As bourbon booms, thirst for rare brands breeds skullduggery

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8 thoughts on “As bourbon booms, thirst for rare brands breeds skullduggery

  1. These distilleries and producers are milking the good times just like oil companies do with gasoline. They also hoard and hold production to increase the prices. Don’t believe me look for a bottle of Blanton’s. You can’t find it. It’s behind the counter waiting for someone else to pick it up. It’s not even that good!

    1. Jaron…it isn’t the distilleries. It is the distributors and retailers holding back the rare bourbons and in some cases overcharging. The real increase in price comes from the secondary market where the retailer’s customer resells to another consumer who often only wants it as a trophy.

  2. The whole collection craze and 2nd-hand market thing is really annoying to someone who just wants to buy their favorite bottle for consumption. Unfortunately, the hard-to-find bottles are becoming well-known in bourbon collection groups, so they get gobbled up immediately when the hit the shelves, which just reinforces their elusiveness. Then the flippers see an opportunity to make a buck, so they hoard anything that is hard to find, which drives secondary prices, and then enablers pay their ridiculous prices, and the cycle keeps going.

    At $300+/bottle for Pappy, I wouldn’t normally think to get this if it were readily available on the shelf. Honestly, I just want to buy a bottle of Eagle Rare, which normally goes for $30 – $35, but you can’t because flippers and collectors hoard it.

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