This post is much more about me trying to make sense of the crazy world in which we live.
Apparently, there are people in the world who are so obsessed over cult beverages that they will pay thousands of dollars for them. THOUSANDS. OF. DOLLARS. For something that is meant to be consumed. Not a house, not a car, not surgery, or chemotherapy, or college, or a trip to Europe, but alcoholic beverages.
Call me naive, but until I started working in the retail industry this past year and got my first phone call asking for Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, I didn't really realize this was a thing. But boy is it!
Here in Chicago, people took to following around the distribution trucks from store to store, hoping to catch them on the day the shipments came in. "People, how are you going to pay for this stuff (retail was "only" about $300) if you don't go to your jobs!?" I wanted to yell at them.
Then this fall, people waited in line for hours outside large liquor stores, and our phone rang off the hook with people looking to get their hands on Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout series. NUTS, I tell you.
I understand that 80-90% of the fervor of these fans is the idea that they could possible get something no one else can. I get that. But it still seems NUTS.
However, I was thinking... I haven't seen really this much cult attention drawn to wine. Why is this? I can't figure out what cultural differences there are between die-hard bourbon fans, beer fans, and wine fans that lead them to not be scrambling for highly allocated, small-batch wines. Whither the wine geek love?
What do you all think? Why the difference, and is a bottle of bourbon really worth $2500?
Thoughts?
Also, I should squeeze in an apology for skipping a week. The holidays got me! But I am back, and the 1 yr anniversary of the blog is coming up! I'll have to cook up some fun posts!
Apparently, there are people in the world who are so obsessed over cult beverages that they will pay thousands of dollars for them. THOUSANDS. OF. DOLLARS. For something that is meant to be consumed. Not a house, not a car, not surgery, or chemotherapy, or college, or a trip to Europe, but alcoholic beverages.
Call me naive, but until I started working in the retail industry this past year and got my first phone call asking for Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, I didn't really realize this was a thing. But boy is it!
Here in Chicago, people took to following around the distribution trucks from store to store, hoping to catch them on the day the shipments came in. "People, how are you going to pay for this stuff (retail was "only" about $300) if you don't go to your jobs!?" I wanted to yell at them.
Then this fall, people waited in line for hours outside large liquor stores, and our phone rang off the hook with people looking to get their hands on Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout series. NUTS, I tell you.
I understand that 80-90% of the fervor of these fans is the idea that they could possible get something no one else can. I get that. But it still seems NUTS.
However, I was thinking... I haven't seen really this much cult attention drawn to wine. Why is this? I can't figure out what cultural differences there are between die-hard bourbon fans, beer fans, and wine fans that lead them to not be scrambling for highly allocated, small-batch wines. Whither the wine geek love?
What do you all think? Why the difference, and is a bottle of bourbon really worth $2500?
Thoughts?
Also, I should squeeze in an apology for skipping a week. The holidays got me! But I am back, and the 1 yr anniversary of the blog is coming up! I'll have to cook up some fun posts!
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