Ok, I spent way too much money I don’t really have this afternoon. This might be a long one.

Hanging with my best friend Dave last night. He likes bourbon, but not an aficionado. He’d rather drink it mixed than neat. Not judging, to each his own. Last night we went for tacos. After, I suggested we hit up a local bar that was supposed to have a bourbon I wanted to try (RD One Amburana finished). Nope, but the had almost all the BT line, plus Bookers. Had a pour of Bookers 22-02. It was ok, but there was something on the mid palate that I wasn’t a fan of. Then followed up with the Stagg Jr (delicious). Back at his house I tried a distillers select from a local distillery that was surprisingly good. I think it’s MGP they finish.

Fast forward to this morning. He’s got the day off and we go grab breakfast. I had gotten a text from another friend that a store in Ann Arbor has Bookers 22-01 and 23-01. Call them, they’re gone. Damn. Well, we had to go that way since we’re headed to his cottage to pick up his boat cover to take in for repair. But first we stop by another local store to see if they have Blantons. He’s been looking for one. Sure enough they do. Nice! Then we head towards his cottage but first we stop at Total Wine to see what they have. Heard the truck with BT stuff is there, but still needs to be unloaded. Another hour or so. We head to his cottage, grab the cover and drop it off. We’ll hit up TW on the way back and if we get lucky then cool.

We get to the store and cases of BT is set out, but nothing else. Ask a worker if that’s all they got. He’s like, “yea, that’s it”. Well shite. Buddy goes to look at the cigars while I go use the pisser. I come out to to see him looking around. We both had the same idea to find the guy we talked to a couple hours earlier. We see him pushing a cart towards the checkout, followed by a few people. On the cart I see more BT, plus ER, a few EHT SB, Saz Rye and Old Fitz Bib and Weller. Hot damn!

We’re 5/6 in line. Missed out on the Weller, but I scored the OF, EHT, ER and a baby Blantons. He got the last OF, ER and baby Blantons. The guy behind us really wanted the OF. Even gave me his phone number as he heard me say I might buy to trade. As we’re talking to him about trades, mention I’m looking for RD One Amburana finished. He texts another store a few miles away that has it in stock. Off to that store we go.

Cracked open the RD One. Wow! It is like Cinnamon Toast Crunch in liquid form.
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Hell of a day Bob! Was it the Old Fitz decanter? The new 10 year? I'm curious how it is, I've tried a few and they range3 from pretty good to outstanding, the 17 year is truly a special pour
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Yes, spring 23, 10 y/o in the decanter. I can’t decide if I’m going to open it or sell/trade it.
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Very cool. If I was closer I'd try to dig out a couple bottles that might interest you, but shipping those decanters can be a real pain in the ass :-)
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Sounds like a great day, Bob!
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It was kinda funny. I mean I’m familiar with OF, but don’t know anything about this Bib release. But seeing there was only the two 3 ct. cases on the cart, I knew it was something special. At least allocated. I was surprised my buddy grabbed the last one knowing he’s not a huge bourbon guy.
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You guys both hit home runs, I had to win mine in a lottery. Secondary pricing only really got crazy for the higher aged ones, I think they need the extra oak influence otherwise they can be too soft and sweet like a fruity bubble gum. I'd say go ahead and open it up to see if you like it, but you can probably get 2-3 other decent bottles for it depending on how badly somebody else wants it
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Yea, a quick google search boggles the mind what some of those other releases are getting.
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From experience, TW employees tend to be liars. There is an hate/hate relationship with many of them in DFW and several of the bourbon groups I am in. They will say "that all of it", then sit on the good stuff in the back, either to put out later or save for their buddies. I don't mind if they put it out later, that at least gives people a fair chance at allocated stuff. Sometimes they would sneer at the people that line up at opening to be the first to get allocated bourbons. Once before, John and i saw it first hand when the manager tried to hide the ER at 8pm on a Saturday night. I suspected he was wanting to buy it for himself (why else wait so late to put it out?), but we grabbed three and told the other behind us how good ER was and they grabbed the rest. :-)
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I could go on and on about TW, I stopped shopping there almost entirely. There was a law in CO saying a store can't hold lotteries for their first three years in business or something like that so we never had an allocated lottery for GR members, supposedly all the good bottles were stacking up in a warehouse somewhere for a big event whenever they hit the three year mark but that was many years ago and still no allocated bottles going out in any sort of public way.

Then there was the time I went there to grab a certain bottle, it was sold out, I ended up paying $50 more a couple days later to a local guy who told me his roommate was a TW manager and would get in trouble if he was caught selling them so the guy sells stuff in his behalf. That was the end of my relationship with TW, naturally a year later I find myself on a barrel pick with the top spirits manager for all CO TW locations and tried my hardest to bite my tongue but I think a few comments still made their way out :-)
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I’ve only been going to TW as it’s about the only place I can find the allocated stuff at normal prices. If I would get off my arse, it’s about the same drive down to Ohio. They seem to get a good supply of Weller. Just need to learn the drop days of a few stores.
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I am on the east side of MI, never get this lucky with stuff, congrats on the bottles especially that OF!
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Thanks. Right place, right time. Where in MI? I’m downriver.
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Some great pickups there, Bob, congrats!

You did miss some nice pours at Shack though, and we missed you.

Thank you to Hugh for sending me home with the rest of the 142 proof Mattingly!

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And who took home the rest of the fitz and maryland rye hmm?
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I think Joey may have got that Stitzel-Weller juice. But the Hazmat was a LOT fuller. :-) :-)
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Some nice pours there!
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I opened an NBC single barrel last night, “Return of Jed”.

It’s the sister barrel to “Tennessee Jed”, which was crazy sweet and complex, totally and wonderfully different than what I think of MGP. “Return” is more classic MGP. Not as interesting as the former, but good in its own right.

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Love me some Tennessee Jed, I'm about half way through the bottle :-)

I typically buy two of every ECBP batch, in an attempt to cut down on bottles I got a sample of B523 and did it blind against the three prior releases. B522 was the standout, fruity caramel and sweet deliciousness. B523 and C922 were pretty similar and well balanced but 922 was slightly better and A123 didn't fare too well, similar but wasn't feeling the finish. I'll pass on B523 and work on drinking through some opens while waiting for C923 - a 13yr7mo 133pf beast that's supposed to be pretty tasty

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