@WhiskeyLonghorn I've actually been contemplating moving to Austin off and on for a while. I hear good things and so long as I don't need to take a hit to my compensation/career to move there, it would be enough of a financial win to buy those hard to find bottles in secondary and have them shipped in 😂 Property prices up here are bonkers ($500-$1000/sqft in my neighborhood) and the taxes on them are high too.

@Anthology I feel you. When I can find one of those hard to come by bottles here, he price is a steal...until I see the tax. It really just seems to be a revenue thing, but it seems like a bonkers way to fund the government.

@Anthology @ContemplativeFox come down to Texas! We have way lower liquor prices and taxes, and in return we just never seem to get much in the way of allocated bottles like ECBP or pretty much any Buffalo Trace product. Our trade off is hilariously high property taxes (which I assume SoCal and Seattle have too...)

@ContemplativeFox Yeah, and the Hibiki prices at SoCal Costcos have maintained some stability too. I bought 3 last year at same prices so I’ve reluctantly skipped them this year ☹️. I do find it interesting you think your prices in Washington are worse. I’ve seen some of the best whiskey prices on Wine-Searcher from retailers in Washington. The rub is the tax. 25% is fucking nutz! I picked up an ECBP A119 about year ago at a TW&M in Seattle in the mid $50s. At the time I thought I was getting a great price, until they rung me up at the counter. The thoughts that ran through mind when I saw the receipt are not fit for print. I probably could have requested to cancel the transaction but my excitement at finding a missing bottle to complete my 2019 ECBP set was greater than the disappointment with the tax % 🤷🏽‍♂️

@Anthology I'm pretty jealous of that. I know that Washington gets a lot of its tax revenue from liquor (not even wine or beer - what is this, 1910?!), but it still makes me envious every time I see the whiskey prices other people have to pay. Congrats on getting a fine whiskey at a reasonable price!

@WhiskeyLonghorn @ContemplativeFox the Costco’s in my neck of the wood still have a bunch of these on the shelves as of this week for $60 ($59.99 to be exact). The regional inequities in whiskey pricing is so ridic!

@jarrettshelbym I (and I think most others) usually go with the pre-tax/pre-shipping price unless there's something really extreme I need to account for (e.g. inter-continental shipping). I figure in most cases it's only a few bucks/percent this way or that way and it's usually too much of a pain to figure out the exact number. $70 plus 20% tax is a solid buy for this IMO. I too wish I had gotten into whiskey before the likes of Hibiki, Yamazaki, many of the bourbons, and every old scotch became absurdly expensive.

@ContemplativeFox @WhiskeyLonghorn, My bad guys, just checked my transaction history and it was definitely $70 before tax. Still a great buy and a solid bottle. Wish I had gotta into whiskey’s before Hibiki killed the age statements though!

@WhiskeyLonghorn Yeah, I just grabbed a bottle for $72 (plus 20-something percent tax) and I feel lucky. last year it was only $65 though.

Can’t believe you found this for $60. Retails around $100 every time I’ve seen it. I’m kicking myself for not paying $70 for it 3-4 years ago when I first tried it.