Buying full bottles from bars/pubs - my story

[torcross]

I have a few bottles of Karuizawa and with them being so scarce and the price on the secondary market sometimes running into the £1000's I decided to use the internet to browse whisky menus from bars across the UK in the hope of snagging a bottle for the collection.

Although a few menu's did show that some bars did stock Karuizawa when the bar was contacted they did not have any it is stock, that is until I contacted a bar/restaurant in the City of London. They advertised they have a range of Japanese whisky including many bottles of Karuizawa.

I contacted them and asked if they had any full bottles, the reply was yes I then asked if I could buy the whole bottle as I collect it, the answer came back, no we don't sell full bottles.

Now knowing they had a full bottle in stock and the fact I would be in London that weekend I could not at least give the bar/restaurant a visit and try and talk them round.

Oh by the way the bottle in question was from the Noh range cask #8529 boubon cask and the price was £40 for a 50ml shot this = £560 + 12.5% service charge = £630 for the bottle.

Around 1pm on the Saturday with the wife and daughter hitting the shops I made my way to the bar restaurant and asked to speak to the manager, the manager came over and said he was the deputy he said the manager was in Germany so I told him my story and he said he will have to contact him.

I thought at this point he would just pretend to make the call and say well we cannot sell you the whole bottle. Anyway after he had a long conversation with his boss he said he will sell in as long as I paid cash, I only had £300 in cash so I was like Usain Bolt to the cash machine for the balance.

The guy checked every note and after what seemed an eternity I left with my liquid gold and put it straight into the hotel safe, my daughter saw the bottle and said it scares her (check it out you will see what she means)

A bottle of this now regularly sells for £1600 - £1700 at auction.

I was also fortunate to get a bottle of the new Karuizawa just released in the last few weeks.

I have left the name of bar out but have no problem supplying it but a quick search will come up with it very quickly.

Has anybody else got any stories of how they came to buy a dream bottle.

Cheers

[TheWM]

No. But excellent work.

[Quaich1]

Hi Torcross. Thanks for your anecdote which was very well-presented. It incorporates
research, excitement, thrill of the hunt and a lot of determination. It reminds me of my experience with Bowmore The Devil's Casks, the initial offering or what folks now call Batch 1 at 56.9%abv.

When it first came out in the UK, I started asking questions here in Canada as to whether it would be coming to Ontario and almost immediately ran into blank looks anytime I brought it up at the province run liquor stores. Every 3 or 4 months, I would put a call in and inquire, but no one either ever heard of it or I was told to call back in a few more months. Then Batch 2 was released in the UK over a year later and I decided to determine if perhaps this second release might find it's way to Ontario. The first few calls did not glean any positive information but then I got a hold of someone who actually provided me with an item number but mentioned the product had to go through Provincial government inspection and quality control. I continued to ask about it in the shops now having the precious item number. Finally, one day, I was told that there was product in Ottawa and London Ontario that was finishing the aforementioned process and would be available but not all outlets would have it. I left my name with one of the larger outlets and never heard back. A few weeks later I called back and they told me they actually had received some bottles but that they were reserved for a customer. I was just going to put the phone down when I asked by any chance was it for Murray (me) and sure enough the answer was yes. I went down to the location about an hour's drive away fully expecting to pick-up the Devil's Casks Batch 2. To my great surprise , pleasure and excitement it was the Batch 1 which only now had made it's way here in limited quantity. What followed was a 2 week period of me chasing down bottles at the outlets within 100 miles of my location. The end result was 10 bottles of Batch 1. For comparison purposes, the auctions in the UK continue to fetch prices in the 200 British pound range and up, and it seems pretty clear IMO that this expression will gain notoriety over the years bearing in mind too the limited number of bottles released world wide. Each bottle is already valued at around 4 times what I paid for it. The whole affair put a smile on my face and once again underscores research, excitement, thrill of the hunt and a lot of determination. And that's how I came into possession of bottles of one of my dream whiskies. How about that story!
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[torcross]

Nice story Quaich1, as you say the research, determination and effort will always put a little smile on your face when you pour a dram and in company as you pour you can always say 'I've a funny story about this bottle'.

The new bottle of Karuizawa I purchased this week was a bit of a story, I did put in for the ballot on The Whisky Exchange but alas they had 6000 people inquire for about 100 bottles and needless to say I did not get one.

I did contact the only other shop I thought may get some in and they said 'we are getting some in but only a few bottle's' and the same as you Quaich1 they would put my name on a list.

Anyway I never heard anything and last Monday I just checked their site and as usual they had 16 different bottles all at around £2000+ except 1 at a much lower price but the description was very vague, it just said Karuizawa whisky 1981 33 years old sherry cask and anybody that knows Karuizawa, 1981 sherry cask does not really narrow it down, I took a punt anyway and ordered it for next day delivery so on Tuesday when DHL delivered I took a long deep breath and opened the parcel. Yes it was the one one 6000 people had expressed an interest in on The Whisky Exchange.

I then contacted the shop to ask how many bottles they got, the answer was 2.


Once again I have left the name of the shop out but will let anybody know who requests it.

Thanks

[sorren]

Great story's, although I have not got anything like this to tell I did have a hard time over the Glenfiddich foundation reserve, after William had told us about it I rang straight away, got through and placed my order for one bottle, I put a reserve on a number ( can't remember which ) and all was rosey, I believe it was a Wednesday or Thursday, I rang back on the Monday to see if I could add a second and yes it was no problem, after several weeks people started posting the money was being taken but mine was still not taken, I rang again and was told my name was down but the money should have been taken by now.. Panic time ... A few weeks later people started getting deliveries, my money still had not gone, another phone call and I was told the bottles I had reserved had been sent 😩.. But not to me, I was told I still had 2 bottles reserved but they could not say any more, I was told to ring back a week later if nothing happened, a week later still nothing, I rang and was asked what bottles I wanted, I told them I was told they had been sent to someone else so wasn't sure what bottles I was getting and no money had been taken, I was told all money should now have been taken ..😢 I wasn't getting any ... I was told to give it a few days and see, ten days later instead of the price of 2 bottles coming out an extra £50 was taken ... 😳 what's going on.. I rang again and was told yes I was getting my 2 bottles, I explsined the price of 3 had been taken, no explanation was given but I was told to ring back once I had the 2 bottles, the 2 boxes arrived... 😊😊😊yippee there was 3 bottles, the 2 I had ordered and sn extra one, I was told there had been a spare so was allocated it, not sure how you get a spare on a bottle that is sold out but I was very happy with my 3 bottles... That's my story 😊

[Quaich1]

Sorren, that's another interesting story. Here in Ontario, we are limited mostly to buying spirits directly from the government run shops. I could see where it could be a nail biting experience ordering online and waiting and wondering if you're ever going to receive the material or in what condition it is going to arrive, especially from sites that are not particularly known.
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[sorren]

I know, just thought of another slightly different one,
I ordered bottle no1 from a single barrel of a particular favourite dram of mine,
Along with a few other bottles, a fortnight later I recieved my parcel...
2 x 1.75 litre bottles were inside ... Empty..... NO .... where are my bottles,
I quickly rang the distillery, I rang the dispatch side, no sign of my bottles, several nail biting hours and several phone calls later my bottles were located ..... In Japan...
I was offered replacements.. My answer was how do you replace bottle no1 ???
I then spoke to a chap at dispatch,I won't mention his name ( Stan ) but he was a star !!
He sorted the bottles to be sent back and forwarded to me along with a wee sorry package, I was pretty happy when I opened the parcels.. Great service in the end ..
But believe me I had a few squeaky moments..