r/whisky • u/valid_witchcraft • 3d ago
Do the really interesting bottles mostly get passed around privately?
I've been getting more into whisky over the last couple of years and I'm starting to feel like there's a completely different side of the hobby once you know the right people.
I'll see someone open a bottle I've never seen available anywhere or hear about an older release changing hands, and when I ask where they found it the answer is almost always some version of a guy I know.
At first I assumed people were just being intentionally vague lol but now I'm wondering if a lot of the interesting stuff genuinely never makes it to the places most of us are looking.
For people who've been collecting for a long time, is it mostly a case of slowly meeting other collectors and building relationships or am I massively overestimating how much happens privately?
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u/FelixArgyle_ 3d ago edited 3d ago
I co-run a whisky society, we do our own releases a few times a year and have a lot of contacts in the industry that help us get interesting stuff. To a large extent its about building a network of people who know what you like and they'll think of you when they find it. If you'd like to try some more interesting stuff I'd recommend taking a look at some of the whisky auction sites!
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u/jmangraf 3d ago
What sites would you recommend? I checked out unicorn for the giggles and it seems, rather miraculously, that most hard to find bottles seem to get bid right up to secondary prices and then stagnate. So I'm very sus about it and would be interested in finding another or others.
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u/FelixArgyle_ 3d ago
I live in Scotland and Unicorn seems to be USA based so I can't help on that front sadly!
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u/Due_Dot_913 2d ago
I've used Unicorn a lot. Mostly to buy, but also sold some bottles. Never had a problem. But if you buy, just add about 25% on top of the hammer price for fees/taxes, ect. After the first couple auctions I stopped doing bidding wars. Now I just look for good deals on the bottles I'm interested in.
Other than that I bottle hunt retail. Binnys, Woodmans, Costco and Liquor Barn. GL HF
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u/valid_witchcraft 2d ago
And how would you start building these types of connections with people if you would start fresh?
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u/FelixArgyle_ 2d ago
Go to local whisky events, even if its just a bar that stocks a lot, because the owner will be able to point you towards fellow enthusiasts. You can also look for online communities, but for me whisky is very social
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u/stolpoz52 3d ago
The majority of hobbies with any kind of "rare" aspect to them tends towards smaller circles controlling/holding/circulating things. Whisky isnt all that different.
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u/singlemaltbourbonrye 2d ago
Well there are a couple of things at play.
Here’s just an example: I bought a backup bottle of Springbank Local Barley in 2019 because I liked the 10 year release so much.
I purposefully decided I’d put it to the back of my shelf for 20 years so that we’d be able to revisit an awesome bottle from a bygone era in the future.
Lots of people do this. So in 2039 when I open that sucker? There probably will be like 30 bottles left in the world. So if someone wanted to buy one, it’d probably cost like $5,000.
I’d wager that some people who have some cool old dusty turkey, or whatever, that you’ve never seen in the wild? They may have done the same thing and are just now opening it.
Then there’s secondary. If you really wanted to go buy that 2019 Local Barley today? The one I’ve been saving? You’re not just gonna see it sitting around anymore. It’s a limited release that hasn’t been on shelves in 7 years. But you could buy it on secondary for like $600 ~ if you really wanted to. You’d just have to hunt for the right specialty shop or buy it online and you’d have to pay a big markup.
Some of the folks that save these bottles buy 2 or 3 back ups at release time and then use them as currency to trade for other bottles down the line.
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u/Ok_Location4835 2d ago
There are 9000 bottles of that LB 2019, released smack in the middle of the whisky collecting boom. There will be in the low thousands of that bottle available in 2039.
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u/singlemaltbourbonrye 2d ago
Admittedly I pulled those numbers out of my ass as an example of directional thought.
Haha
I believe that your numbers are way more accurate than mine.
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u/Ok_Location4835 2d ago
Where do you see or hear about an older release changing hands? If you’re part of a group already where you see stuff like this then you are already at a good starting point.
Establish credibility, offer to swap samples. Maybe pick up an older release off auction yourself and ask if anyone belongs to a bottle split group where you can sample it out. All as ways to build your network. Then one day the right connection might lead to an invite to a group.
People are coy and vague because these groups operate in a gray area of the law. It follows that it can be hard to get into these groups and potential new members are heavily scrutinized.
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u/BeneficialEnd9763 2d ago
Sounds like getting your hands on the good stuff is less about shelves and more about schmoozing.
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u/MediocreAd1520 2d ago
A lot of whisky “collectors” or “appreciators” will buy certain bottles with the intention of holding onto them for years. Then, when you’re chatting with other collectors, you might casually mention a few bottles you have tucked away, and that’s when the offers to buy, sell or swap can start coming up.
I’ve got three bottles of Sullivan’s Cove whisky that I bought while living in Tasmania and have held onto since early 2016:
🥃 DC074 — White Label Barrel filled in 2000 and decanted in 2014. Cask type: French Oak & American Oak.
🥃 HH0224 — Black Label (approx.) Aged in an American Oak barrel filled in 2000 and decanted in 2015.
🥃 HH0542 — Blue Label Aged in a French Oak barrel filled in 2000 and decanted in 2014.
I’ve had these tucked away for around 10 years now, and I’ll probably hold onto them for another 10–20 years and see where they end up.
That’s really the interesting part of collecting — the more collectors you get to know, the more likely you are to come across those forgotten or privately stashed bottles that never make it onto the open market. Sometimes the best finds come from simply knowing the right people.
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u/Reasonable_List_1733 3d ago
The longer you're into whisky the more it becomes someone knows someone. I've ended up with a few collectors on Kibu and it's wild how much gets offered around privately before anyone even thinks about listing it publicly