Bourbon Hunting Saturday

On Saturday morning, Gulliver and I played a round of golf at one of our favorite courses in Maryland.  As is our tradition, we did some bourbon hunting after the round.  We sort of try to keep an open mind--we look for dusties and hard to find bottles.

My Haul

The Washington, DC market for bourbon is, well, insane.  The best-stocked stores have recognized the whiskey bubble, and over the last couple of years they've raised prices on the hardest to find bottles by up to 100%.  I've seen the BTAC for $149.99, Parker's Heritage for $120, and some older Willett bottles for well over $200.  And don't even try to find Pappy--my local store I visit most often is selling "Lot B" for $129.99.  The suggested retail price of "Lot B" is somewhere around $40-$50.

So after the round, Gulliver and I hit a couple of liquor stores.  The first was a den of miserable human existence that included off-track betting and cheap, handle sized whiskey.  I thought we might be able to find a dusty or two there, but no dice. We did, however, find a bottle of Old Fitzgerald with a misspelling on the back.

Gulliver's Gifts

We drove down the street a little bit and hit the bourbon jackpot.  The store had Stagg, Weller, and the rest of the BTAC, as well as 2011 and 2012 versions of the Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch.  These bottles are all well over $100 in DC, but we were able to get them at or below $79.99.  Gulliver added an Abraham Bowman Port finished and I also picked up a Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection 19 year old French oak.

All and all, even though our golf games sucked, our bourbon game was excellent.  We were able to snag some great whiskey at fair prices.  And these days, that is almost asking too much.