The one that got away

I left 2 Van Winkle 13 Yr old rye on the shelf 3 years ago. I bought 1 and left the other 2 . The were 69.99

I tasted the divine liquid known as Talisker 30, and then had a chance to buy it for $295 at Astor, a full $100 less than anywhere else. I passed. But to this day I still think about it.......

I was contemplating wether to order the springbank 12 CS, or some other more available OB. By the timei decided to go with the springbank it had sold out, never to be seen again in that particular batch.

"Regrets, I've had a few,...but then again, too few to mention." Except for these:

Rittenhouse 21 yo Rye, 3 bottles, and Rittenhouse 25 yo Rye, 2 bottles. I could have bought all 5 bottles for $ 1,000 in January, 2012. $ 200 per bottle was more than I wanted to spend at that time. Now $ 1,000 will not buy one bottle of either of them, and I have not physically seen any old Rittenhouse Ryes on a store shelf since that day.

If I had it to do again I would also have bought 4 or 5 more bottles of Macallan Cask Strength when they were available for $ 55 each. That was 2011.

In the days when I was just getting to know them, 2010 and 2011, I did leave a few bottles of William Larue Weller, Eagle Rare 17, Van Winkle 13 yo Rye, Pappy Van Winkle 23 yo ($ 200 for a bottle? You've got to be kidding! $ 2,400 now) and Van Winkle 10 and 12 year olds, on the shelf. All at CHEAP prices, other than the PVW23. Of course almost no one then expected what would happen to these products in a couple of years. By the time there was enormous public chatter about these whiskeys, they had pretty much disappeared from ever being seen on a liquor store shelf.

I am a little sorry I did not buy a second bottle of Glenmorangie Ealanta. That was one unusual whisky. The mouthfeel alone was worth buying the bottle. Worth World Whisky of the Year? Certainly not.

And at this point the adulation for the Elijah Craig 20 yo makes the then $ 140 price look worth spending. But you really do not know that until you taste it for yourself, or trust someone else's gustatory judgment.

Most of the stuff I have wanted I have not left on the shelf.

@Nozinan You should have sent me a message, we could have met up for a drink before you headed back to Toronto!

Onto the topic, I saw a few of the Glenfiddich Age of Discovery in a duty free in Mexico. Didnt end up buying any of them and with I had.

I wish I'd bought more fun one-off stuff at the Cadenhead's shop in Edinburgh when I was there in 2010. But, I was still fairly new to whisky and didn't yet know the score.

I wish I'd bought the couple Laphroaig and Ardbeg IBs that my local shop had on the shelf last year. I think those are the only bottles I've ever returned to a shop for and found taken.

Not too shabby a record I suppose.

@mscottydunc

I was in, gave my talk, then out. I would not have been able to drink (and then drive), but I thought of you looking at that Amrut.

@Victor

Leaving a 2010 Weller.... at least it wasn't a 2010 Stagg....

For a month or so I considered buying the Dalwhinnie 1992 Distillers Edition. Being born in 1992 it had sentimental attachments. I'd look at buying it nearly on a daily basis. Then the day I go to buy it, it was gone....

A store near me has a few remarkable deals on rare bottles. The problem is that I try to limit my $200+ bottle purchases. I dropped by the store and two that i've been lusting over were gone. Glenlivet 25 year - $250 Amrut 2 continents - $200

There are others there in that rage of quality, rarity, and great price (respectively). I can only hope that the two gone went to good homes and not to a secondary market.

I remember that Pappy Van Winkle 20yo that I never got the nerve to buy at the "outrageous" price of 150€. I guess the concept of outrageous pricing does evolve.

@olivier , that still sounds outrageous to me. Regardless of what the market's doing, 150 EUR/USD or whatever is out of control for a bottle of bourbon. I've spent from $20-$40 in the past and I intend all my future purchases to come from the $20 shelf. It's just as good. OGD 114 and cheap ryes all the way for me!

(Yes, I live in the U.S. And yes, I'm much much much more of a scotch guy. So grains of salt, et cetera.)

no longer the one that got away, but....

for many years i lusted over a 39y/o '68 sherried benromach (the one bottled at 45.4%), but i just couldn't pull the trigger - the cost was far greater than i had ever paid for a bottle, and i had never tried it. i can't exactly explain the attraction, but this bottle was at the top of my wishlist. it was still available up until a year ago in a market where a buddy of mine lives, and then one day it was just gone. bottled in 2007, i figured i would never have the opportunity to pick one up again. i always kind of regretted not purchasing it, and it became something of a "white whale" of whisky bottles for me - i would forever be on the hunt.

life is funny, though. turns out a friend of a friend (it's good to have friends...) had multiples(!), and was willing to let one go at pretty much retail. not only that, but i took advantage of the current whisky madness (please forgive me, fellow connosrs) and sold a couple bottles for a profit to strangers. i not only recouped my initial investment, but i had the exact amount leftover on top of that to purchase the benromach - essentially getting the bottle for free....

@thecyclingyogi

I think that is definitely a story with a happy ending!

@thecyclingyogi , don't be seller-shamed. Everyone who's ever bought a bottle that's no longer on the shelves has a seller to thank.

And nice story too.

Oh—I just remembered the one that really did get away. Binny's used to have some Kilkerran WIP #2 that I kept thinking I'd buy next time I put together a shipping order.

And then it was gone. The end.

@OlJas I did buy a bottle of the 15yo Pappy, for "only" 95€, and it was sublime. I am also more of a Scottish coastal distilleries guy, with a preference for Rye, when I cross the Pond, but my limited experience of Pappy Van Winkle is that it really is on another level than any other Bourbon I have ever tried.