I would have also picked the CYPB, but not to drink. I'm not big on trading and flipping bottles but I am big on sharing bottles with my bourbon groups. That CYBP would have been my bottle share for the month. I don't think the CYPB or Single Barrel are half as good as full proof, but they are the hardest to find. Those bottles are the one I like to take to meetups to share - doesn't pain me to see them get drank (because I don't care for them) and other people are very excited to try them. The ones I love tend to stay home so I don't have to go crazy trying to find them again, at least until I have a backup.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Great point! Bring bottles like that will help people fight the FOMO. Props to you for bringing bottles like CYPB to bottle shares. Love to see it. I brought an EHT BP to my last bottle share for a similar reason

Nice to meet you at Dennis’s yesterday. Good video

@BourbonRetriever

Ай бұрын

Great meeting you too! Look forward to the next meet up

Good pick!! I was second in line at 6:30am. I grabbed a CYPB as well. The first 6 grabbed that bottle. The other Weller they had was Weller 12 year.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Nice score especially get there at 6:30! I’m on the hunt for a Weller 12 still.

Being a blind draw and 1 bottle limit I wasn’t going to camp out. A few days later I picked up a BT, Benchmark bonded and Dickel 12 year. Cheers to VAABC for recently stocking Heaven Hill on a regular basis.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Completely fair decision. The camp out easily could not have been a disaster, and got lucky. Cheers on finding those bottles a few days later!

Nice! Glad you picked the right store! My top two would be in the moment between CYPB AND Blantons SFTB. Third is likely Weller Single. 4th by likely unpopular opinion would be the 1.75 ER. I really enjoy ER and the large bottle just be fun to add to the shelf…. If it would fit.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Those 1.75 are cool to have on the shelf. Almost have to sit on the ground it how tall and heavy they are. They are a pain to pour though, haha. My only hesitantion to a 1.75 is I find a good amount of variation between bottles, so I would rather have smaller bottles.

@JL_301

2 ай бұрын

@@BourbonRetriever haha didn’t even think of them being a bit more difficult to pour. I’ve not purchased anything else in that size.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

@@JL_301 I did get lucky with my 1.75. Probably the best eagle rare I’ve ever purchased. Loved that bottle

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

The first 2-3 pours just go everywhere, haha

@JL_301

2 ай бұрын

@@BourbonRetriever sucks on the first 2-3 lost pours but at least it was an excellent bottle.

I got to my store at 3 am and was 8th in line. Was able to score the last Weller Single Barrel. The other top offerings at my locations were Blantons SFTB and Gold.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Nice score! I would have taken the Weller over those two Blantons also

@Misterh0430

2 ай бұрын

My buddy who lives in a pretty rural area near Danville got to his store at around 8:30. Rural store so the offerings weren't as great, but they had Weller 12 and Full Proof. He got a Weller FP, which was his top choice of what they had.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

@@Misterh0430 8:30 is a great time for those bottles. Rough his store didn’t get the others. Glad he got what he wanted in the end!

Good haul. I scored a Weller SB at one store and a Woodford Reserve Batch Proof at another. Arrived at 6 am. Can't do midnight.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Nice score! I'm starting to feel the same. Having a good night sleep is becoming more valuable the older I get

Got a Weller full proof and sftb wanted the cypb but truly luck of the draw, enjoy you haul!

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Congrats on both, great bottles! Did you have a significant other? Couldn't convince anyone to join me

Only reason I would have picked CYPB first would be to trade or sell. I have heard it is nothing special to drink. To drink from that list I would have probably gone with Blantons SFTB.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

I would agree on a drinking level. With the channel, I’ve kept bottles I know I won’t enjoy because I know people want to hear opinions on them. And I think cypb falls into that category. That’s how I felt when I got my first ETL

Your store had a great selection. All mine had was Full Proof. I wish 1 of your top 3 were at mine.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Sorry to hear man. I was very scared given the time I invested the selection would be poor. Fingers crossed your selection is better next time

Good video. I would never camp like that but to each his own. Why in the hell are Rowan's Creek and Johnny Drum on an allocated list!?!?!

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Some brands like Willet are hesitant to enter ABC states because they only get paid when it is sold to the customer as opposed to the wholesaler (like most states). So I think this was a compromise to help push their product faster if they entered ABC. but that is just my theory.

Congrats on your bottle. Hard to obtain but like most of the insanely hyped bottles the hype doesn't match the actual whiskey. Sadly CYPB and Elmer both made me laugh out loud when I finally landed pours. Laughing at how dumb the secondary pricing is. Neither bottle would make it to my "good whiskey" shelf in the kitchen. They'd live in the dungeon with my average whiskey. Michters 10 is a great bottle and I would actually drink it over any Weller product or Blanton's product. Blanton's STFB can be excellent, but they are too youthful IMO. Weller FB is actually my favorite of the Weller lineup by a pretty large margin. Of all of them... I'm actually a Bombergers guy. It's my favorite "allocated" release every year. It's also one of the easier bottles to obtain every year because it has far less hype. Unless I hadn't found that release yet I'd normally pass on it in a drop just for something I don't have on shelf or another JD12/Michters 10. Those are bottles I can't find outside of drops, for whatever reason.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Great summary! Thanks for adding to the conversation. I bet CYPB wont be that great, and as I get older, I value a good night sleep more and more. I would love to do a blind of all the Wellers to know for sure which is my favorite, but if I could get enough 107, it would be my go to pour. JD12 is also top end whisky for me, made my Top 3 last year.

showed up at 5am and was 4th in line at my VABC - First two got Blanton's gold - next one got Weller 12... I grabbed... Michters 10 ;) was pretty happy.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Great grab! I would have taken M10B too. What letter was it?

@jimfu

2 ай бұрын

@@BourbonRetriever its an A

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

@@jimfu haven’t heard much about 24, but those were the ones that got the buzz last year

Got to my store at 5am and was second in line, grabbed a WFP and a few others throughout the day

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Great score for 5am! Awesome your store only had two people that late. Cheers🥃

Looks like you got a great price on the CYPB.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Best I’ll ever find! Cheers🥃

Do you have to be a resident of VA to get these allocations?

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Not for the drops. For the lottery entires you have to have a va drivers license

I grabbed a Weller 12 without getting to the store uber early. I arrived 45 minutes prior to opening. That bottle was not good. Friends tried it and didn't like it either. Found one friend who did, so gifted it. It was not the W12 I had long ago when it S-W.

@BourbonRetriever

Ай бұрын

Thats a good get for getting there 45 mins before open! sorry you were disappointed. I've never tasted a sample from the old squaty bottles. Your review makes me want to chase the older bottles now.

@hoobeydoobey1267

Ай бұрын

@@BourbonRetriever The friend I gave it to said it did not taste like the W12 by BT he had 4 years ago. He gave me a nice sample of VW12 Lot B. I made a DIY recipe of MM 2 parts MMCS to 1 part regular Larceny (94pr) and let them marry for 6 weeks). I then tried them and preferred the DIY. I then blinded them to friends who had no idea what they were drinking. Every single one of them chose the DIY over Lot B. One lady near cried cause VW12 was her fav bottle, one she paid big money for on the secondary market. I also made a poor man's pappy with OWA and that bottle of W12. It's undrinkable, unless you like gagging.

💯 the CYPB. You chose wisely!

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the affirmation, appreciate it!

I went at 12 and it was a lot of options excluding Taylor's

@BourbonRetriever

Ай бұрын

Nice, congrats on the score!

Store I went to drop was underwhelming. Weller FP and Blantons Gold were top options.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

I would have been disappointed if I waited 12+ hours for those bottles, but at the end of the day, nice bottles to have. Cheers on the snag

Nice score. Luck of the draw is right.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Super lucky, couldn’t believe the selection! Cheers 🥃

I'm glad you got a bottle you wanted but I could never sit in a line for a whiskey regardless of what it is for that amount of time. And I'm retired..

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Thanks! I 100% hear you. I've done it a couple of times, and am starting to value the lost sleep more and more.

I am happy to be able to pay 25 dollars for Bufalo Trace 1 litre bottle. keep in mind i am about 7000 miles away from you, in Europe.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Awesome! Going to be in Europe sometime in the next year. Fingers crossed I run across some good bottles

Can you say what store you went to?

@BourbonRetriever

Ай бұрын

203, but it varies what store I'll go to each drop

@kauai1945

Ай бұрын

@@BourbonRetriever thank you!

At least alabama gives us a list of what is at each store. Also the day before the store will post how many bottles of each they have. We are only allowed 2 different bottles. I don't like our quarterly drops. They split the bottles into 2 tables and you're only allowed 1 off each table.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

It would be helpful to know quantity and what would be there so people can then decide how much time it is worth to them. Two different bottles would have been nice. You can only get one in Virginia.

IMO the whole Bourbon craze has evaporated.. and is comming back to pre-pandemic.. all the industry Bouron Distileries are admiting sales down 5% on average year on year.. sure the more allocated is still high demand, but so what.. that is like less than .0001% of bourbon sales. Cheers.. I drink mostly Johny Walker Red(Scotch).. and its only 26$ better than 99% of the overpriced bourbon out there.

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

Fingers crossed bourbon prices will drop and be easier to find

@boydmasonlake1995

2 ай бұрын

Yes the mkt is down . Hopefully prices will stabilize and maybe the flippers will disappear

Looking for the bottles with the best trade value/profit margin…. Interesting

@BourbonRetriever

2 ай бұрын

I was looking for a difficult to get bottle, that would be good for channel content going forward

@thebigdubnetwork

2 ай бұрын

These drops are for people that want the rare bottles. Rare equals higher trade value/margin. That surprises you? 🤡

@m.687

2 ай бұрын

Pretty smart. I scored a Weller Single Barrel. Turned around and traded for a Russell's 13 and a Jack 12. Nice little Saturday I'd say.