Eight years ago several barrels of Willett’s aging stock of rye had reached 25 years old. It was time to get it out of the barrel before it went bad. From that time they sold the rye often without as much as any interest. The last few years when a few bottles here and there started selling they were still thought of as over priced and woody for $300. Adding this 25 years to 8 year in the bottle, this 1983 contents have not seen the light of day in 33 years. Putting this in perspective, other famous ryes that came from the same batch of Bernheim Cream of Kentucky are now going for well over $1000. Bottles of Raththskeller, Bitter Truth, LeNells that came out a few years back were 1-4 barrels total each now a bottle can cost over $10,000 if you can find one. This’s. A current LeNells is $9000 in an auction which will be over $193 for a ½ once when it sells. Bargains can still be found though. A charity tasting and tribute for Jim Rutledge (retired Four Roses Master Distiller) will be held on November 5 2016.

http://bourboncrusaders.com/jim50/

In a insane bargain this is the Pour list of ½ oz. samples for just $250 total (the cost of one special 1 oz pour in the best whisky bar of these rarest of rare if the have them). Includes $200 valued Pour of LeNells-

– Four Roses 17 Year Gift Shop

– LeNells Red Hook Rye

– Charbay 73.5% abv. Private Barrel Selected by Bourbon Crusaders

—Bookers 25th Bourbon or Bookers Rye

– Four Roses 125th 2013 Small Batch Limited Edition

– Four Roses Private Barrels Recipes selected by Bourbon Crusaders

– Makers Mark 46 KDA or Woodford Masters Brandy Finish

– Willett WFE Surprise

—Angels Envy 2016 Barrel Proof

After Party-

– Silver Dollar Private FR and/or selection of Bourbon Crusaders Private Barrel FR

– Heaven Hill “Special” Bottle

Includes Dinner, gifts and an evening with Jim Rutledge. Oh my.

All for charity and just $250! $150 for all but the top 3 pours.

When people read of this next year (long after its over) they are going to be sad it was missed.

So a $735 new price for the 25 year old Rye is fair in this market (still with fast sellout demand) which means it’s still under priced. Its supply and demand though for sure and it might only take 1% of the population thinking this way.

The famous Ryes above were pulled and bottled in their prime which should be considered. One would think that if this were available for $735 it would be a steal but that’s not what happened yesterday when Willett released some more of this 25-year-old rye. Still, many people rebelled and started complaining online. They actually had the nerve to associate this with the same bottles being acceptedly sold in the secondary market for $800. This is a madman’s logic. Many of the brands have caught on and they are now selling what they had been pricing at $100, at $300. This is especially true for things that were being sold for that price on the secondary market. Some of these recent bottles include the Bookers Rye limited release and the newest Parkers Heritage 10th release, 24 year Bourbon. It’s a matter of rarity and I’ve already covered this in my post on Bookers Rye being $300 linked below.

http://thebourbontruth.tumblr.com/post/145294753006/is-300-too-much-for-a-bookers-rye

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like spending extra money but I believe in fairness. It’s always fair that brands selling rare bottles (that will never exist again) charge and get to the eventual secondary market value first.

Oh, and please don’t compare this with what Buffalo Trace and Sazarac is doing with the Antique collection and the Van Winkle. These are two completely different situations where these brands are bait to force retailers and bars into buying much much more crappy booze they don’t want throughout the year. This, in my opinion, is much worse then just selling the stuff for what it’s worth.

Whenever Willett has a big release lines form and they quickly sellout. This $735 Rye sold fast as well. The smart people bought them two years ago at $300 when people were shocked by their price, the purchasers gullibleness and rejected both. Now they are being called lucky and smart. Go figure?

Finally there is the other side. Horrible whisky that seems old or special like the latest Orphan Barrel –Whoot and Holler. At $200, this 28 year old seems like a steal in the climate I’m referencing, it’s not. It’s a 28 year old liquified turd in a bottle. Crap gets sold as “special” too so beware.

To sum it up, you need to really pay to play or someone else will.