Camping Out For Whiskey Has Come Of Age

By Richard Thomas

Spending the night in a tent or your car so you would be first in line was the stuff of rock concerts and Star Wars movies and not much else when I was young. The phenomenon is a relative newcomer to whiskey, and still one that leaves me shaking my head. Perhaps I’m spoiled (it’s certainly not a question of passion or aversion to discomfort), but the idea of pitching a tent in a liquor store parking lot to score a bottle of Elmer T. Lee just strikes me as silly.

But I doubt I’m that spoiled. Instead I think I have some perspective, because I know that as recently as ten years ago, anyone who was camping out for whiskey wasn’t silly, but insane. As recently as 2009, I could still get on a waiting list for a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old and expect to get it, either that year or the next (that turned out to be the last time, though). It’s Pappymania that brought the camp-out-in-line bug to whiskeydom, and I’ve never been afflicted with that particular ailment.

Yet during that decade the nature of the camp-out-in-line experience has begun to change. I’m still not pitching a tent in anyone’s parking lot, but there are some examples of camping out for whiskey that, far from silly, are totally worthwhile. These are the experiences that have already brought something of the festival to waiting in line for whiskey.

Snowflake
Out in Colorado, Stranahan’s has an expression that has seen the Burning Man of whiskey grow up around it. That Denver-based distillery, one of the forerunner’s of the craft whiskey movement, began its annual limited release cask finish series in 2007. Over time, it has changed from a collection of single cask finishes to a blend drawing on several: Snowflake 2018 drew on Muscat, Syrah, Merlot, Port, Zinfandel, Chocolate Stout, Rum, and two Madeira casks.

The constant is that Snowflake has always been a distillery-only release; the only way to get it was through Stranahan’s front door. As the distillery became more popular, people began camping out in the parking lot for their crack at Snowflake, and camping out for Snowflake was a major commitment. As the name implies, the expression comes out every year in December, so those hardy souls are enduring freezing Denver weather to get that coveted bottle.

That devotion has made the annual Snowflake release into a festival. The December 2018 release had several hundred of fans braving the icy weather the night before Snowflake “Mt. Elbert” Colorado Single Malt Whiskey 2018 went on sale; the first camper arrived a week in advance to ensure his place at the head of the line.

At least several dozen people, all among the last to arrive, had to go home without a bottle in 2018, but I didn’t meet any among them who were more than a little disappointed by that. They had all come as much for the experience of the “Stranafans” coming together and partying in the frosty parking lot as for the prized bottles of whiskey.

The Cowboy Rodeo
Coming up behind the Snowflake festival is the annual release of Cowboy Bourbon by Garrison Brothers. Much as Stranahan’s only makes American Malts and does it in a Colorado style, Garrison Brothers only makes bourbon and employs the fierce Texas climate to put their own special twist on it. Each year, the distillery picks out a set of honey barrels and bottles them as a cask strength expression, Cowboy Bourbon.

The renown of this bourbon has gained year after year. Cowboy Bourbon 2018 saw a production run of 4,749, of which some 400 were kept for sale at the distillery. Folks have lined up at Garrison’s front door for a crack at Cowboy Bourbon before, but was happened in September 2018 was a first. When the staff showed up before 9 am that morning, cars were already lined up on the country road for miles. The 400 bottle allotment sold out in 2 hours, 40 minutes that morning.

This was also the first time a large number those people showed up the night before and had roadside a tailgate party, according to the skuttlebutt I heard after the fact. Keep in mind Garrison Brothers only sells about a tenth of their production run for Cowboy Bourbon out the door (half is distributed in Texas, the remainder distributed nationally), as opposed to the entire thing for Snowflake (usually some 1,500 bottles). But as the renown grows, and especially if more becomes available at the distillery every year (to draw a larger crowd there), Cowboy Bourbon looks like it might see a festival atmosphere grow up around it too.

The End Of The Conventional Camp-Out?
Just as some distillery releases are taking on the trappings of an annual fair, others are moving towards ending the entire business of camping out in line. Angel’s Envy released a long awaited Sherry Cask Bourbon this year, and it did so by allowing members of their fan club, 500 Main, to reserve a bottle some 72 hours prior to release. Those reservations covered their distillery-only sales. Those with a reservation came to the distillery on the appointed day and pick up their bottle during regular hours that February 15th, 2019, no muss or fuss.

Another allotment of Angel’s Envy Sherry Cask was also available for sale at the distillery that day, no reservations required, but I think the reservation system points to one way forward. Just as camping out for rock concert tickets became a thing of the past, replaced by being poised to buy them the instant they became available online, so getting certain bottles of whiskey become a matter of being prepared to snag them from your couch, iPad at hand.