I blame Robert Parker. Before he wrote about the van winkles (or "pappy") in 2009 or 2010 the stuff used to just sit on the shelves. I could buy the 10 year expression pretty much year round. And the 23 would just sit, because nobody in their right mind would pay $200 for a bottle of American whisky. Then Parker wrote it up in wine spectator and now you can't find the stuff, and it's extended to other bourbons as well. The secondary market is absolutely nuts. But there are some real gems emerging now. Four roses is absolutely killing it right now. Their small batch whisky is the best value around. All of the American whiskeys are really stepping their game up. It's a good time to be a whiskey drinker because there's a lot of excellent stuff out there.

Fdw