have the 11th release but I had some already and it’s awesome. They said they had plenty of bottles to go around/~$60/375ml. If you have your doubts about PVW and BTAC, this should scratch your itch. Enjoy!

Was in OK today on business and stopped by 2 local places looking for BTAC. Neither had seen any nor heard any rumors. One did just get in 3 bottles of EC18 though. He said it was first time in 2 years and was calling his best customers to sell at $104 per bottle. I’ve had it before and it is good juice, but I am saving my bourbon piggy bank for WLW. Cheers and good luck!

Oooo, been wondering when that was going to show up! I hope to score a bottle if I am lucky. 😀

Good luck on your BTAC hunt!

Does anyone know where in TX BTAC has been confirmed?

Dallas

I saw the above post about single oak project, but nothing about btac. All my source have told me nothing will be in Texas until November.

I spoke with someone that confirmed a bottle

Total Wine off I-75 & Walnut Hill in Dallas, Texas got 8 bottles total, none are available to the public apparently.

They told me it sold out in less than an hour.

Where in Dallas?

I doubt you’ll have people giving up store info

Jeff:

BTAC is not available in Oklahoma, that is straight from Buffalo Trace consumer relations. We are not worth their time, I suppose. Here is to Heaven Hill, they will send ECBbl, EC18 and EC23 to us.

Jeff: Here in Oklahoma, BTAC is not distributed. That comes from the Buffalo Trace consumer relations dept. I guess we don’t rate their products. Here is to Heaven Hill! They will send EC18and EC23 to our state.

Thanks, Leon. Good luck to you in the hunt.

Sorry for the double post

Anyone have any info. on Oregon and Washington? Thanks.

Yes, I have a solid tip that it is available in Jordan Valley, OR. You should drive out there and pick some up.

Being a bit facetious are we?

No way! Drive out there and get a few bottles!

Come on, are you seriously asking for legitimate info here? Give me a fucking break. Do some actual work. It’s pathetic.

As opposed to everyone else on this site, you sure seem to be a real dick here to troll people rather than offer anything even remotely positive. Talk about pathetic…

Can you be selected in the Montgomery County lottery if your zip code is not in Montgomery County or Maryland?

Nope

Well, I don’t live in Montgomery County and won a bottle of Eagle Rare 17 last year from them.

from what i hear, all remaining states not shaded in the above map are receiving no btac whatsoever, and all shipments are being re-directed to NY metropolitan area. sorry folks….don’t kill the messenger.

Tennessee has their allotment, but has not been delivered yet.

Any news on Tennessee Chris

I believe you have been mislead. Colorado is line to get some and from talking to store managers we’ll know more about it next week. Some places are doing a lottery, others are doing first come first serve. There are quite a few states where BTAC isn’t released until after Thanksgiving, so even though we’ve already been hunting for quite a while now the hunting season has not closed.

Yeah, there’s no way that’s true. A lot of the unshaded states already have bottles in their warehouses

my source was http://www.AU_layoffmyBTAC.edu

if my first joke was not palpable, I’ll make it clear: please don’t click , as this is a joke.

Yep. I heard that too. Anyone reading this should just stop looking completely. It’s over, sorry.

I am going to echo some of the sentiments from my earlier post as these numbers that are being relayed to the consumer seem insultingly low. Only 8 bottles for the entire, huge state of Texas? I was told only 6 bottles of WLW for Michigan, Leon reports none for Oklahoma, D reports that all other allotments going to NYC, etc, etc. There has to be some serious smoke being blown or a large amount is going overseas and/or being kept somewhere along the line.

Blake – I think I know the answer to this but is there a reliable way to vet out what fellow Bourbonrs are being told about allotment numbers?

I’m glad you mentioned this because even though the number of bottles produced has dipped this year, it still isn’t adding up when we are hearing numbers in the single digits and there’s something like 30,000+ bottles of BTAC produced.

I’d be very careful about what you believe. Everyone has different motives. Distributors may say their allocation is down because they’re actually just selling more to restaurants at better margins. Or, holding bottles hostage until stores buy cases on bottom shelf bottles.

I’m trying to verify some claims but I’ll go ahead and tell you now that not all BTAC bottles are going to NYC

Thanks for the feedback Blake. It’s not that I am buying what I am being told, I’m just trying to find a way to sort through the nonsense. Probably never will truly be able to.

I think we do sometimes under appreciate how much dreck a store may have to buy just to get a few bottles of this super allocated stuff.

Local store with decent whiskey wall in a state where it is being sold was told they could not get the John E Fitz (SW) because he had not supported the Larceny brand enough this last year. IE bought a ton of cases.

There are a couple things in play here. First is that I’m certain way more bars and restaurants are asking for stuff this year. Distributors are probably diverting a way larger percentage of their allocation towards that. From there it’s a cascading problem. Stores who are used to getting stuff start hounding their rep about when they’re going to get it, how many bottles, etc. I think that rather than say straight out that they’re getting way less (or none), the rep is deflecting, then just letting the store figure out for themselves that they’re getting none. It’s passive aggressive BS but imagine being in the rep’s shoes. So the stores are getting no or bad info and they’re passing that on to you.

The second thing, which has been confirmed to me by more than one shop owner is that the reps are becoming more and more demanding about carrying crap in order to get these bottles. One manager was extremely frank with me and went into the whole pricing strategy of the stuff. He’d take the crap product and sell it at cost or at a loss and adjust the prices of the BTAC or Pappy to make up for it. In the past the amount of crap he had to take was manageable but it’s now gotten out of hand. He said he just refused to take the crap and as a result got none. In the past this guy got big allocations of all this stuff. My main store had a ton of stuff last year and this year got no WLW, no GTS and not even enough total bottles to take care of all their good customers. He told me that if I take a BTAC, I can’t get Pappy. He’s equally pissed at the distributors and mad that he has to do crap like that to his loyal customers.

HA!!!! I knew it!! Distributors suck!!!

Interesting. Apparently that tactic is illegal in NY. All states should make it illegal. It may help with the pricing issue for some retailers

Blake, I’ve heard that from two different retailers in NY (not near each other). They have to buy cases and cases of stuff to get the allocated at this time of year. Just heard that from a 3rd store that he isn’t getting any John Fitz because he didnt buy enough Larceny this year.

I think coupled with the switch in distributors this year everything has gotten crazy for the stores. None I spoke to are happy with it.

my dearest peers. please use your beloved knoggins when reading posts. how would i know that EVERY state not shaded is NOT receiving any, and selfishly being sent to my home region?! let’s be clear, i have immense compassion for our shared zeal around our abilities to crack a bottle of any btac or vw during the holiday season with friends/family, so my apologies on perhaps the ill-timed joke, but please, don’t believe anything you hear and half of what you see when it comes to chatter around states receiving/not receiving bottles.

HAHA ok, I bit. In my defense, it wasn’t the most outlandish comment/email I’ve responded to today 🙂

Its not that I believed you, I’m just trying to find a way to cut through the bullshit. 😀

I called a store in Dallas yesterday, the girl said they had 4 different bottles of antique, but of course they were already gone. I doubt 8 total bottles in texas and I doubt none for any of the other states not shaded in. Thats got to be wrong. We will see. If it is wrong, I’ll drink something else

For TX, i know specs warehouse in houston got their allotment but those were all given to their top customers per their system and talking with a couple of my shops they tell me they will be getting “some” but don’t know exactly when. Either way there is/will be more than 8 bottles for the state

BTAC in MN as of yesterday the 28th.

Bought ER17 off shelf today and got sandbagged worse than I have ever been before at another store just now

I litterally watched the distrib walk in with a couple cases of Stagg and set them on the floor in front of me. GM of the store has the balls to tell me ‘they’re sold.’ He should’ve just kneed me in the nuts at the same time. Fucking assholes, what else is new?

I know here in Oregon, some stores pre-sell them to their best accounts and customers…

What store? I just called all my usual suspects and nobody has gotten anything in yet.

Should have said…yeah…I know…I’m here to pay for them…they’re for me. Would have loved to the look on his face….

Where did you see that?

Rumors are correct, the total wine in Dallas sold out super quick and I didn’t score any. All the other stores in Dallas are saying their allocation will be in next week if any but I’m sure there are more than 8 bottles in all of Texas. For me it’s not worth driving to every store now just to check and see if they have any. I’ve built my relationships and hope they give me a call. If not then I’ll stick with my whistle pig and call it a day. Definitely not worth the heart break.

I scored two more Bottles of Handy in North Mississippi. There are more bottles around, but I think the owners are being crappy about it. Most arent even friendly enough to talk to you about it. Need a Saz and a Larue to complete my collection. But this Handy is going down since I have a triple

Email I received from NH State Liquor Store (Salem, NH Branch):

There is an extremely limited supply. We do not expect to receive any.

From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 12:30 PM
To: Store 34
Subject: Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

Is there an estimated date when the Buffalo Trace antique collection will be on sale? Last year I remember it was right around this time.

Thanks,

Joe

There’s always an extremely limited supply. Let’s just see what happens

I have a contact there that indicated that their allocation this year was cut 75% and that they do not expect to have any arriving in stores. When pressed as to what was happening to the allocation they were receiving the answer was “TBD”.

Dallas confirmed BTAC- . Give your business to one store and you will be taken care of. If you don’t have a relationship, good luck. I tried playing the “Hunt” 3 years ago and learned that relationships get you product, begging the week of release gets you nothing. Good luck fellow bourbonrs.

Eh… I wouldn’t exactly say that. I had my relationships pay off pretty well last season (VW10, VW12, VW15, GTS & a WLW). But, I also landed a few by just asking (VW10, VW12, VW20, Handy, Saz 18, & a GTS). Raised a bit off hell about not getting a WLW a store that I was promised — but got a GTS & 2 Handy’s out of it. And I “walked in” on a VW15 & VW12 on the shelf. It’s all a bout “luck”. And I’m the most unlucky bastard I know.

Wish y’all lots o’ luck! Get out there and get a huntin’!!! Quit your jobs! Abandon your families! Mortgage the house! Get that damn whiskey!!! 🙂

Good god man! Was this your best year or just a typical year?

Just a “lucky” year. There were years I saw zip as well.

Nice – good for you! That was an incredible haul.

Good luck out there!

Thank you Bro! Best to you as well!

I haven’t heard or seen anything in the Chicagoland area. Am I just blind or are we still in the waiting game??

They dropped in early October on the 7th. Seriously you missed it by almost a month.

Can anyone else confirm that? Beginning of October would’ve been early compared to previous years, but not unbelievable. I’m not necessarily new to the hunt. I haven’t seen anyone else in Chicagoland area who has confirmed a bottle. My regular store has not heard anything yet. The other guys I know in my area (Far West) have had no information either.

Maybe downtown got it and there is not enough allocation for the ‘burbs?

It was a week or two earlier, but yeah BTAC in Chicago (and all of Illinois) has come and gone. I got a TH Handy in IL a little over two weeks ago.

Picked up the WLW in the Chicagoland area last month.
Pappy came in today. Good luck.

BTAC hit Southern California! On my way to pick up some hopefully!

Does anybody have any idea when Northern California gets it’s allocation?

Socal got ours this morning. No Saz. Wound up with a weller

By any chance did you get yours in North OC?

They dropped in Southern California today! I was able to get eagle rare 17. Good Day!

Just pick up some BTAC in Southern Cali! Run to your local total wine!!

As of today, Southern California has finally received the real BTAC for this year. They are now sold out from the big stores. I’m fortunate enough to get the GTS. 🙂

Someone a few posts up mentioned New Hampshire. I spoke to someone very high up at the liquor commission. Restaurants will get BTAC, but none will be going to stores. That’s what my source says. We’ll see what happens.

BTAC at Total Wine in SoCal this morning.

i emailed the NH liquor commission a few months back and they said it should hit the stores. how many restaurants in NH would even have high end bourbon like that? 3? 4?

There are several high end restaurants in Manchester and along the coast (Portsmouth, Hampton, etc). New Hampshire got a great allocation last year (I know because between my relative and I, we got 10 bottles). This year it was cut huge. Only one store is getting BTAC. Rest going elsewhere.

Binnys came and went on the 7th…. They all got them and are gone!

Hit CA today.

Not Northern CA….

Where in CA? Any news about Nor Cal hitting yet?

I haven’t seen anything in so-cal. Nothing from my local contacts and no calls from anyone else.

Nothing at the big box retailers either.

I’d like to know more about where it was seen, possibly another mistake by the distributor.

No there’s been a ton or bottles reported in so cal. Just search the comments on this post. I believe several even got bottles at Total Wine

I was at total wine in my area at opening (9am). Only reason I even try to stand in line is for retail pricing. Doors open that morning and they tell us nothing came in.

Apparently they got it in at 11?? Hopefully my local stores where I have made partnerships actually get something in this year.

I ordered and paid with bitcoins. It has been over a month and have not received the order. The company does not reply to emails. No telephone number listed to call. Don’t be fooled like me – the site appears to be a total scam. The Bitcoin Alcohol Market is a scam.

Sorry for your loss.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

customerservice@bitcoinalcohol.market

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain bitcoinalcohol.market by mail.bitcoinalcohol.market. [68.65.122.167].

The error that the other server returned was:
550 No Such User Here”

Picked up GTS on Friday in SoCal. Price was $99.99 (incl tax). Store is making BTAC available based on customer $ spend throughout the year (in this case, that means customers that have spent $ on bourbon specifically in 2015).

I like that idea. My favorite store holds a lottery throughout the year, which I understand, but I wish they structured it differently. For example, those who buy $X of bourbon throughout the year get X amount of entries in the rare bourbon lottery. I know that would equate to a lot of legwork on their part but I think it would be the fairest way to do it as their lottery is for rare spirits as a whole so a beer guy could end up with a great bourbon and a bourbon guy could end up with a rare beer. Ah well, here’s hoping I get lucky and score a rare bourbon! 😀

Are you talking about Bevmo? I called a local store and they said something similar, no real details though. Also, I cannot seem to get a common answer from any two bevmos

Being new switchover from scotch in nyc I can say it’s close to impossible to get btac here, at normal prices, if store has it its higher than secondary market. I guess also too bad I don’t really have friends, esp ones that drink bourbon, wife doesn’t drink. Even less rare bottles I can get take me a while to drink.

I’m curious as to where the bottles were spotted at in Missouri. I’ve been staking out all the stores in town and have 5 others doing the same. No one has reported this even arriving yet, even more so there is a private label backlog or something until November 1st due to Total Wine’s 3 stores they opened.

I spoke to a clerk at an ABC in Jacksonville today and he told me they sold a bottle of WLW on Sunday. He also said all other bottles of BTAC are being sold through the ABC bourbon lottery.

Jacksonville, FL that is.

For those not familiar with Florida they don’t have state controlled ABC stores (Alcoholic Beverage Control) like many states do but they do have a state wide semi-big box private chain called ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Prior to sometime around June of 2014 they sold Pappy and BTAC on a first come, first served basis. In June 2014 they stopped selling small allotment bourbons at the store level and started doing a state wide lottery. If a store sold a bottle recently it might have been to a lottery winner and have been from a previous allotment but the timing is a bit coincidental.

The guy who bought it was a former ABC employee that was about to go to boot camp, so maybe they gave it to him as going away gift. However, the clerk did tell me that it was a 2015 WLW.

What’s the proof of the bottle you got?
(alcohol proof, not evidence proof 🙂

Supporting the troops is always a good cause in my book so that’s pretty cool. It would also suggest that FL distributors have gotten their allocations so FL might be dropping soon.

I just got a bottle of WLW today in NE Florida – between Jacksonville & Daytona Beach. The manager said he had been waiting for me to show up & had received it about 2 weeks ago. He only got that one bottle so far.

Ok, so after further investigation, it turns out that my WLW is 140.2 proof, which I believe is the 2014 release.
It’s my first WLW, so I am happy about that, and it was $69.99 before taxes.

Nice P/U dude!!!

Gusto, so is your pick-up the one referred to in the thread above (bottle sold @ ABC)?

Yes it is.

Any word on West Tennessee

Nothing yet. I check with 4 large stores here in Memphis every couple of days

I had an unexpected day off work today so ventured to a few stores out of my normal radius. Not necessarily looking for anything in particular, but potentially seeing if there were some bottles available that I don’t regularly see at my local shop. I walk into one store and peruse the shelves when something behind the glass catches my eye. Beautiful bottles. Simple, elegant. 3 Bottles of Thomas H. Handy and 1 of George T. Stagg. How did I get so lucky. I have hit the elusive jackpot, or so I thought…..

I get closer. I look at the glass. Inspect the bottles. Real deal BTAC. Hallelujah! Then my eye his the price tags….I double take. Rub my eyes. I’m seeing OK, right? Yes, I just had the eye exam last week to prove it. $650 per bottle. WHAT THE F#&*!!! So much for the secondary market. Primarily, things have gotten out of control. I was 3 seconds from walking to the counter to let my thoughts be known, but thought better of it. The thrill of the find was great….followed by an equal, but opposite let down. Tasting the sweet nectar will have to wait until another day.

I’ve learned that going forward I will stick to what I know and to who I trust. Although I will always keep an eye out……

Cheers!

You should have gone to the counter and gave them a piece of your mind. They deserved it.

You did the right thing…just walk away…if you did buy one you would be enabling the owner in to thinking he did something right by jacking the price 800%…then come next year the price tag would jump again.

Damn Right Brother !!! LET IT ROT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just saw a website of a store based out of Long Island New York listing 2015 GTS and WLW, as well as the RVW 10yr and 12yr lot B. Unfortunately all of them listed at $400.

Crap!!!!! Was not ready for this! We’re a month early!!

Hey, you’re supposed to be a jersey guy!!

I Live on the border!! I got good guy’s on both sides! (I hope ;))

I go the other way…(wait that sounded weird)…

West that is. So far looks like nothing above a 12 year (not complaining) from stores I have a relationship with but the BTAC, holy shit that has turned into a white whale. One guy sold his only STagg to his biggest customer (a shocking amount spent each year so no complaints) and rest I have seen are waaaayyy marked up.

Good thing I tried them at whiskey fest I guess…

shoulda known Lu Cifer was north jerz – they receive better allocations than rest of NJ. hey Lu Cifer – if you score a haul like last year, please chuck some down my way. keep it low for the peeps, ideally free.

I walked into The Wine Hut in NYC today and the guy behind the counter told me that their allotment of BTAC had come last night had had been cleared out. He said that there was still one bottle of George T. Stagg hidden behind the counter but that it would cost me $900. Needless to say, I will never frequent that store again. Perhaps we should report instances of retail price gouging to Buffalo Trace…

Report away, not sure it does any good. Thank you 3-tier distribution system.

We’d be better off organizing a lobbying group with the purpose of doing away with the 3-tier system.

Not familiar with the term, 3 tier?

Supplier->distributer->retailer I believe is what he is referring to. Aka complaining to BT wouldn’t make a difference because the distributors have the power of which retailers to allocate to.

Gotcha but I still dont get the point of this archaic process.

The regular allocated stuff the stores around me have to call 9 am on a monday and hope to get through for that months allocated. Pappy & BTAC? Well thats based on a whole lot of other factors…

This article nicely explains that issue: http://redwhiteandbourbon.com/2015/11/01/producers-distributors-markup-and-you/

I was at Buffalo Trace a year and a half ago. They told me that their on-site retail shop only can get product through the distributor, not through shipments from their on-site production.

John…hi…myes, Buffalo Trace encourages us to do so….that’s what they told me a few months ago…I contacted the CEO and the lady who’s in charge of the marketing/distribution…I forget their names right now…but I kept their emails…lol….I gave them a store who was ridiculouslying gouging in upstate NY (orange county)….they took the name of the store, location and their phone number…….however; they never told me what they were going to do with the information…..I agree tho, something has to be done about these retailers who do this to consumers. I even called the NYS Liquor Authority about the abuse and got a lecture about the “virtues of capitalism ” and if I didn’t like this country I could move out! YES, HE DID SAY THAT TO ME (and VERY angrily)!!! The NYS liquor authority in Albany is VERY pro price gouging…they say they don’t have any control over it….and besides, it’s America…capitalism at its best…..smdh….unreal.

While I wouldn’t phrase it the same way as the NYS Liquor Authority I would agree with the message. First, these stores are selling a premium product at an inflated price. They’re not gouging the price of water after a hurricane. Second, they legally own the product. They have the right to do as they please. Poor business practice to gouge or hoard but that just means they’re a bad business. Not a criminal.

While it sucks in this situation I don’t think the government has any business mingling in the pricing strategies of private businesses

**Blake**….Wow! I have to respectfully disagree. Clearly, these private retailers (liquor stores) are ripping off the consumers/customers BIG time…that should NOT be allowed to happen because there’s supposed to be laws against that…to protect consumers. I can see them marking up the MSRP on the product by a small percentage, but most of them mark it up tenfold, or more…that is or should be a crime. Where is the consumer protected in all of this “capitalism”? Buffalo Trace “suggests” a certain price for their products…that SHOULD be a guide for pricing by privately ran liquor stores…state run stores follow guidelines for pricing and that is a good thing because it protects the consumer from being ripped off. I like state ran liquor stores, albeit there’s usually limited stock, but little gouging of prices. Private stores can basically do what they want as far as pricing their stock…..where’s is the threshold. ..how much is too much for a bottle of Pappy 15? Or 20 yr old? Etc….BT “suggests” $149/$249 for these bottlings, but you’re saying it’s OK for a private retailer to sell those same bottles for $1000 or more dollars…..it’s bad business, but they’re not criminals because of this so called “capitalism”?..that’s insane! Yeah, I don’t have to buy it…and I won’t pay a $1000 for a $300 bottle of whatever! The Liquor authority sucks when it comes to protecting consumers…and more laws need to be made to regulate and stabilize these private stores that gouge. I have dual residency in NY/VA, but prefer to buy my alcohol in VA where there are laws to protect me against these price gouging vultures in NY where greed is the norm and corruption is the mantra. You guys shouldn’t have a problem with the vultures on bottlespot and the like selling their overpriced wares, after all its their property and they can do as they please with it. Liquor stores are different. Where are the state/federal laws protecting me? Oh, CAPITALISM AGAIN…..

I guess this is just a good, civil, disagreement. Which is what this site is for 🙂

For me, I don’t need a gov’t liquor agency to protect me. I know what a fair price is and what I’ll pay. If a store won’t sell in this range, I walk out and won’t shop there again. Trying to bring in a government agency to regulate such a small portion of business is completely ridiculous to me.

It dropped in a bunch of stores on long island yesterday but a bunch of stores haven’t received their allocation.

… Cute.

Hey Lu, you hearing an approximate time for NJ?

Nope. This early NY pop f’d me up royally though. Monies are not in place yet. I have feeling I’m going to hosed on the NY side this year!

Gotcha, Thanks. I have 1-2 spots in NJ I hope to maybe get lucky with, but keeping my expectations reeealll low.

If its any consolation NY has definitely been a weird staggered release. I can confirm it some southern counties where a few miles away stores that will get it still have not.

I’d offer to get in touch after the regions over and see if you were interested in any swaps but if its anything like last year your haul will dwarf mine!!

Was trying to figure it out. Zones? Different reps? Or what one guy told me if he hadnt received it yet he probably wasnt.

With the new distribution the shops aren’t sure what’s going on. I know it was more widespread and shops that got larger allocations in previous years were limited to 3-5 total btac/winkle bottles. The closest (garbage) store to me that I occasionally pick up wine from, that never carried much of anything buffalo trace, has a $350 orvw for sale. Yet another shop that sells a ton of buffalo trace product hasn’t seen or heard anything. Today was a holiday for the distribution so I guess we’ll find out the story tomorrow.

Where did you find the BTAC in socal? Total wine? Bevmo said they’re not expecting any (via computer data)

my first time hunting for bourbon. I’m in MA and aren’t feeling too lucky…I imagine all the larger stores, mainly Kappy’s, will get them and save them for good customers. of which, I am not. Hopefully I’ll stumble upon a BTAC bottle or a HWMWND :/

It’s tough here, came up empty the past two years, scored an ER in NH tho last year

HWMWND is pretty easy to find around Boston if you drop into some different stores. The city was flooded with it last year. As for Kappy’s you are correct they basically do not put it out for regular customers and even if you buy stuff there regularly unless you are a big spender they typically do not do much to help you out. They are a huge chain with a lot of big spenders they need to keep happy though so can’t say I blame them. I will say you can find BTAC and Van Winkle in MA at retail prices if you know where to look, although as with everywhere it’s getting tougher.

Not sure if it’s of interest to you guys but I was just able to get a EC barrel proof at rt1 kappys. Nice consolation prize so far.

EC 18 is at Teds Package store on rt20. He has 3 bottles. As for BTAC it hasn’t dropped as of yet.

I just called and the person who answered checked and said “the closest we have is the 12yr” I wonder if he’s not familiar with the products or if they sold out…it’s a bit of a drive for me so I may just have to take his word.

Pat, I will check tomorrow and let you know. I go in every day during the week.

I was actually able to grab one from the Julios on rt9. I’m shocked they still had one. Thank you for offering to check Ted’s though!

Fyi to you guys. New total wine in natick will have 3 handys and 3 ofbb on shelf when they open

Gasbarro’s (Seekonk, North Attleboro MA) has been putting out bottles of Pappy and Old Rip at retail pricing more or less at random. No lists or lotteries, just drop in and see what’s there. I picked up some Old Rip and Elmer T Lee off the shelf there a few weeks ago. I believe the Pappy is gone but a few days ago there was both ORVW and ETL on the shelf.

Can I get an update on Texas? Anybody else score any bottles? I saw a few comments about Total Wine in Dallas. Anybody in Houston area see anything?

my usual “go to’s” are looking at me like, “no.” these guys wouldn’t lie to me, there has been no sign of it in Houston yet or it’s just going to be THAT dry. i was able to score a jefferson’s manhattan, midsummer night’s dram, birthday bourbon and two bottles of garrison cowboy though….good luck!

I’ve been looking around DFW and east TX for a while and have pretty good relationships with retailers and distributors. All of them I’ve talked to (as of 11/3) said they haven’t seen any BTAC or PVW yet. Lots of Garrison Bros Cowboy still sitting on the shelves around DFW. So far the best I’ve managed to pick up was a bottle of OF Birthday and a Yellow Stone limited edition. Not giving up yet.

Thanks for the response. There was mention of Spec’s in the comments above but otherwise silence about Houston. So it made me wonder if anything has made it to Houston or not.

Don’t bother hunting at Specs as they have a policy of giving them to all their biggest spenders. If you’re in north Texas Goody Goody is doing all of theirs through a corporate raffle to card members, but the manager i know has no idea how it will be handled.

Forgot to mention I did score 2 bottles of Elmer T. Lee at Harley’s in Longview late last week. They still had 3-4 bottles left. Delicious.

Nothing in West Texas (Lubbock/Midland) . Contacts say “may” hear something near Thanksgiving, but they are always behind rest of state. Contacts at Specs in Houston have seen nothing, but expect to hear something as early as tomorrow. Specs in Houston has allocation list based on how much you have spent there that year. Only place I have heard getting anything is Dallas in very small allocations .

I’ve heard from multiple store owners to expect the Houston release on or around Dec 1st.

ton of btac out in houston if you’re willing to pay $600 per bottle for WLW, GTS, or THH.

Umm, no,not interested. Last time I checked it is still made of corn, malted barley, rye and water. Not gold : )

BTAC and Pappy confirmed for Westchester County, New York. My local store got all of their bottles (both Pappy & BTAC) in one shipment. The manager I spoke to told me that this was the lowest allotment they’ve ever received (BTAC: one GTS, one WLW, one Handy / Pappy: two 10s, 1 each of the 12, 15, 20, 23). None of the bottles are being sold for sale and all are being offered to good customers. I asked for either a 15 or a 20 but was told the chances of getting one of those was slim, but I was promised “something” (probably one of the BTACs). We’ll see…

Happy hunting.

Only Westchester up here so far… Nothing from the other “big retailers” yet. STAR in Monroe, ARLINGTON WINES in Poughkeepsie, SUBURBAN in Yorktown, & MID-VALLEY in Newburgh all got ZIP so far… They also price gouge the Sh!t out of the stuff. Would NEVER buy from any of them. There just a good marking system as to how the stuff is floating around.

Maryland people: Are you hearing anything? My guy’s distributor is apparently saying late November. I’m wondering if that’s consistent across the state.

I only hear what I read on this forum. The store owners are grumpy and tired of talking about it, so I don’t even ask anymore. That said, I’m extremely close to simply buying an Elijah Craig 18 year and calling it a day. The more stories I hear, the more disgusted I become. Whether it’s the lady in Ellicott City that gouges selling her 10 Year Pappy (2014) to some guy for $400, or the store owner that told me people are offering his employees $50 – $100 if they phone them when they get their allocation (that’s a lot of money to a $9 per/hour employee). Hell, even the Bourbon County beers are going to be $30 per sick pack….GET A GRIP, people!

Then there was DC. A friend phoned Calvert Woodley one morning, and the employee that answered the phone looked in their system and revealed they had 2 cases of WLW and Stagg…selling for $200 a piece of course. My call that afternoon was met with their liquor department screaming at me that THEY DON’T HAVE ANY! More service with a smile.

This is what will end the “bourbon boom”.Whether it’s disgusted store owners tired of hearing about “Pappy” or “BTAC” or customer’s sick of getting gouged whenever the stuff does appear in wild (which as I’ve said so often – LET IT ROT!!). Smaller allocations. Thievery on the retail side. it’s only going to get worse kids!!

It’s precisely why I make it a point not to call my store and only pop by in person once every couple weeks (when I’m not there to buy something) to make small talk. The last thing I want is to be a nuisance.

Then there’s the other store in town that gouges on everything. They have a bottle of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof marked at $139. Even if they do get PVW or BTAC, I’m afraid of what insane price they’d put on it. I don’t go there very often.

Bourbon county is sold in 4 packs at $20-24 so a six pack at $30 would be a good deal.

This year Bourbon County is moving to single bottles (16.9 oz.), so I wouldn’t be surprised to find them priced at $10+ per bottle. Not sure what MSRP is….

OK 16.9oz, that sounds right. Damn you memory!

Calvert Woodley gets the stuff but it’s all for list customers. That guy was probably not supposed to tell your friend that they had that stuff. I knew that they got a a case of WLW last year, which is staggering considering that DC got like five cases total. A case of GTS is equally crazy. Most stores in DC that got anything got no WLW and no GTS. As far as Bourbon County stuff, I was told by the rep at some Octoberfest beer tasting thing that they moved to all 15 oz single bottles this year and that they significantly upped production, meaning that they purchased more barrels.

A store employee in Maryland told me that they have their limited number of bottles in. I’ve also heard both really soon like next few days and end of the month.

in balt. co. stores are thinking that BTAC will release with Pappy. Could be as soon as the end of this week, but expected in the next week or two.

Confirmed in NYC that a friend who is the beverage director for a restaurant group received both Pappy and BTAC at the same time on Monday night 11/2.

Can anyone tell me where in Delaware it is (was) being sold? Thanks!

Sidenote from BTAC.. Has anyone found Elijah Craig 18 or BP in Dallas, TX?

I haven’t and been looking pretty hard for a while. Goody Goody’s in Houston shows to have 1 bottle of the 23, but its been on there a while so not sure its accurate.

Probably an inventory computer glitch. I’ve seen that before with them.

I’ve noticed that as well.. I’ve seen one BP in Dallas marked at $100. Needless to say, I walked out.

The ECBPs are marked at $110 here in Westchester NY (and I’ve seen them priced this high at three different liquor stores). I was lucky to stumble onto a dusty bottle a couple of weeks back at $50 and I’m glad I picked it up when it did… who knows if we’ll ever see it that cheap again.

have been fortunate to pick up 3 ecbp’s in the last month – all under $60 – last one was purchased under $50, albeit a penny less (49.99). “the land’s not a myth i’ve seen it,” ~kevin costner, waterworld

Can anyone yield any info on who the BTAC distributors are in the state of FL? And does ABC carry a monopoly on WLW?

Yes, ABC is the only retailer allowed to sell the Weller line in FL

Is that true even for bars? Or can you occasionally come across WLW at a bar in FL?

If you do it’s a back door bottle

Do you know which of the other FL distributors handle non-WLW BTACs? I’ve heard of Republic, but not sure which bottles they might handle and/or if there are other distributors involved with the BTAC release…

Last year I directly emailed Van Winkle for distributor names. They said Republic National was the only distributor of BATC and Pappy in South Floria. That might not be true state wide. There was no mention of Weller being exclusive to ABC but I didn’t ask specifics. I missed the BATC delivery at TotalWine last year because the person I talked to said they were getting they’re next truck on Thursday but the BATC came in on Monday. They didn’t even know what BTAC was until I mention the specific bottles so they weren’t very bourbon knowledgeable. They definitely saw Stagg in the inventory and I thought they saw Weller too but I could be wrong about that.

Waiting for Norcal to get their allocation. I heard mid-November from a few retailers, but no-one really knows. Apparently BTAC are slipped in with regular shipments so none of them really know when they’re going to get them.

Hi Alex

Being a retailer I would like to correct you that we all know when the allocated items are coming in. We wait very eagerly for BTAC’s & PVW’s like you customers do. And you are right BTAC allocations for bay area should be out any day now, I had a conversation with the guy who is the NorCal manager for BT last week and was told allocations are almost done. So fingers crossed and I am waiting for the e-mail from the young’s guy telling me what my allocation is.

Cheers & Happy Hunting !!!!!!

So, as a “retailer” how do you price your allocation? List (retail? We ALL know what it is you know!)? Below Blue Book? Around Blue Book? Or do you use that f’n Wine Searcher that fulls of delusional charlatans that think PVW & BTAC are there to pay for the kids college?

Harry is a good guy and runs his store the right way. Don’t attack him 🙂

Thanks for vouching for me Blake, this is one of the reasons I don’t actively post comments on your blog as some particular individuals use very colorful language and act like they own the blog site. But I will keep you posted through e-mails as usual in case what I get allocated and when.

Thanks

No dude, not at all. That was just an inquiry as too how he prices. It’s more of a condemnation of how some retailers see the ludicrous prices on Wine Searcher and feel that that justifies pricing this stuff into the stratosphere. No “attack” on Harry ( I don’t know him. But if you say He’s good people I absolutely believe it). I’m sorry you took it as such.

No worries. Just wanted to clarify on his behalf. Trust me, there is plenty of retailers out there deserving of the ire of Lu Cifer haha

When are deliveries usually made to stores for this? Typically certain days of the week no?

Much appreciated. Mind me asking what shop you run?

I was told today all of nh’s allocation will go to restaurants. If any leftovers hit a store it will be at one location in the southern part of the state.

Hmm is hooksett considered southern? I frequent Nashua but it’s a little small

Nashua or Salem is what I’m hearing from my source.

Nashua #69 got 2 bottles of BTAC on Tuesday. The manager told me that’s all they are getting.

OK… Nothing (BTAC or VW) has hit ” upstate NY yet. Evidently Empire Dist. uses a “North” & “South” split allocation system. It stopped at Westchester. So don’t worry Kats & Kittens – you ain’t missin’ anything!! Keep an eye open – It’s a coming!

I work for Empire Distro and this couldn’t be further from the truth. Allocations are WAY down this year for BTAC and VW and we don’t do a “split” allocation as you mentioned. Whatever was distributed…that was it. I’m not going to comment any further on this…all I can say is better luck next year.

Would you mind shooting me an email. I’m interested to get a distributors take on all of this Blake @ Bourbonr.com

Blake. Empire guy ever E-Mail?

Really? Than you need you to get with some of your reps in the field. According to a couple of store owners who I’ve known for years (who shall remain nameless, I ain’t throwin’ my Pal’s under the bus) in NY state this is what the reps are telling them. That their stuff is coming but there was a split allocation.

Lu , send me an email (350zspeed@gmail.com) I might have some info to share.

This should be interesting…

Your welcome

Thank you brother!! Sorry — old fashioned — no smart phone!!

Furthermore… If you do work for Empire as you stated. Could you possibly shed light on why (from what my research has determined) no one above Westchester has received anything? I’m sure that there are just as many large retailers in Upper NYS that deserve BTAC / VW. If the stuff only went to the “Metropolitan” area, don’t you think that would cause a bit of “Bad Blood” with the northern stores? They have access to the internet. I’m sure some see the Westchester landing (PLEASE — If anyone above Westchester has received anything — Please, please chime in and prove me wrong. At least we’ll all know it’s floating about). As an employee of Empire, where(?!) above Westchester (I’m getting tired typing “Westchester”!) did they land? Maybe some of the shops in NYC, LI, or Westchester could have gotten a few less bottles and then send some stuff up north? Do the stores up north ALL(!!) not spend enough $$ with you? I have actually also spoken with a shop that last year got a few bottles of GTS in late January that were charging $350.00 because, according to the owner, it wasn’t far above what Empire charged them. Are you part of the problem as too why prices on this stuff are out of control? Is Empire marking product up to the point that these retailers need to charge outrageous prices to make a decent profit? And, Please, if you feel that I’m being somewhat aggressive in this questioning it’s because that there is a passion in this community. We are all not loaded ($$$). Anything we get we feel lucky! When we feel that if we spend $ w/ a shop and build a relationship w/ the owner – this time of year rolls around we all get a little “nuts”! 🙂 (Maybe me more than some others). The bubble needs to burst & prices every year are more ludicrous than the last.

I’d also be curious if anyone from NY (Westchester in particular, but also NYC) scored any Pappy and BTAC for anything resembling a “reasonable” price.

Yes. That too!

The whiskey prices are reasonable, the Westchester taxes, that’s another story!

What’s tax up to now? 36%?? 37%??

Would you mind telling us how much you paid for these bottles? I’m not saying this to be sarcastic but I’d bet your idea of “reasonable” differs from most on here… I’m just trying to get a sense of how much people are dropping on these bottles in the Westchester area.

John, LU I dont know where exactly you guys are but if you guys were NY/NJ I figured I would share. I’ve had some luck with the 12’s this year. One store not picking up till monday but I would expect at or near retail there . But in NYC general area I did pay about twice retail to a little over twice (with tax) for two. I think I would consider anything under 200ish not too bad for up to a 12 and any BTAC.

Walked out of stores stores in the are where I could buy 23 for 3,000
Stagg for 529, 600 and 650 and Handy for 450.

BTBrook… where are you at? North Jersey near the boarder?

Lu, i havent been able to reply to you post right below, no reply button to click on.

I am on the NY side south of Westchester and the Bronx. But do get to NJ quite a bit. Havent heard a peep about that side’s date yet. But do hear lotteries are a’comin on that side…

But do a good amount of leg work, and relationships in 4 counties. (more than one office for work and residence in another).

BTAC hit Maryland today. Total Wine got 4 or 5 3-pack cases in Laurel. Was delivered right after 11am and was kept behind front counter, 1 per customer this year. I got a Saz 18 and wished I had brought friends to grab a couple more. I am not certain on the exact numbers but it seemed like they got a couple bottles each of Weller, Stagg, Saz, Eagle Rare 17, and maybe 4 of Handy based on what I bought and others. Was cleaned out within 15-20 minutes except for maybe a bottle or two of Handy which probably didn’t last much longer

CONNECTICUT LIKELY ALREADY OUT OF BTAC

I went in to pick up EC18 from one of the top independent liquor stores in Ffld Cnty CT on Wed. The owner was there, well know guy, and I asked him for the BTAC WLW. He said he got two bottles and they are on the shelf at his house. He knows me and said don’t bother looking for it, nobody else in the area got it. Reports last year were CT got 60 bottles of BTAC. I bet that number was a fraction of that this year and only key industry plays and bars got it. You should update the map!

Not sure I believe that…It’s a well known fact that Fairfield county CT is where the wanna be NYC’ers live. If NYC got their allotments earlier in the week, then it makes sense to me that Fairfield county got theirs as well…I don’t think a map update is warranted yet.

Blake, yours thoughts on this?

Are you talking about NY or Connecticut?

CT specifically…I know Fairfield County is a “subregion” of NYC…just look at Craigslist CT…it actually states Fairfield County (subregion of NYC site). My opinion was that I don’t think CT should be added to the map release just yet…unless of course someone further inside the state could also reply locating a bottle.

Can we just end all this nonsense, like the Dutch did in the 1630’s? Seriously…Let’s be frank: BTAC stuff is VERY good, but if you’re paying 3-10x retail then you’re just stupid. As in low IQ stupid. This is pretty much nothing other than madness of crowds and delusions taking place across the populous for goods which are worth no more than their retail value but are getting the “psychological hype” . Anyone who claims “scarcity value” is retarded. I was at a local retailer today to buy some Balcones and he said, “yeah people just go to the stores and ask for pappy saying, ‘i hear it’s really good’ and hand over 2K’ because of the hype, not actual value. As in rich dude who never drink bourbon. I do., and I’m not poor… Wine gets to make that claim because they have limited land, grapes, vintage variation, etc. – this is fucking grain alcohol. No vineyard, limitation on production(the market is getting FLOODED with bourbon producers based off this ‘cocktail revolution’) nor quality control, like a DOCG in Italy. Pappy is very good – I got a 20yr for $200 in NYC, but not worth a dollar more. And sorry to disappoint, but I’m in the business, and it’s pretty much gone in NY. 90% of the allocation went immediately to restaurants (scumbags extraordinaire charging 10-15x cost) and retailers who 1) give to employees at retail 2) mark up 4-10x or take it for themselves. It came and went in about 36 hours (arrived 11/2 evening and was sold out by 11/4 afternoon). Honestly. It’s all gone in the greater NYC area, except for those who run lotteries which is about 5-10% of stores. There are literally people who hire others to call every store in NY, walk door-to-door to ask for it, and tap their scummy “connections” to get single bottles so they can flip for 5+x cost. This is a bubble that’ll end terribly. Kind of like the $2MM 1 bedroom West Village “charming” apartment trade will end.

Yeah, increased value because of low supply and high demand is a real thing. What your saying is that a timex watch tells time just as good as a Rolex so they should be the same price. That’s just not how the human mind works.

Do I personally think these bourbons are worth 10x retail? No. But that doesn’t blow the whole system up. Plus, there will be no bubble burst in bourbon. It’s not like we have our 401ks invested in pappy. The only people holding a stake are the distilleries pumping out more and more barrels. They’re the ones that have to gauge demand and get it right

There is an interesting article in the latest Whisky Advocate (Fall 2015) titled “The Bourbon Gray Market” (pg 29).