[ad_1]
Back in 2018, David Falcheck of Scranton got the notification he was waiting for — he was among a small group of winners chosen from thousands of lottery entries for the chance to buy a 12-year-old bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve Straight Bourbon.
“It was excellent,” Falcheck said of the bottle, which cost about $100. “I think it was definitely worth it.”
Pennsylvania has about 600 state-run liquor stores. That means when rare bottles are released, it’s difficult for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to equitably distribute them. To remedy that, the PLCB instituted a lottery system in 2015, giving state residents first dibs on purchasing a bottle if their name is drawn.
The PLCB’s most recent winners sought nearly 400 bottles from the Buffalo Trace 2022 Antique Collection of bourbon and whiskey, along with 324 bottles of Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel Bourbon and 10 bottles of Michter’s Straight Bourbon 20-Year-Old. While the Buffalo Trace bottles all sell for just under $110, the Blanton goes for $150, and the Michter’s sells for an eye-watering $1,149.99 per bottle.
Before the advent of the lottery system, Falcheck said, customers looking for limited-production bourbon just had to get lucky.
“Back in the day, stores would just get them and whoever got there first, got those bottles,” Falcheck said. “I think the lottery is a way for this unique and idiosyncratic (liquor sales) system in Pennsylvania to distribute these in a fair way.”
Part of the lottery includes divvying up bottles: some will be sold to residents, others to liquor licensees such as restaurants.
Jim Switzenberg, owner of Jim Wright Restaurant in Lancaster, has won bottles through the lottery multiple times including a 12-year-aged Weller wheated bourbon and a 25-year-aged bottle of Entrapment Canadian whisky.
He has also won the chance to purchase some of the most sought-after releases, those from the Pappy Van Winkle line.
“The last Pappy bottle I got didn’t last two days. Friday into Saturday, and it was gone,” Switzenberg said. “We have a really high-end bourbon clientele. They love rare, and they love American bourbons. It doesn’t matter what we get — they’re going to buy it.”
Switzenberg said when his restaurant wins the lottery, he doesn’t even look at which bottle it is. He just buys it.
“It’ll be gone in no time,” he said. “I don’t want to say how many times I’ve won, because people will think it’s a scam.”
And while Switzenberg is acquiring his bottles fully above-board, that’s not always the case.
In 2019 and 2020, four employees at the PLCB found themselves in hot water after purchasing bottles left over from lotteries before the public knew they were even available.
While a state investigation found that the employees did not violate Pennsylvania ethics law, the episode prompted the PLCB to conduct an internal investigation and change its policy so that all limited-release bottles are distributed through lottery drawings and are not released for general sale.
And while Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor stores have generated their fair share of issues and complaints over the years, Falcheck said the lottery is probably the most cost-effective way to purchase one of the limited-run bottles.
“I don’t know if it’s an argument for keeping the PLCB system in place, but it’s a way to handle these limited-production items equitably,” he said. “In other states, these bottles would be much more expensive, if you could find them.”
For more on the PLCB’s lotteries, see FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
[ad_2]
Source_link
