These will be the first releases that we will use our Whiskey Reward Club. The sign ups for the Whiskey Reward Club have slowed down, so I believe the regulars that want to be in the club have mostly signed up. If you have not signed up - click here for details
We will hold these until May 31 in order to let customers accumulate purchases for a month and release them through the WRC the first week of June.
Knob Creek Small Batch Bourbon
2001 Limited Edition
- Distilled 2001
- Bottled 2016
- 100 proof
- Batch #1
American Pharoah Bottle
In 2015, American Pharoah captivated the hearts of fans worldwide by becoming the first-ever winner of horse racing’s fabled Grand Slam. By sweeping the Kentucky Derby®, the Preakness Stakes®, the Belmont Stakes® and the Breeders’ Cup® Classic, American Pharoah established himself as one of the greatest racehorses in history. That’s something we can really relate to around here. After all, no one thought you could make a bourbon both full-flavored and easy to drink. Until we did it. In honor of American Pharoah’s inspiring and exhilarating achievement, we’re proud to introduce a limited-edition American Pharoah commemorative bottle. To further mark the occasion, Maker’s Mark and the Zayat family will make a donation benefitting the Kentucky Derby Museum, a nonprofit organization with an impassioned commitment to engage, educate and excite.
8 comments:
Do you know yet how you will release the bottles?
Is WRC by dollars spent or qty. of items?
Also, if allocated a bottle, do we get to choose which one we want (for example, I already have a blue pharoh makers bottle....thus wouldn't want another).
I guess I'm trying to decide if spending lots of money with twcp is going to be worth it in the long run, or will I spend hundreds of dollars all summer and get "assigned" a common Blanton's in the fall? Not being critical of your program, just trying to figure out how it works so I can make my money count for the best chance @ pappy or BT antique.....be it with you or a competitor.
At this point the plan is to base it on dollars, each dollar will count as a point. We are going to use a weighted average. Will adjust as we see how the system works. But the plan is to take the top 100 people on the list and assign 1 lottery ticket to #100. 100 is not set for sure, if #101 is only 2 points away we would include them also. I will always try to find a good break where the distance is much greater. So it might be 90 or it might be 110. We might find the the top 200 is a better way to go. If there is a spot on the list where there is a $200 break instead of a $10 break, I would use that spot.
Lets say the last person on the qualifying list spent $56, so each $56 a person spent on the list they get a lottery ticket. For example, if someone else spent $270 we will divide that by $56 which is 4.83 and we will round to 5 lottery tickets for that person and so on. Then we will draw names for the number of bottles we have. So the more you spend the better your odds are. The initial plan also is to cut the allocation in half. If we get 12 bottles then the top 6 on the list automatically get allocated a bottle and then the last 6 will be used for the weighted lottery. We want to reward the top spenders, but we also want to reward regular shoppers too that do not make the top of the list. We need all of our regulars in order to get these allocated whiskeys, so we feel they should get a chance too.
The number 100 might not always be used, sometimes it could be more, sometimes less. Pappy we will expand it higher. We might end up doing something based on how man bottles we get. If we get 6 bottles we could multiply by 10 and use the top 60, or if we get 12 bottles it might be the top 120.
As far as getting a Blantons instead of Pappy: When we get to the Pappy we will draw the names first for the Pappy/Antique products. Other Bourbons, might end up being in the lottery after that too. Just as a way of pulling a few more names for medium hard to get bourbons. You will NOT get a Blanton's instead of a Pappy, just means you were not drawn for the Pappy and we drew a few extra names after that, hoping you get a bourbon you might want even though it is not Pappy. Again being at the top of the list will get you more benefits, they will get to choose which Pappy they want, further down the list will not.
We will mostly use a rolling 6 months of purchases before each release (obviously not yet since the system has not been in place that long). Pappy Van Winkle will be right at 6 months or more when it comes out this year. After that, since Pappy is the most sought after we will uses 12 months rolling on it so that your purchases all year will count towards it.
Generally once the system is up there will be only one Bourbon drawn at a time, so there will not be a need to choose most of the time. There will not be a choice on the Pharoah and Knob, but we will do our best to find someone to switch with if you do not get what you want. We were able to switch out a couple on the last raffle to make everyone happy.
continued....(it said my comment was too long)
I understand you have to find which system gives you the best odds. As we all know there are only so many bottles available of these Bourbons and tens of thousands of people asking for them. So the odds are tough. We are just trying to be as fair as we can, but the fact is most do not get bottles that want them. The distributors give us a bigger allocations the more we spend with them and the distributor gets more from the distillery the more they sell of their regular stuff. It is just how it works. The more St. Louis buys in general, the more good stuff makes it to the market.
Also as far as Blantons/Eagle Rare/Willett and other semi hard to get Bourbons that we just randomly see, we will most likely just send emails out to the Whiskey Reward Club to give them advance notice. If we get 6 bottles of Blantons, we will email out to the top 60 to say it is at the store now, come and get it if you want.....things like that.
Hopefully this answers most of your questions....
Thanks for the details.
As usual, I appreciate the transparency.
I know it's a lot of hassle dealing with the "bourbon boom", but I know you're trying very hard to create a good system for allocation.
It's been very hard on me as well, as the good stuff used to be easily available several years ago.
I find it harder each passing year to get honest answers and even a chance at purchasing my favorite bottles.
OMG!!! I Can't believe you have some of the rarest knob creek in stock. I guess TWCP got lied to by the distributor or they got lied to by the distillery. You really need to read some blog from guys in Kentucky because we all know they get first dibs. When I look and I see stuff left that was a super highly allocated release. I guess 15,000 bottles is considered rare.
I would have supported the wine and cheese
place and bought a bottle of anything left
over from the club but I'm glad to see it sit on your shelves. I've never once found anything or got anything the industry considered rare.
So i just built a new cellar and had to move all the bottles I have. You know what 80% are from TWCP and of that 80-90% , 25% is every barrel release you've had.
Someone told me that I better buy some yippee Ka ya because the label is super special. The other place doesn't carry it and I haven't heard good things. Before this last 2 years I would of bought anything you put out cause it's TWCP
I'm not even gonna tell you who I've found various allocated GOOD whiskey from, because you know. I've also been promised a bottle of Elliot reserve. They could care less who gets it, they get there little bottle from the distributer and are happy. That may be a little extreme because you are the biggest small liqour store. Oh and by the way, I'm sure you know that I can get a bottle of anything released from a liqour store for 10-20 over retail. I took pictures to prove it. Pikeville rye $49, stagg jr , ECBP $50, black maple $89, and on and on. You don't have to post this but that's what I think. Sorry
I am not 100% sure of all your questions and comments, but will address what I can.
The rare one we released was Knob Creek Batch #1 through the WRC. Not sure if Batch #2 and #3 were much bigger batches, that is what we have on the shelf. We were able to get 10 cases of each and posted them as available and have them online to reserve. The distributor first released us a few cases each of #2 and #3 and we limited it to 1 per person. Then apparently other accounts did not take their allocations and they said we can have as much as we want. I took off the bottle limit and put them on the shelf. In fact, the distributor still has more Batch #3 in stock as of last week.
The Yippee Ki Yay is not our barrel? That was distributed through out the area, so it should be easy to find.
We would love to get everyone the bottles of Bourbon they want, but it is just not possible. If you have 6 bottles and 1000 people want it? What do you do, I keep repeating this because I do not know what else to say. Bourbon is very rare now, luckily there are a lot of great bourbons on the shelf still too. As I have said before, I still put some of the rare ones on the shelf too. In the last few week some Rock Hill Farms, Blood Oath, 1792 Sweet Wheat and Full proof, Col Taylor all were put on the shelf for people to find. They were not announced or posted to avoid people just racing to the store and grabbing them. They were put out for regular shoppers to find.
Not sure what you mean buy posting those prices? When we have it, Stagg Jr and Pikeville Rye are $46.99, ECBP is $49.99 and Black Maple (I assume you mean the Oregon ones) are $74.99 (will have to double check that price tomorrow, might be $79.99).
You have ECBP in the shelf? Ok I'll be in tomorrow to get a bottle. In fact if you can produce any of the three then I'm a buying. I'm sure it's gone though. Your the only store who controls it like you do. Other places put it on the shelf and limit 1 per bottle. I don't really want pappy because it's never gonna pay for it.
I'll see you tomorrow. Do I have to stop by 3 different stores to get ECBP and the other 2.
No we currently do not have any on the shelf.
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