I get asked all the time if I can get them a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. I really don’t know why they think I would have an inside track on that since I don’t work for that distillery, nor am I a member of the Van Winkle Family, and if I was I probably still couldn’t get it. You’d think people would know that it’s just impossible to find. I work for Heaven Hill, and our allocated whiskies are just as hard for me to get as the typical consumer. Well SOMETIMES I can get a sample, but still it’s important to know; allocated=allocated nonetheless. Unless you know the guys that stole the 65 cases of it, you’re just not getting any. Same goes for the Antique Collection, or Elijah Craig 20, 21, 22, Parker’s Heritage, etc.

But in all reality, all of those are actually relatively EASY to get! All you have to do is go to your regular liquor store and get on “THE LIST”. Just like the liquor store itself, if you’re a big enough customer, guess who’s going to get some? So really, how hard is that?
What about the average person that doesn’t spend $10,000 a year at their local store? The average person that maybe isn’t a bourbon fan, but wants to buy bourbon as a gift for someone? Or the person that’s just getting in to bourbon and American Whiskey?

Well I have just the Whiskey Scavenger Hunt for you all. Everyone knows how passionate and fanatical I am about Bottled In Bond Whiskies…so there’s your first challenge…Get every Bottled In Bond that you can. Then have a Bottled in Bond Section on your bar, or in your bunker. (I have 16 of them on my bar…the entire front bourbon row is all BIB!

The only hard part about this is, that some of them are just regional, and available in a few states…but remember, they’re ALL here in Kentucky, so if you’re passing through, or visiting the Distilleries and Bourbon Visitors Centers, you can do it! Here’s that list again, but you’ll find them on my article here too, “The Bonded Journal”. Now be careful, because some of these have an 80 or 86, or 90 proof counterpart too, so make sure you find the Bottled In Bond version. I’m also not going to tell you which markets they are, I mean c’mon…that’s part of the fun of the Whiskey Scavenger Hunt! If I told you where they all were, where’s the fun in that?

Bottled In Bond Whiskies in Production
Old Heaven Hill B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Heaven Hill 6 Year Old B.I.B. (Heaven Hill) only in KY and IN
Evan Williams B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Old Grand Dad B.I.B. (Jim Beam)
Very Old Barton 6 Year Old B.I.B (Sazerac)
Kentucky Tavern B.I.B. (Sazerac) only in KY and maybe one more market
Edmund H. Taylor, Jr small batch B.I.B (Sazerac) (there’s a Rye and a Single Barrel, but that is discontinued)
Rittenhouse Rye B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Mellow Corn B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Old Fitzgerald B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
David Nicholson 1843 B.I.B. (Luxco)
J.W. Dant B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
J.T.S. Brown B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
T.W. Samuels B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Henry McKenna 10yr Single Barrel B.I.B. (Heaven Hill)
Old Tub B.I.B. (Jim Beam; Visitors Center Only)
Old Bourbon Hollow (Jim Beam) only in 1 or 2 states
William Heavenhill B.I.B. (Heaven Hill; Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Only)

Here’s another Whiskey Scavenger Hunt.

Find the BEST quality whiskey (typically that means higher age and/or proof) you can find, UNDER $30 a bottle. Most of those Bottled In Bond whiskies would be on that list too, but there are some really great whiskies that definitely fall in that category. I’ll give you two, Ancient Ancient Age (which is close to being discontinued), and Fighting Cock (readily available).
So there you have it!

That’s your challenge. Forget the Pappy. It’s amazing stuff, get it when/if you can, but learn how to read a label, and get out there and find some great “diamonds in the rough” and look down on those lower shelves and find yourself some great bourbon that you can brag to your friends about, and actually afford to drink on an everyday basis!