Van Winkle 12 Year Old Bourbon

Well shut my mouth!  For the first time, I won a lottery here in Virginia through the state Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Store. My prize? A bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year Old Bourbon for $150.  It’s almost impossible to find, and if you do find it, it’s usually over $700 a bottle. 

The State controls the sale of hard alcohol here in Virginia. You can buy beer and wine just about any where, just not hard alcohol. The ABC stores set a uniform price across the state for everything they sell.  With the state controlling the stores and the purchasing, it also makes it harder to find rare or different bottles of certain types of alcohol, particularly bourbon. When they do get it in, it vanishes pretty quickly. 

Enter the lottery system.

The state runs a lottery every month for rare or hard to find brands. It varies each month on what is available. You fill out an online form, and a few weeks later, they notify you whether you won or lost. Or in my case, always, and universally that I lost. Until this February ;-). 

This past February, the lottery offered up five different selections from the Pappy Van Winkle family of whiskeys. For those of you who aren’t whiskey drinkers, Van Winkle is considered one of the Holy Grails of  whiskey and goes for astronomical prices at many stores and on the secondary market. Are they worth those astronomical prices?  Maybe for some folk, but not me. Even their regular pricing puts them on the more expensive side. After knocking wood, I entered the lotto for all five selections, knowing my chances were between slim and none.

A few weeks passed and I received an email from the ABC folk – HOLY COW! I’D WON! My prize? – a bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year old bourbon at the low, low price of $149.99. Out of nearly 67,000 submissions, I was one of 822 selected. 

I hadn’t been this excited since winning the cake walk in 5th grade at the McKinley School Christmas party.  

I dutifully filled out the paper work, provided my credit card information, and noted from which store I wanted to pick up the bourbon. Then, I waited.

Well, waited and checked out prices online for Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year old bourbon.  OUCH! You can see some of the prices here:

Eventually, I received notification the bourbon arrived locally. I needed to set up a pick up time, and bring my ID with me. Last Thursday, I arrived at our Warrenton ABC store, and after showing my ID, the bottle was mine.

Cathy and I opened the Van Winkle for a taste on Friday evening. How good was it?  Let’s just say I wouldn’t pay $700 for a bottle, but at $150, it felt like a steal.  Cheers!

 

Addendum:

• Want to win your own bottle of gold from the Virginia lottery?  If you are a citizen of Virginia, you can do so here: https://www.abc.virginia.gov/products/limited-availability/lottery/ , or sign up for their newsletter here: https://www.abc.virginia.gov/products/sv-enews

• Here’s a slightly funny story about my learning to like Bourbon … Patricia said, “Bourbon neat, please”.  All eyes turned to me.  I admit, I panicked a bit.  There was no way I was going to say in a wimpy voice “Yes, I’ll have a Gin and Tonic.”, in front of these three septuagenarians ladies. I succumbed to self induced […] Continue at:  https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/from-blue-blazers-to-bourbon-on-the-rocks/