The Backroom Bourbon Jackpot of Alhambra, Los Angeles – May 2015

In April/May of 2015, I was on an all-out dusty hunting blitz across Los Angeles — a full month dedicated to tracking down forgotten shelves, old-stock bourbon, and vintage bottles no one had touched in decades. After doing this for several weeks, I gained a sense of what neighborhoods held potential for having old bottles of forgotten bourbon. Usually these were original owner liquor stores that were owned by the same family for decades. These were the types of stores that never threw anything away, never dusted off bottles that were tucked away on the back of shelves, and were not concerned with their store looking perfect. Often I can tell if it will be a good stop just by who is behind the counter. Usually new owners will clean the store, get rid of old stock, and have perfect rows of clean bottles lining the shelves…….never a good sign.

One afternoon, while I was dusty hunting the Alhambra area of Los Angeles county, I walked into a small, family-run liquor store that looked like it hadn’t changed a single lightbulb since the ‘80s. Behind the checkout counter was an older, confident Chinese woman that I could tell was the original owner of the store. She took a second and looked up at me with indifference and quickly went back to her book. Right behind her I Immediately I saw them. Next to an empty styrofoam cup and a stack of books were several bottles of 1980s Old Grand Dad and Old Taylor, sitting there just like they had been for the past 40 years.

I always get excited about finding Old Grand Dad and Old Taylor, two of my favorite brands from the 1980s. They were not particularly fancy bourbons at the time, just mid shelf everyday bourbons, but the flavors captured in those bottles, in that time period, are unlike any other modern bourbon. These old National Distillers brands (Old Grand Dad, Old Taylor, Old Crow) from the 1980s all had butterscotch undertones, some being stronger than others (peak flavor IMHO is the late 1980’s Old Grand Dad Bottled in Bond 8yr).

I bought them immediately and then asked the golden question:
“Do you have any more bourbon in the back?”

She didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, we have a lot,” she said. “But my husband’s not here. You have to come back when he is here.”

Vintage Old Grand Dad and Old Taylor Bourbon. National Distillers era

The rest of that day was a blur. I stopped at probably 30 more liquor stores that day, slowly accumulating bottle after bottle of Old Grand Dad, Old Taylor, Old Forester and Hill & Hill Bourbon. My mind was constantly circling back to what was in that back storeroom from my visit that morning. That afternoon, I returned, and again the storekeeper was at the register, behind bullet proof glass, but this time she greeted me with a kind smile and a familiar line:

“My husband is not here, you will have to try again.”

The wind was let out of my sails, but I smiled and told her that I was excited to purchase more bourbon from her. I asked when he would be in and she told me to try again the next day.

Back at my motel, I did my nightly routine of unloading all of the bourbon I purchased that day and lining it up in my room for a dusty bourbon photo shoot. This usually was an easy task, as most of these motels you could park the car right in front of the room door. This was a way for me to document what I found that day and to keep a record for myself, also I did not trust leaving mounds of liquor exposed in my car outside in sketchy motel parking lots.

That night I lay awake like a kid on Christmas Eve. What the hell was back there? My brain was spinning. Could it be Stitzel Weller? Could it be cases of Old Grand Dad? Could it be Ritz crackers from the early 90’s? There was only one way to tell!

The next day, I pulled up to the shop one more time. The front door chimed as I walked in. And there he was, almost a mythical being at this point — the husband — sitting at the register casually eating a steaming bowl of noodles.

I told him that I had met his wife that previous day and that I had bought a few bottles of Old Grand Dad and Old Taylor bourbon. He looked back at the now empty space on the shelf behind him, as if surprised that the bottles that had been keeping him company for the past 40 years were now gone.

“Your wife said you might have more old bottles to sell in back".

He looked at me, stood up mid-noodle, and without a word, motioned me to follow him. His wife must have warned him I was coming, as he didn’t think twice about leading me to the back storage room.

What happened next was bourbon dusty hunting nirvana.

We walked into the back storeroom — and it was everything I had imagined and more.

Back storeroom filled with dusty vintage bourbon goodness

Old wooden shelves stretched along both walls of a long storage room, many sagging under the weight of decades of forgotten bottles. Cases of old liquor lined the floor with random dusty bottles placed in every available inch of space, Gin, vodka, whiskey — all covered in glorious dust and decades of silence. It was like a dusty liquor time capsule. The old man spent a few moments in the storage room with me, and then suddenly realized that he had left his shop unattended. He said to me:

“Everything for sale, buy as much as you want,” before he scurried out to his station behind the bullet proof glass.

Back storeroom filled with vintage bourbon. Dusty Ancient Age 86 proof 1.75L bottles

Suddenly I was left alone in this holy grail location for dusty bourbon and booze. This is exactly like what I had built up in my mind over the past 24 hours, I could not have imagined a more sureal bourbon hunting location. I knew that this was a special moment, and immediatly grabbed my phone to take a video. I had to document this, no one was going to believe me!

Back storeroom filled with vintage dusty bourbon and liquor

After about 30 minutes alone in the storage room I began to think the old man had forgot about me, thats when he returned with a push cart and told me to load it up. I spent the next hour rummaging through shelf after shelf of old dusty booze, deciding on what I would take and leave behind. I left behind cases of old vodka from the 1970’s, cases of old blended whiskey from the 1980’s, and weird bottles that I had never seen before. After loading up several carts full of bottles and stacking them by the register I was ready to check out.

The old man seemed almost relieved that this weird guy was coming and buying all of his junk bottles that he had long forgot about. He did not ring up bottles individually, but would give a price for each box, each time thinking that his price was going to scare me off. We settled on $1500 for everything, which was likely retail prices circa 1985. Luckily the man accepted credit card and I paid for everything, over 100 bottles in total. He was gracious and helped me load up the back of my rented SUV with the boxes of dusty booze.

Cream of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Old Forester Bonded bourbon

Perhaps the most exciting find for me was an unopened case of early 1980’s 1.75L Ancient Age 86 proof bourbon, plus an additional 10 uncased bottles. I absolutely love large format bottles such as 1.75L, 1/2 gallons, and the elusive 1 gallon formats. There is something extra obscene, almost gleeful, about having bourbon that is that rare and sought after in such abundance, a seemingly endless supply!

Unopened Ancient Age 86 proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey case

Once the car was loaded, I had a nagging feeling that there was more in the storage room that I had overlooked. I asked the man if I could go back into the room so see if there was anything else. With a confused look, he said of course, take as much time as you want.

Im not sure if I wanted to go back into that room to try and find more bourbon, or to just sit back there among the dust and soak in more of the experience.

Vintage dusty vodka and liquor

Sure enough, there were two lone 200ml bottles of Cream of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey that I had left behind, hidden behind a box of vintage Ritz crackers. I sat there debating with myself, do I buy this vodka? What about the gin? Should I really leave all this blended whiskey behind? Blended whiskey means that it is a mixture of pure grain alcohol and whiskey, which is typically not very tasty. I decided that I had to exhibit at least a shred of self control and determined that I had to leave these bottles behind.

I walked back up front to the old man and asked how much I owe for the 2 additional bottles of 200ml Cream of Kentucky. He just laughed and told me to just take them.

Bourbon hunting treasure. Back storeroom filled with vintage alcohol

This was one of the most epic dusty hunting experiences that I had to date. I am glad that I took a video and photographed the back storeroom, forever capturing a glimpse into dusty hunting heaven. To this day I still think of the cases that I left behind, debating if I should track down the exact location of this store again on my google maps screenshots and see if they are still there. Part of me feels like since this magical day that owners likely changed, the store was likely cleaned, and much of this old stock was disposed of, including the vintage box of Ritz. I guess it could never hurt to go take a look……

-Adam