After Ruger collecting, Bourbon collecting (and sometimes even drinking) is my jam. I need a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. Vermont has state-run liquor stores and they are price-fixed at MSRP, so I tell my wife I'm "stocking up" before we move to a free market state where anything goes. Up here, Eagle Rare, for instance, is $39.99 and Blanton's is $74.99. Blanton's has gone up 3 times in the last couple years, from $59.99. I think Buffalo is still $24.99 but I don't usually buy Buffalo since it is allocated the same as the others; only one bottle of any BT expression per person per day, and if a store has Buffalo, they usually have either Eagle or Blanton's. For some reason, Weller never seems to come to Vermont. I have picked up 3 bottles of Stagg in the last 3 years but it is like hen's teeth up here. And I only have one Blanton's Gold on hand. Any Pappy that comes into the state is raffled for charity (as in, buy a $5 ticket and if you win, you then have the privilege to buy the bottle at retail - I always participate but have never won). Some other ones get the raffle treatment as well.
I know the delivery days and times at the four closest liquor stores, so I know when to be there (either every week at the high volume shops or every-other week for lower volume).
Mostly what I drink is Eagle. The more expensive stuff tends to be for "future investment", though I usually have an open bottle of Blanton's kicking around for company. I have two complete sets of Blanton's stoppers, still in their unopened bottles, and I'm over half done with my 3rd set with B_ANT_N:, so I just need another L, O, and S. For the Gold, I only have an N.
I also chase the limited bottles of other things like Bookers, Elijah Craig, Larceny, Four Roses, 1792, etc. Oh, I also have a few varieties of Whistle Pig since it is bottled about 15 miles away from here. When we got married, we put together thank-you bags for the guests that included Vermont stuff:
Lake Champlain Chocolates, maple syrup from my
wife's cousin's sugar shack, and a nip of
Whistle Pig. The young-uns got double chocolate and no rye.
I've really only been doing this since I retired 3 years ago. Before that I felt lucky just to find a bottle of Buffalo since I couldn't be hanging out at liquor stores at 10AM when I was working
