In PA, Rare Bourbon Available Only In State-Run Lottery

By Andrew Staub | PA Independent

Sometimes, consumers literally have to win the lottery to buy liquor in Pennsylvania, a state that has controlled wine and spirits sales since Prohibition failed.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board this month began using a lottery system to sell limited-release items, deviating from past practice of putting products for sale online on a first-come, first-serve basis and letting customers scramble to see who could click their mouse the fastest.

Sometimes the website crashed. Sometimes people used programs to game the system. And, in some circumstances, customers didn’t get the email notice in time to even have a shot at scoring a rare bottle of bourbon for their collection.

Hence, the lottery system was devised. So far, customer reviews have been positive, said Shawn Kelly, a PLCB spokesman.

“It will be for severely allocated products and products that have incredibly high demand,” he said. “You may have something that we get 150 bottles of, but there will be 40,000 or 50,000 people who want to get it.”

The PLCB conducted its first limited-release lottery earlier this month. That drawing also featured bourbon — specifically, two dozen bottles of the Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection at $48.49 a pop.

This time, it’s 24 bottles of Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition 2015 bourbon for sale. The barrel-strength bourbon honors retiring master distiller Jim Rutledge. It goes for $99.99.

While the PLCB has a reason for its lottery, and private retailers have used lotteries in other states for rare items like Pappy Van Winkle whiskey, it still strikes some as odd that consumers have to win a drawing for the right to buy what they want.

Nathan Benefield, vice president of policy analysis at The Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank that favors privatizing liquor sales in Pennsylvania, said people have to count themselves lucky enough to buy a premium bottle of liquor in Pennsylvania, he said.

“The absurdity of it is going to resonate with other examples of the absurdity of the PLCB and (show) why having a one-stop, government-run liquor store just make sense for a lot of reasons,” Benefield said.

Yet that’s the only place Pennsylvanians can go if they want a rare bottle of Four Roses.

Customers must register at FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com  and have billing information on file to participate in the lottery. Signups opened Monday, and customers have until Saturday to opt into the drawing.

Only Pennsylvania residents older than 21 and liquor licensees can enter. Anybody with an out-of-state address is stricken from the lottery.

Because the PLCB has so few bottles, customers can buy only one. A quarter of the bottles are set aside for licensees, such as bars and restaurants.

More than 7,000 people entered the first lottery, though the final eligible list was culled to 29 licensees and almost 3,300 individual consumers. The PLCB selects winners randomly using a computer.

Several licensees who won a bottle in the last drawing did not return a message seeking comment about the lottery program, but it’s generating interest among bourbon fans.

As long as the PLCB spreads news of the lottery and acts equitably, the Philadelphia Bourbon Enthusiasts of Pennsylvania of America, a fun-loving and informal drinking club, supports it, member Jim McLaughlin said.

Always looking for something new to try, McLaughlin said he’ll pay closer attention to the PLCB’s offerings. The lottery is savvy move, he said, noting the PLCB can use it to draw more customers into its system. And it’s better than a wild online scramble, he said.

“Off the top of the head,” McLaughlin said, “I couldn’t think of a fairer way to do it.”