How Fucked-up is the LCBO?

The BTAC/PVW drought continues. I see on Reddit there are people hawking their bottles already.

@Astroke I’m shocked, just shocked that people would do that.

@OdysseusUnbound Flippers gotta flip!

This refers to the Pennsylvania liquor system. A person can go online and search by county for any type of spirits. I am puzzled how there can be twenty bottles of whisky at some podunk remote town and yet a big city location can have only two bottles of the same whisky. Is someone not doing their job correctly? This seems obviously wrong and no one seems to catch this or correct it!

@DaveM Welcome to the LCBO...

HOW FUCKED-UP IS THE LCBO?.... it took a global pandemic to make a small improvement in their distribution policy...CORRECTION.... a large improvement. SAME-DAY PICKUP is what retail stores offered half of a century ago.

@paddockjudge Most stores offered same day pickup for hundreds of years. The only difference is at most stores, when you pay for your item you walk out with it. At the KGBO, you may get it, you may not...

I find it interesting that the LCBO is hosting an online tasting / education event on the Diageo Special Releases on Thursday night, but all the SR bottles are online order only, so likely won't have arrived by Thursday, but at the same time, the SR bottlings will likely be sold out by then, so anyone tuning in to learn before buying probably won't be able to buy any...

Follow-up to my previous comment...the Virtual Tasting is on Thursday evening...as of Tuesday morning, the Cardhu 11yr, Singleton of Dufftown 17yr, and Cragganmore 20yr remain unavailable for online purchase, the Talisker 8yr is sold out, and there's one Mortlach 21yr left...Plenty of Lagavulin 12yr, though...like 1,250 bottles left. So they'll be showcasing whiskies that no one can get, or that are too expensive for most people to buy...

I mean, seriously, how hard would it have been to delay the online launch until you had all the products ready, and until after the Tasting Event, which is being billed, on their own website, as "...an insider tour of the eagerly anticipated 'Rare by Nature' collection, carefully selected from some of Scotland's most interesting distilleries."

And this isn't the first time the LCBO has messed up a release like this: the roll-out of the GoT Special Editions was equally botched...

@YakLord ,,,and don't forget about the botched job on Lot No. 40 Cask Strength 12 YO Rye in 2017 with the POP-UP STORES in downtown Toronto. I'm embarrassed.

@paddockjudge The LCBO has yet to find a release they can’t fuck up. If it wasn’t so frustrating, it would almost be impressive. Almost.

@YakLord Cardhu, Cragganmore, and Dufftown WERE available (before 9am Monday) ... they just sold out quickly (since they were the lowest priced and had fewest bottles), Laga 12 is still available because its 200 bucks! and isn't unique - every whisky nerd probably has multiple bottles from prior years. Talisker 8 lasted a few hours, again probably because of the one bottle limit and relatively large number available. Laphroaig Cairdeas 2020 also went online early Monday morning (~500-600 bottles) but disappeared quickly because they didn't set purchase limits and the early bird flippers snapped them up by the case.

@65glenfarclas So the tasting on Thursday is going to highlight a bunch of whisky that is no longer available...

@65glenfarclas also there were over 1300 bottles of the Laga 12

@paddockjudge 48 bottles of EHT 4 Grain showed up at one of those stupid ass pop up stores. I rolled in with a few other people to demand one at $75 or something. We were told these were for a group of restaurant people there on a tasting. Then we shown the door.

For my Ontario friends who may be interested: the Vintage Shop has just put up a bunch of insanely expensive Macallan, Highland Park, Laphroaig, and Bowmore malts along with some allocated Blanton’s Gold and Weller Single Barrel. If you love the feeling of winning absolutely nothing, here’s your chance.

@OdysseusUnbound

Don't forget the Mister Sam on allocation for ONLY $350.00.

@OdysseusUnbound I might put my name in for the Weller Single Barrel...I noticed that they can't even get the description of the Blanton's right, as it says ABV 52% in one spot, and then in the quote they've taken from Jim Murray, it says 40%...so they've either got the ABV wrong, or they've borrowed a quote from the wrong review...

@65glenfarclas @YakLord - correction, it appears that they did put some aside to be released as part of the tasting. Updated availability is here: lcbo.me/3k5LsOb

Well, that was a disappointing pre-recorded, 15 minute infomercial that provided very little information...All the others Virtual Tastings the LCBO has done have been interesting, but this was a complete waste of time (thankfully only 15 minutes, though).

For those who missed the run on APCS at the LCBO a few weeks back, they now have a lot more available in store, and about 1500 online for purchase.

I will sit this one out as I have all I need, but the temptation is always there to buy some more to give as gifts in the future when good Canadian rye is harder to find at a decent price.

Priced at $350, you would have thought that I would have been able to “win” the opportunity to shell out for a Mr. Sam, but sadly I, and all the accounts I convinced to order for me on behalf of other Connosrs who may remain nameless, struck out again...

@Nozinan I also maintained my oh-fer streak. At least there’s one thing I can count on.

@OdysseusUnbound I’ve figured out the difference between Ontario and PEI. In Ontario, the good stuff is brought in by the LCBO, but it’s unobtainable; in PEI, the good stuff generally isn’t brought in.

Do you guys think that system overlords at the LCBO read this discussion?

@Victor I don't think our "spiritual" overlords care what the hoi polloi think.

@OdysseusUnbound Much like their cousins here in BC.

It is entirely possible that aspiring career bureaucrats in an authoritarian centralised Liquor Control System do not see Liquor as a social value AT ALL, but merely see the CONTROL of liquor as a social value. This would explain all of the nonchalance of those who run these systems toward customer dissatisfactions. If you want good liquor distribution, you put it into the hands of those who appreciate liquor as a positive social value.

Because I was fortunate in the recent BTAC/VW lottery, I only asked a few friends at work to put in for me this time around. A crossed off bottle on my bucket list was the result.