It’s only been a couple years since this blog post

http://thebourbontruth.tumblr.com/post/85549606796/the-truth-about-collecting-and-investing-in

was done and how the market for collectable, after/black/secondary market Whiskey has changed.

When eBay stopped doing Whiskey a starting gun went off.

Now, some of the dozens of online sites have 2000-3000 members buying, selling and trading American Whiskey as if its legit. A few sites are doing Powerball lottery type listings where you buy a spot, others auction, and do “buy it now” etc. Some are snobbish in secrecy and selectivity of permitting membership while others are public. Craig’s list and Bottle Spot are as open as they get. This has created a whole new era and type of reseller that is only in it for the money and people are getting ripped off. Fakes are growing and unassuming newbies stocking up with cases of crap thinking they can turn a tidy profit. A year ago one could walk in the Four Roses Visitor Centers and get all 10 recipes of private selections picked by Jim Rutledge and now it’s common to only find a few with the most popular ones selling out as soon as they go on sale. Most aren’t getting drank and are getting saved and resold.

All is not lost, some sites focus on cost plus shipping and non –profit listings.

Lines of people for Pappy are nothing new but recent Willett 21 and 22 year releases resulted in 30-40 people at the Willett Distillary gate waiting to buy their allotted 4 bottles after opening. A true story was an elderly Asian couple sent to Willett by their son (banned from buying) bought 8 bottles that were online before they left the parking lot for more than double the cost. Flippers complained that the two 21 year barrels would have sold out in 20 minutes rather than an hour had the Visitor Center had two registers in use. I guess that extra half hour killed them. Not needing a tent overnight to get bottles has spoiled them. The Willett Visitors Center fields 100’s of calls on the average day of what’s for sale, when the next old stuff is being released etc.

For the first time I’m certain most bottles of rare things aren’t being drank. They are changing hands over and over. It was said by one of my Twitter followers that it’s become the new Baseball Card trading and that’s true.

An especially nauseating trend in the last 6 months or so is the posting of the “is this special”, “what is this worth”,“what will you pay” of bottles still on a stores shelf. Can it get worse than this? The Black Maple Hill brand from CVI had a last bottling by Willett/KBD a couple years ago. The bottles were filled with an average $20 blended brand from Willett, bottled as a “No Age Statement BMH” and released at about $35 a bottle that went to $100 at retail and still unable to keep in stock. It’s now sought after at $200+ as collectable strictly off the old rep and poor knowledge. Many buyers just don’t care. The “coolness” factor driven by rarity obscures quality/value. Eight year average tasting “rare"Kentucky Owl sold at $160 reselling over $300, the new Woodford Masters disappeared fast without concern for not being that good or even good reviews. People scramble for EH Taylor Cured Oak and it’s not good! What it is is 17 year old and JUST 4400 bottles. Isn’t anyone opening this swill! That hasn’t stopped Cured Oak sold at real retail around $80 a bottle (that hasn’t even reached all the stores/states at this writing) from being resold at almost $500, 6x its retail cost immediately! It’s no surprise I haven’t seen a reputable reviewer rate Cured Oak highly. Reputable is important as many people are now using things like the Distiller App that are terrible. Finding real qualified and expert guidance is getting hard and blurred. Call yourself an Expert and you are. The Distiller App lists things like the horrible “take your life in your hands” BMH Oregon Rye at a 98 rating when classic Sazerac 18 and Van Winkle 13 Rye score 6-8 points lower. If this sort of incompetent idiocy was a crime they would get the chair! Bad Wine people are now doing bad whiskey reviews and inexperienced whiskey drinkers are trusting these frauds! Since when does the ability to mix a decent Manhattan make you a whiskey expert with a palate that doesn’t suck? People are asking bar backs and 18 year old kids working in Liquor stores for recommendations to make matters worse. A cool looking bottle of $200 Distllers Masterpiece 3rd, or a cool looking expensive Bib and Tucker (Dickel Sourced) bottle becomes nirvana. Do suckers deserve the suck?

This cycle repeats and this new BMH embarrassing crap is reselling at double the cost and can’t be kept on shelves when it really needs to come with a black box warning and antidote! Buy Sell Buy Sell.

It’s reached a new low I fear and getting worse when idiots argue what batch of crappy and very questionable Jefferson Ocean is treated like modern day treasure when the last two batches sit as dust magnets and shelf turds in most stores.

I fear it’s getting worse when Beam decides to release the next Bookers batch with a catchy name rather than standard batch number “Big Man” to be followed by other aptly named batches to follow. Just the regular stuff confusing people just enough to wake them up as they rush to stores filling their trunks with “the regular stuff” not knowing or caring as they try and sell them.

I’m not sure where this is heading but it’s not good and at some point people are going to wake up and realize they will no longer ignore the man behind the curtain and move on to the next fad.