Bourbon Hunting in NYC: The Michter’s Phase. 2014.

In my previous post, Pappy Van Winkle Obsession – First Bourbon Purchase, May 2014, New York City, I shared how a random article about Pappy Van Winkle pulled me into the world of bourbon hunting while living in New York City. Once that fire was lit, it didn’t take long before I started expanding my search beyond just Pappy.

Around that same time, I noticed another name popping up again and again on my liquor store hunts — Michter’s.

I was still living in Greenwich Village, walking home from the hospital each day during my fellowship, and on those walks (and just about every weekend), I made a habit of popping into every liquor store I could find. Back then, in 2014, it seemed like Michter’s 10-Year Bourbon was everywhere throughout the city. Most bottles were from the 2013 and 2014 releases, and the prices? Almost laughable by today’s standards — usually $89 or $99 a bottle.

2013 and 2014 Michter’s 10 year bourbon, Michter’s 10 year rye, Michter’s 20 year bourbon

Anytime I saw a Michter’s 10-Year, I bought it. No hesitation. I didn’t know then just how collectible these bottles would become, but even then, something about them felt special. After I purchased my first bottle of Michter’s, a 2013 Michter’s 10 year (now confirmed to be coveted Stitzel Weller stock) I immediately cracked it open to have a taste. This bourbon hit different. At this point I was used to drinking lower teir bourbon, and my pallate was less sophisticated as it is today. All I knew was that this bourbon tasted different! It was absolutely amazing. I thought to myself, “why would anyone drink anything besides Michter’s 10 year?” Little did I know at the time this was an extremely special bourbon. It is commonplace for large brands to source whiskey from differnt distilleries, and release it under different brand names and vintages. It was rumored for several years that this 2013 Michter’s 10 year bourbon was actually Stitzel Weller bourbon, which now is widely accepted as fact (2013 Michter’s 10 year bourbon currently has a secondary value of over $2000).

Michter’s 10 year bourbon, Michter’s 10 year rye, Barterhouse 20 year bourbon

One of my most memorable (and nerve-wracking) purchases during that era was a 2014 Michter’s 20-Year Bourbon. It was sitting behind the counter of a fancy liquor store I had popped into after work, this time in the mid-town section of manhatten. This particular bottle of Michter’s 20 year was priced at a staggering $499. At the time, spending that much money on a single bottle of bourbon felt absolutely insane. I circled the store a few times before finally pulling the trigger — and even then, I remember carrying it home like it was a priceless artifact.

2014 Michter’s 20 year bourbon with box. Batch 14C180

Looking back now, $499 for a 2014 Michter’s 20-Year was an absolute steal. Nowadays, these bottles easily fetch 10-15x that price on the secondary market.

Of course, not every decision was perfect. I still kick myself for passing on a Michter’s 25-Year Bourbon and a Michter’s 25-Year Rye, both priced around $1,200. At the time, $1,200 for a bottle of bourbon seemed unthinkable. Today, those same bottles can easily fetch 15-20x that price — a tough pill to swallow when I think about it.

Out of all my Michter’s hunting in the city, there was one particularly rare find that stands out. I once stumbled across a 2012 Michter’s 10-Year — a true dusty in my mind— tucked away in a liquor store down in Soho. You could tell it was an older release just by the four-digit bottling code on the neck tag. Surpirisingly, out of all the Michter’s bottles that I found, I only came across 1 bottle of 2012. This was my first realization that there were likely dozens of others guy just like me, scouring these liquor stores and grabbing all the good stuff.

2012 Michter’s 10 year bourbon. Barrel 2338

The Michter’s phase of my NYC bourbon hunting was really the beginning of my understanding that this wasn’t just about grabbing bottles — it was about learning the stories behind the distilleries, the release years, the differences between one bottle and another. Every store visit became a potential treasure hunt, and every new bottle added another chapter to the collection I was slowly building. This is when my bourbon education really started. I figured the more I knew about each release, each distillery, and each variation of bottles the more opportunity I would have to make a score.

While my initial obsession started with Pappy Van Winkle, it was the chase for Michter’s — especially those hard-to-find 10-Year and 20-Year bottles — that truly hooked me on the thrill of bourbon hunting.

And this was just the beginning.

-Adam