Hello and welcome. I’m starting this blog to host notes, tastings, photos, and stories about my adventure in whiskey hunting.
My name is Win Pratt. As of now (July 2019) I’m a whiskey novice. I’ve always enjoyed good whiskey, but never put much effort into learning or collecting. A friend recently introduced me to his modest collection and now I’m hooked.
Here’s the thing, though. My friend lives in Tennessee where the liquor store are privately owned and allocations are more generous. In my home state of North Carolina, the Alcoholic Beverage Control commission manages all our liquor stores.
Generally, I think this makes whiskey hunting a little harder. That’s not to suggest that whiskey hunting in a state like Tennessee is easy, but Control States like mine often get limited allocations dispersed across the state which make some common whiskeys rare. For example, you can find many bottles of Buffalo Trace in most liquor stores in Tennessee. You can’t find it anywhere in NC. As of today, it’s literally out of stock in the state.
So, join my hunt and follow along as I learn to navigate the whiskey market in an ABC state. I’ll post my own tips and tricks here, and hopefully some data projects, too. For now, I’ll be enjoying this Nikka From The Barrel I found on the shelves in Johnson City, TN.
