Page 93 - Issues131-133

Bo le Hun"ng Across the U.S.

The Liquor Stores

The next day through Kansas and into Oklahoma consisted of mostly small liquor stores in

the small towns we passed through. There were a few nice finds. One of these small stores
had a really cool tequila in the case. We asked if there were more and she had some in a
display, a total of 4 bo les and there were 4 of us. It seemed like it was a sign, so we each
got one and it became the official bo le of our road trip. At this point of the trip we were
stopping at between 5 and 10 stores a day (and also a dis"llery or 2). Most of what I was
finding was for the show and a few things were for my collec"on. The trip worked out well
as each of us collect different Liquors. So we had one person looking for primarily Scotch,
One for Vodka, one for Tequila, and one for Bourbons which is probably why there were
very few stores that everyone purchased something. We spent two nights in Okalhoma (to
have a day for that collec"on) and a$er the collec"on on the way to the show, everyone
was saying “yeah we really don’t need to stop at any liquor stores today” (spoiler alert for
next ar"cle, we bought a lot at the collec"on stop). Then we would be driving along and
someone would point and yell “Liquor store” and we stopped anyway. Didn’t make many
liquor store stops and we got to St. Louis.

Normally the Friday morning before the showis when we do our annual St. Louis Bo le hun"ng. This
year we decided to be more selec"ve and only go to a few stores we knew were good. So instead of
the usual 10-15 stores we did 5. But they were all good. By this point I already had plenty of stuff
for the show, had already done very well for my collec"on and wasn’t looking to buy. However
bo le hun"ng in St. Louis is so good, I s"ll ended up buying more (either couldn’t pass up the deal or
found something I needed for my collec"on). A$er the show we drove straight to Bardstown with-
out a liquor store stop. We did visit 3 or 4 that evening in Bardstown, found something I thought
about ge+ng an extra of , but I already had tons of bo les so I was going to be selec"ve and only
buy for me and not worry about any more trading stock. (at least that's what I was trying to tell my-
self). Next day was a combina"on of Liquor store stops and dis"lleries on our way to Cincinna" and
our next collec"on. Two liquor stores s"ck out from that day one Go Big Blue Liquor was great, not
because of selec"on (they did have a couple unique bo les but I already had them) but it was the
dog si+ng on the floor in front of the register scratching himself and the owner had to tell him to
move so I could purchase something (dogs name was appropriately enough whiskey) and it was all
the old and dusty decanters on the top shelf around the building (they were not for sale). The other
one was the Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucky. They had a great selec"on and it was one of Jim
Crawford’s favorite stores (and I can see why). I found the new compass box set there (and some
other bo les I had to get)

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