Found Blanton's at retail!! Plus a killer store pick

Four Roses store picks are the best value in bourbon right now, period. Especially the OBSV and OESV recipes. At 9 years and barrel proof for $52? That's criminal in the best way. I scored an Old Forester 1920 at Costco for $42 last week. Normally $60+ around here. Costco bourbon runs are severely underrated.

Blanton's at retail is a unicorn sighting in Chicago. Every store here either bundles it with overpriced wine or puts it in a raffle. Congrats on the find. I'll echo the Four Roses store pick love. OBSV is the cinnamon-forward recipe and it's incredible at that age. If you see the OESQ recipe anywhere, grab every bottle they'll let you — it's the most complex of the 10 recipes in my opinion. My recent score: Russell's Reserve 13 Year. Allocated and hard to find but a shop had it in the back. $75 and it drinks like a $150+ bourbon.

Not bourbon, but I found a bottle of Willett 4 Year Rye at a random gas station liquor store in rural Colorado for $38. It's normally $60+ in Denver when you can even find it. The purple top family estate rye. I may have audibly gasped. The lesson: always check small-town liquor stores when you're on a road trip. They get allocated stuff and nobody local knows to buy it.

Different category but same energy: found a bottle of Fortaleza Reposado Still Strength at a random shop in Austin for $55. That's like $25 under what it goes for online. The still strength stuff is incredible — it's essentially cask strength tequila and the oak notes are so much more pronounced. The small-town liquor store tip works for agave spirits too. Lots of shops outside major cities have great tequila/mezcal gathering dust because the local market doesn't know what it is.