Thank you for catching up as we continue our Whiskey Availability and Marketing series! In Whiskey Marketing – p1, we discussed in-store merchandising and where in the typical liquor market one might find the whiskeys so many of us crave. In this post, I’ll discuss some of the more common whiskey availability terms and highlight why certain whiskeys may be difficult to find and purchase.
Rare Whiskey
Retailers are sometimes given the opportunity to purchase available liquor inventory from distributors or distillers based on previous purchases and/or overall sales of merchandise. A specific whiskey in the distribution chain may or may not be rare depending on the production run, AND regional availability. A small batch whiskey is not necessarily a rare whiskey and neither is a Single Barrel or a Bottled-in-Bond Whiskey … but they can be. So – What is a “Rare” Whiskey?
A rare whiskey is any whiskey which the seeker is having trouble finding. For example, I can find bottles of Eagle Rare in any store in Idaho. And every couple of months, expressions of Barrel Proof Elijah Craig grace the shelves as well. People who post in several of the whiskey forums I follow often lament these same bottles are next to impossible to find in their part of the country and world. Just like some scotches in this country, bourbons are often hard to find outside North America. In short, not rare for me; rare for them.
So in the broadest sense, a rare whisky is one which may simply be difficult to find, one which the store has little history of purchasing, or one difficult to acquire due to region availability.
Regional Whiskey
While it would be great to live in Kentucky, just down the road from Brown-Forman, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Heaven Hill, or one of the many stellar distilleries in the state, I reside in Idaho. So I’m not going to find releases exclusive to Kentucky, Indiana, or Tennessee. Likewise, people in the central part of the country are not likely to find offerings from the Pacific Northwest or Rocky Mountain states. And in just Washington, Oregon and Idaho alone there are more than 120 distilleries!
Regional distillers can and do produce outstanding whiskeys. I’m told Texas and Wisconsin have several fine distillers as do those in Georgia, New York and other states. While some may be able to mass produce and distribute a few of their products, most have other offerings which are made in smaller quantities. These products are seldom sold far from their points of origin. I’ve had good experiences with two distillers in my region: Wyoming Whiskey in Kirby, WY and Dry Fly Distilling out of Spokane, WA.
An early bottle from Dry Fly put the regional distillery on my radar. They produce a nice Straight Wheat Whiskey, an interesting Straight Triticale Whiskey, a sweet Huckleberry Port Finished Wheat and a wonderful Washington Straight Bourbon 101. I’ve enjoyed them all and the Bourbon 101 is a regular in my daily sipper rotation. Other than the Straight Wheat, one would be hard pressed to find any of these whiskeys outside of the Pacific Northwest.
Be sure to check out your local and regional whiskeys. Small distillers simply do not have the marketing budget or distribution capability to send product to cities around the states. By being adventurous, you’re sure to find something you’ll enjoy and you’ll be supporting local craftspeople and farmers.
Allocated Whiskey
I’m sure we’ll all agree big distillers produce a lot of whiskey. It’s said there are more barrels aging in Kentucky than there are people. Yet, there are still limits on what is available. Certainly there is some marketing involved, but a great deal of craftsmanship goes on as well.
We’ve all had experience with whiskey availability and allocation whether we knew it or not. We’re in the store and there — COMPLETE WITH THE HALO — is a single bottle of Blanton’s (or Weller Antique 107, or Stagg Jr. or …) And there are dozens of allocated whiskeys. One could say most higher end Scotches qualify, as do Japanese Whiskeys as there are only so many cases made available to us here in the United States.
In addition, a number of distillers produce special batches of product, releasing them at intervals throughout the year. These releases are typically made from a limited number of specially selected barrels. Some of these releases are of the high proof variety, or may be Bottled-in-Bond expressions, but that’s not always the case.
Then, factor in rewards and accolades. If a whiskey gets high praise from a noted reviewer or receives an award at a prestigious tasting event, the demand for product can skyrocket. Such was the case for Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bourbon, a ten year old offering after the spirit won awards in 2018 and ’19 at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Heaven Hill could not simply add another bottling or two just because they had won awards. After all, it took more than 10 years to grow trees for the barrels, procure the grains, produce the mash, age the distilate and bottle the bourbon which had been given the “Best in Show Whiskey” designation.
Retailers are only able to acquire product based on previous purchases. Once bottled, there is simply a limited amount of product available for distribution. Liquor control states get some, retailers get some, and bars and restaurants get some. The total supply is divided or allocated across the distribution chain. And certainly, distillers often have their more highly allocated brands that are met with great anticipation.
Depending on allocation quantities, special batches and releases may be sold from store shelves on a first come first served basis or released to the buying public through some type of lottery process. I have personally benefited from Idaho’s Liquor Lottery, given first right of refusal on bottles of 1792 Full Proof, Little Book expressions Noe Simple Task and The Road Home, and Weller C.Y.B.P. and 12 Year Old, and many others. Hannah, my daughter and fellow Whiskey for the Ages editor, has won the opportunity to purchase lottery bottles and several friends have been selected as well.
When I see any of the bottles mentioned above, I usually buy, because who knows when one will be seen in the wild again. In some circles people post pictures of their finds, boasting of their latest “Kung-Fu”. Others tell their friends and soon the shelf stocks are gone.
Limited Release Whiskey
Big production distillers offer many limited releases. Among the most popular, are offerings from Buffalo Trace’s Antique collection: George T. Stagg, William Larue Weller, Eagle Rare 17 Year Old, Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye, and Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye all of which are released each fall. Stitzel-Weller Distillery’s Pappy VanWinkle can also be included in the popular limited release mix.
Limited release whiskeys are quite difficult to find and are seldom available outside of some type of lottery process. Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon, Beam-Suntory’s Booker’s Anniversary Editions and Chapter Series, and Heaven Hill’s Elijah Craig 18 and 23 Year Old fall into the limited release catagory.
Limited releases are possibly the hardest bottles to purchase as they have small production runs, and in some cases, far less than 2000 bottles per year.
Rare, regional, allocated, and limited release whiskeys can be a source of frustration for many a whiskey buyer. Add to these the Store Picks, or Director’s Cut whiskeys, finding the unicorn can be a major challenge to overcome. Many of the whiskeys we want to buy are hard-to-find products. To improve your chances, I advocate building relationships with the people in the stores you shop. Sometimes, the whiskey you’re seeking will magically appear.
In the final post of our Whiskey Availability Series, “By the Numbers“, I’ll discuss the science and use a little common sense in effort to make it a bit clearer why a few of the most sought after whiskeys have such limited production runs. Until then, Cheers!
Written by Brian Dawson
Featured image created by Brian Dawson, WhiskeyfortheAges.com editor
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Map Photo taken from Google Maps
Blanton’s Single Barrel photo created by Brian Dawson of Whiskey for the Ages