How do you not have 10K subscribers by now! You continue to kill it with content. Great ideas for people getting into whiskey and so cool you brought us together like this. Thanks for the invite, and I look forward to your next creative idea! Cheers!

Awesome episode!! Thanks for sharing some of your secrets and introducing us to other awesome groups and people! ❤

Tip Go the store, ask for allocated bottles in the back, bring plenty of cash.

Good info, in NYC one can get all of them but just above or twice the price. I can get pappy now but I don't want pappy at five times above retail and it's not the old uncle it's that new buffalo Trace juice that it's okay. Bottle hunting is something I still enjoy for years.

3 tips I learned from managers in PA stores if you're looking for non-unicorn but still hard to get bourbons (because in PA, even bar staples can seem like a myth): 1. Most non-lottery limited bottles (ex. Eagle Rare) only get released around Philadelphia. If you're near Pittsburgh like me, you're screwed. 2. PA stores are seperated into two kinds: regular and premium collection. ONLY Premium collection stores will ever get limited releases AND more hard to find bourbons! Most premium stores get up to four trucks a week, but only one truck every 5-8 weeks with only a couple cases any normal (but still limited) products like Buffalo or Blantons, and usually in the spring and summer. If you're going Christmas shopping, you're screwed. 3. The bourbon scarcity is getting worse and more and more good ones are becoming allocated or put on lottery. If you want Weller, you're screwed. If you want bottles that are technically not unicorns but still hard to get in PA, it's a good idea to find stores out of state that carry them and people who often travel that way. It's embarassing but sometimes it's the only option if online groups aren't feasible and you can't afford to travel out of state very often. That's what I've always hated about living in Pennsylvania. It's hard enough when you can't even get non-unicorn bottles and the only places that carry them are out of state and you can't even order them online to ship into the state. There's bourbons I've wanted to get for years that're wholesale a few hundred miles away!

Shoutout to your mom @ KOP tavern promoting ur channel. Good stuff dude!

Lotteries and camping out 💥 BOOM

Great episode and awesome tips that we can use as well. We hope it helps everyone. Cheers!!

Thanks for the tips! I live 10 mins from the DE border, and I like hitting a lot of the mom-and-pop shops there a couple times a month - it does me well. Cheers!

Great video, with some good tips. Networking and building relationships is key. Cheers 🍻

Great video! The hunt truly never ends. Any time I go somewhere, even in PA, if I have time to stop in the local store I will. You never know what you're gonna find.

Just found your channel and glad I did. Some real content without inside jokes and pranks.

Great channel! I grew up in Newtown, Bucks County. Living in Georgia now. Thank for all the great info!

My local liquor stores around me are nice guys, and some have sold me EH Taylor and other “allocated” bottles just because they’ve gotten to recognize me. But they admitted to me that they hold Blantons and all the even crazier bottles for their highest paying customers. They simply won’t sell it unless you spend $10k/year. That’s most of them around me.

Great video Chris and great guests. I love watching both The Bourbon Van and The Whisky Neighbour - and thanks for introducing to to Black Bourbon Family, who I've now subscribed to. Keep up the great work. Cheers.

Solid suggestions. Here in AZ It is kind of a mad house. There are hundreds of stores in my city that could get rare bottles. From small hole in the wall shops that triple retail, to big box stores that sell at retail. I end up sometimes driving to six-eight stores in one day, and sometimes end up with nothing. Cheers! 🥃

Wonderful advice and tips. Fortunately I live less than 20 miles from Bardstown and the Bourbon Trail is right here. I no longer take my Weller or Willet for granted.

Leaving Texas is a LONG trip!

I love the simple honesty.... "Don't be a D..." to your local store... so true. I hit subscribe on this page and will find PABourbonSquad. Thanks from Uniontown, PA.

Wow, awesome info pick up Jefferson Reserve bourbon $94 Canadain today today was the summer spirits release 2024 also got Blontons original $109 Canadain last yr summer spirits release got the Blontons Gold Bourbon for $139 Canadain 😍😁🇨🇦

Chris - nice job brother! Nothing better than collaborating with other channels! Cheers brother….

I just got the 2022 larceny flask strength in NJ guy said got 3 of them in. Breaking bourbon doesn't even show it released. And as I informed you we do get dickel. I again saw it in my Montgomery County store on Friday. No bottled in bond though I need another bottle but not paying 60 bucks. Kicking myself Texas had it for 36 bucks.

“Some of us have jobs”. That was funny.

Thanks for all the tips, Go Flyers!

Great video. I also live in Philadelphia area and found many of my hard to finds by stopping by the store on delivery day here in PA. Also by visiting Ohio stores on delivery dates. I will be moving to West Chester next month and will add Wilmington DE to my hunting route. Great video = subscribed:)

Excellent. Thanks.

Speaking of holding bottles. Someone had a store hold Blanton's for them saying they'd be back that evening. I git there the next day. Just looking around and chatting with the cashier. I picked up a bottle of Sazerac and mentioned how I wish I could try Blanton's. He told me about what happened and I was able to purchase it. Always chat with the cashiers, work can get boring for all of us and sometimes they can help you out.

Great video man!

You have a nice channel. I'm over here in Ohio and have been pretty lucky so far getting what I would like with the exception of some of the obvious ones you mentioned. All at MSRP. I agree with these tips and the best tip you mentioned is be there on delivery day and know the staff.

I work in a large high end liquor store and we don’t get a lot of allocated Bourbon, and what we do get goes out within hours. I have been in several small hole in the wall stores recently that have good stuff just sitting on the shelf, at retail, with nobody buying it. Look in poorer areas where people don’t spend $80 on a bottle.

My name is Embree I live in Jacksonville Florida and have been waiting for this kind of opportunity to get a hold of some unicorn bourbon in my area for retail prices.

Cool channel, just subscribed. I’m here in Florida so I have some good liquor stores, sometimes I score a decent bottle at SAMS or Costco. some liquor stores have you buy a bottle or 2 of the “staff” picks or something similar if you want to score a good hard to find bottle. I just did it to get a bottle of Blanton’s. 😝

I found a great store near my mother-in-law on Long Island and now every time we visit I pop in and buy a bottle or two. I make sure to make some small talk and mention higher end or unicorn bottles so they have me in mind when they get them. I can't be there for delivery days, so I really have to play up a faux relationship.

Here in Wisconsin all stores here do lotteries only you never find Weller anything or Elmer t Lee

lol Stagg drops in March here.

Here in Montgomery County both the 8 and 12 dickel on shelf.

This list is helpful depending on how long you have been into whiskey. I've been drinking whiskey, legally, since 2007, after while you don't care about these bottles, probably overrated. And it is possible to build a relationship with a FWGS employee. I've got 2 insiders here in Lancaster County. Best tip is to make friends out of state. Have 2 bottles coming for ND this week. Good vid tho.

10 tips to finding unicorns... don't waste your time, it ain't worth it. There you go, fixed it.

As a person that work at a liquor store and love bourbon best tips spend money on other things, second speak ❗ I hate when I say hello how can I help you and I see the eyes looking all over the store I normally call them out like hey the better bourbons are over here so just be friendly ❗

I work for a liquor distributor so I know what stores are getting what lol

Lol was that Elmer you got at the west Deptford buy rite?

I'll challenge anyone to a hunt competition. Swear I'm the master and my pictures with prove it.

Shout out to PA borbon squad!!!

Hi

Just found Kentucky Owl batch 10 in jersey, I’m new to this so not sure it’s a unicorn though

Where I live the liquor stores use key cards to track how much you spend, then the biggest spenders get first crack at the stuff that never makes it to the shelves. And then the REALLY hard to come by stuff (Pappy, OFC, etc..) gets raffled off, generally at about $50 a ticket. Well, the little $50-$80 a week that I spend on whiskey is NEVER going to get me on the big spenders list, and I don't gamble. So I simply live without rare whiskey,... it ain't so bad.

Anyone from Houston,Tx here? I need some stagg jr and Blantons 😎

Why do bourbon-heads showcase Weller's? I bought the green bottle during a big local restock I happened to catch and it wasn't anything special. I told my dad about it and he claimed Weller's is a cheap drunk's type of bottle, because apparently that's what he used to see his buddy's drink. Idk what to think now days besides that the green label was nothing special IMO. Keep in mind, idk if my dad is recalling Weller's from the 70s, 80s, or 90s.

Can you find Wild Turkey American Spirit?

So when does Stagg jr drop? 😄

Get yourself a Blantons Gold!

I just work at a liquor store and upsell.

Tip to people reading comments. Badgering employees, or calling stores is easily one of the worst ways to try and get allocated bottles.

Some grocery & big box stores employees are buying the allocated bourbon so it never hits the floor. Costco employees have told me they wait by the loading docks to get 1st dibs on allocated stock. They hold it back for each other, too. Many of them don't even drink bourbon or do but just want to sell it on the secondary market or to liquor stores. It's illegal but the state regulators don't do anything about it so this BS continues & prices go way up. This past fall the big box store I shop at claimed their store got no allocated bourbon. None. 1st time in the past 5 years they haven't since I've been drinking bourbon. They claimed they had no idea why. Sure. The main alcohol dept employee told me about an expensive gift a customer gave him in the fall. We all know why. I'm over wasting time hunting these unicorns. There is too much great bourbon not being swept up into this private circus of corrupt bourbon buying & selling.

this is a stupid video for finding OVERPRICED booze that is being flipped by secondary market.. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON HYPED BOOZE

What's the discord?

Your video was very good, but videos like this are so frustrating when you actually work in the industry. Whatever your "unicorn" bottle is? There's probably 10 bourbons that taste just like it, or taste even better, for less money....and you will NEVER EVER know about them....because you spent your time & money chasing subpar, overpriced unicorns, to impress your friends. Lol

Everyone makes these lists & no one addresses the most obvious point.... "Be willing to pay for something you want." I own a liquor store...if you aren't my regular customer? I'm not giving you ANYTHING. I save my rare stuff for the people who keep my business afloat. Not some out-of-town idiot who came strolling in thinking he might find an untapped well of Blanton's or something. Now that we got that part out of the way...there's a second part to that statement. Go into a liquor store that you have never been in before....and go: "Hey, do you have any Blanton's or Weller?" And they will laugh at you - as they should (they hate you right away if you're asking for these bourbons btw) and then go: "Well if you happen to find a bottle of Blanton's let me know, I would be willing to pay $200 for it." And I bet they find you a bottle of Blanton's right away lol People go: "Do you have Pappy?" "It depends. Are you willing to pay $1500 for it?" "No." "Okay. Then, no, I don't have Pappy."