Whether you have asked yourself this question or not, I'm about to tell you what an Infinite Bottle is and why you should have one as well, if you are serious about your bourbon. It's actually a pretty simple concept. Get yourself an empty bottle (I bought mine off Amazon instead of using an empty, because I'm a little boujee). Whenever you open a new bottle of bourbon, pour an ounce into your Infinite Bottle. Over time, the different bourbons will blend and create different flavor profiles that may be incredible or may be awful. You never really know. You can either let it sit until it is full, or sample it every now and then, which is what I prefer to do. As you continue to open bottles and add to the bottle, it will never be empty, hence why it is called an Infinite Bottle. If you know me personally, then you know that between being on call occasionally and having my daughter, I really don't drink that often. I also prefer to keep my collection of nice bottles seale...
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I have a younger brother that is just starting down the slippery slope of bourbon collecting, so we planned this bourbon hunt to try to snag him a couple of nice bottles to get started with his own collection.
I have been collecting for about four years now and definitely gear more towards having a collection instead of a selection. Most of my bottles remain sealed on shelves until I score a second one that I can open. I know some people have issues with that, but I don't care, because I'm a grown ass man.
When we started this bourbon hunt, I had zero bottles in particular that I was looking for and had no idea which stores we would be hitting. Just decided to take the day as it came to me. I only knew that we would be staying local for this hunt.
Our first stop was a local Liquor Xpress. Upon walking into the decent sized store, we were greeted with a walkway that was lined with boxes of store picks. I love anything Yellowstone, so I couldn't resist and grabbed one of their picks. I didn't see any other picks that grabbed my attention, so we carried on to their bourbon selections.
As we perused this aisle, I took note of their pretty impressive selection and decent prices. I snagged a High West Cask Strength (Yippee Ki-Yay) and this year's Smoke Wagon Halloween bottle, which is said to glow in the dark. I haven't tested this yet.
Unlike what some of my co-workers likely think, I actually enjoy talking to strangers and being friendly when I am out and about. I may have eavesdropped a little and listened to these three other guys that were out bourbon hunting. They were talking about the Maker's Mark Lost Recipe release. I had been eyeing it, but wasn't sure about pulling the trigger, even though I have a soft spot for Maker's Mark, being the first distillery that I ever toured.
When I talked to them about it, they said that they had tried it and spoke praise about it. They also informed me that Costco currently had two cases of it and it was about thirty dollars cheaper. One of them then informed me that they did not have a membership to Costco, so they were about to shell out the ninety-four dollars on the bottle, because it was such a good pour.
Having a Costco membership, I decided that it was time to checkout and make the short trip to Costco to try to snag my own bottle of the Maker's.
While on the way there, I happened to look in a strip mall and saw a new liquor store that I had never seen. It was called Woodruff Liquors. My brother and I decided that we would hurry to Costco and double back to check it out after.
We made it to Costco and I was able to grab one of the four remaining Lost Recipe bottles that they had left and also grabbed a bottle of Five Farms Irish Cream, since it is my favorite Irish Cream and the price was unbeatable.
We then headed to our third and final stop for the day, which is now my new favorite liquor store, Woodruff Liquors.
When we entered the store, my first impression wasn't that of being blown away, but when I started taking note of the number of hard to find or allocated bottles lining his shelves at very reasonable prices, I soon changed my mind.
I know Buffalo Trace gets a bad rap from some people, but it is one of those bottles that I always like to have on hand, so I will frequently pick one up when I see one. He had more than several. I also scored a Blanton's off the shelf for the first time in a long time. I know I'm going to get some flack for this, but Blanton's is just ok. I said it. That doesn't mean I won't grab a bottle if I find one at a good price though.
When I started making small talk with the owner, he produced a Weller 12 Year from behind the counter and asked if it was something that I would be interested in. As I'm trying to complete my "Weller Rainbow", I was very interested. We negotiated a very reasonable price for the bottle and it was added to my haul. I also picked up a Crown Royal Blackberry, just because it was super hard to find when it first came out and I could never find one.
We ended this bourbon hunt here while I was still looking good on my budget that I had given myself for the hunt and headed home so that I could ooo and ahh over my haul.
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