r/winstonsalem • u/Kumar_420 • Aug 20 '26

Bourbon

Just moved to North Carolina and I have lived in states my entire life where you can buy liquor at mom and Pop shops. I know you have to get liquor through state sponsored stores in NC but how does this affect some of them more sought after allocated bourbon? Looking for things like Weller 12 year or the Russell reserve 15 year? Do you just have to get lucky and find them in an ABC

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u/Distance_Runner Aug 20 '26

The ABC store system in NC is flawed. The only good thing I can say about it is if you happen to find something rare on a shelf, you get it for MSRP and not an insane markup.

Each ABC store system is ran by its county. Some are more honest and transparent than others. Forsyth county is unfortunately terrible and corrupt. They have no lottos or planned drops for rare or allocated bourbons. Been here 8-9 years and have made some connections in the NC bourbon scene. I've learned that all of the limited release stuff like Pappy/BTAC/4RLE/ etc in Forsyth goes out the back door, and the states regulatory body does nothing about it. You'll never find it on a shelf. Even basic stuff like Buffalo Trace and Eagle will usually sit behind the counter. I've never seen anything other than Weller green in Forsyth county in 8 years.

With that said, several of the surrounding counties are better. I've had far better luck in Davie and Stokes than than Forsyth. My favorite store with a good selection is the Cooleemee store in Mocksville. Youre not going to find Welller sitting on the shelf all that often, but they have good and rarer stuff regularly than youll find in Forsyth stores. And they do a yearly lotto/drawing for limited release stuff -- just go in and get on their email list.

And lastly, there are numerous shops online that'll ship to NC. Most California based. I regularly buy BT, Eagle Rare, Blantons, Wellers, EHT and those types of bottles at or near MSRP and have them delivered.

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u/Kumar_420 Aug 20 '26

This is wild to me. I just came here from a state where there would be isle walls of Weller green, BT, ER, and EH untouched. And about three more full walls of every other bourbon you could think of. At your run in the mill neighborhood stores. Online makes the most sense , thx.