Pappy Van Winkle bourbon theft investigation won't 'leave any stone unturned'

[rockmom]

 

So...........forgetting to take off a name badge before walking into Liqour Outlet yesterday may not have been my smartest move huh?

 

:lol: If you were up to no good, then...no.

[Hearsay]

Very believable however it is still suspicious and given what has gone on (the theft) anyone that goes into a liquor store and asks about Pappy for sale and says he has some is really making a poor decision. It would automatically make you a person of interest (which has happened).

With all due respect, that is pretty cynical. I know literally dozens of people who have gone to our local liquor stores and asked about their supply of pappy van winkle once they heard of the news. The only difference between them and my client is that the store clerk in my clients case decided to misinterpret some casual comments and report it to the police. The fact of the matter is that the liquor store owner has made a lot of publicity out of the event, even giving a long podcast on the nation's only bourbon blog site and having them promote his liquor store. I personally went to the store on Saturday to speak with the clerk in question, and a female clerk who was also there got very nervous and said she did not remember anything. The mail clerk who supposedly made the report claimed that his owner had instructed him not to speak with anyone except the police, which I found very odd given that they had given several publicity interviews. Again, if he had nothing to hide, why wouldn't he speak with me? Frankly, you have to have a good understanding of how things are marketed and publicized in the Bourbon industry. There are a lot of people getting a lot of free advertising and making a lot of money off of this story. The Buffalo trace distillery and the Vanwinkle family have been very quiet about this matter, and there is a growing number of people, including law enforcement people, who believe that this may very well have been a hoax. In the meantime, my client has had his reputation trashed. You and I are on opposite sides of the judicial spectrum on these types of matters, but even given my representation, it is extremely cynical to claim that someone who asks if a liquor store has a given product for sale is suspicious.

[Hearsay]

Incidentally, the polygraph route has certainly occurred to us and has been utilized by us before.

[formerkywrestler]

I have a hard time believing a school principal would walk into a liquor store in his hometown' date=' wearing a school sweatshirt, and try to sell stolen bourbon to them. I know people can be stupid, bit he'd have to have a history of stupid to do this.[/quote']Packages & More is in Elizabethtown. It's the liquor store that has hosted tastings for my running club.

[Hearsay]

Let's talk about the theft a little more specifically, so that it does not look like I am simply offering opinions that relate only to my client.

 

Supposedly, the bourbon was taken from a separate locked cage stored in a secure area of the bottling plant. The perpetrator allegedly knocked the bolts out of the cage itself and remove the backing, and then removed bottles a small number at a time from the back of the batch, so that it did not appear there was anything taken from the front.

 

Let's set aside for a minute the fact that it strikes me as extremely odd that a batch of this valuable bourbon would be stored in a separate secure area, in an even more secure separated cage, and that that cage would not be under some sort of surveillance video.

 

What strikes me as odd is that when bourbon such as this is made in one batch, each bottle contains a "stamp strip"that contains the date and time of the actual bottling. If the personnel from Buffalo trace were interested in truly putting out information to the public designed to identify the whereabouts of this bourbon, wouldn't they released to the public the information on these stamp strip? That way, the public could check their own bourbon supply and if it contained the numbers on the stamps strip, they could help Buffalo trace identify from whom they got the bourbon.

 

The other strange fact about this is that the police admit that they believe this was an inside job, and that the bottles may have indeed been taken two at a time over a long period of time. If that is the case, then in all likelihood the perpetrator disposed of the bottles to a time, rather than accumulating large amounts and running the risk of being discovered. Yet the police seem to treat the investigation as if someone took that long to accumulate the bourbon, and then try to sell it off in a large batch or case. Seems very unlikely to me.

 

Who is profiting from this type of publicity? Secondary market sales of happy van winkle, as well as auctioned pappy, have skyrocketed in price and length mystique to this entire ordeal. In a market for bourbon that has skyrocketed in the last couple of years, The story of this "Heist" has vaulted Pappy Van winkle to international celebrity.

[rockmom]

Packages & More is in Elizabethtown. It's the liquor store that has hosted tastings for my running club.

 

Oh...well...even so....a principal wearing a sweatshirt identifying his school is pretty high on the stupid scale.

[Jumper_Dad]

Let's talk about the theft a little more specifically, so that it does not look like I am simply offering opinions that relate only to my client.

 

Supposedly, the bourbon was taken from a separate locked cage stored in a secure area of the bottling plant. The perpetrator allegedly knocked the bolts out of the cage itself and remove the backing, and then removed bottles a small number at a time from the back of the batch, so that it did not appear there was anything taken from the front.

 

Let's set aside for a minute the fact that it strikes me as extremely odd that a batch of this valuable bourbon would be stored in a separate secure area, in an even more secure separated cage, and that that cage would not be under some sort of surveillance video.

 

What strikes me as odd is that when bourbon such as this is made in one batch, each bottle contains a "stamp strip"that contains the date and time of the actual bottling. If the personnel from Buffalo trace were interested in truly putting out information to the public designed to identify the whereabouts of this bourbon, wouldn't they released to the public the information on these stamp strip? That way, the public could check their own bourbon supply and if it contained the numbers on the stamps strip, they could help Buffalo trace identify from whom they got the bourbon.

 

The other strange fact about this is that the police admit that they believe this was an inside job, and that the bottles may have indeed been taken two at a time over a long period of time. If that is the case, then in all likelihood the perpetrator disposed of the bottles to a time, rather than accumulating large amounts and running the risk of being discovered. Yet the police seem to treat the investigation as if someone took that long to accumulate the bourbon, and then try to sell it off in a large batch or case. Seems very unlikely to me.

 

Who is profiting from this type of publicity? Secondary market sales of happy van winkle, as well as auctioned pappy, have skyrocketed in price and length mystique to this entire ordeal. In a market for bourbon that has skyrocketed in the last couple of years, The story of this "Heist" has vaulted Pappy Van winkle to international celebrity.

 

I smell what your cooking er Distilling there...I think that you may on to something...but if this were to blow up in their face what would the damage be to the brand?

[Jumper_Dad]

Oh...well...even so....a principal wearing a sweatshirt identifying his school is pretty high on the stupid scale.

You mean in general or if he was doing something illegal?

[Bert]

Let's talk about the theft a little more specifically, so that it does not look like I am simply offering opinions that relate only to my client.

 

Supposedly, the bourbon was taken from a separate locked cage stored in a secure area of the bottling plant. The perpetrator allegedly knocked the bolts out of the cage itself and remove the backing, and then removed bottles a small number at a time from the back of the batch, so that it did not appear there was anything taken from the front.

 

Let's set aside for a minute the fact that it strikes me as extremely odd that a batch of this valuable bourbon would be stored in a separate secure area, in an even more secure separated cage, and that that cage would not be under some sort of surveillance video.

 

What strikes me as odd is that when bourbon such as this is made in one batch, each bottle contains a "stamp strip"that contains the date and time of the actual bottling. If the personnel from Buffalo trace were interested in truly putting out information to the public designed to identify the whereabouts of this bourbon, wouldn't they released to the public the information on these stamp strip? That way, the public could check their own bourbon supply and if it contained the numbers on the stamps strip, they could help Buffalo trace identify from whom they got the bourbon.

 

The other strange fact about this is that the police admit that they believe this was an inside job, and that the bottles may have indeed been taken two at a time over a long period of time. If that is the case, then in all likelihood the perpetrator disposed of the bottles to a time, rather than accumulating large amounts and running the risk of being discovered. Yet the police seem to treat the investigation as if someone took that long to accumulate the bourbon, and then try to sell it off in a large batch or case. Seems very unlikely to me.

 

Who is profiting from this type of publicity? Secondary market sales of happy van winkle, as well as auctioned pappy, have skyrocketed in price and length mystique to this entire ordeal. In a market for bourbon that has skyrocketed in the last couple of years, The story of this "Heist" has vaulted Pappy Van winkle to international celebrity.

 

Hearsay, I am going to play Devil's Advocate. If I were a representative of Pappy or Buffalo Trace, my retort to you would be the Pappy Bourbon does not need anymore international celebrity, it sells at very high prices as fast as it is bottled.

 

Again, not arguing, just if I represented either bourbon company, that would be my arguement back to you. Due to how the bourbon was stolen over a period of time, I have to think this is an inside job so doubt a principal could do it. Let's just hope for his sake he isn't good friends with a warehouse worker.

[rockmom]

You mean in general or if he was doing something illegal?

 

If he was doing something illegal.

[Hearsay]

I smell what your cooking er Distilling there...I think that you may on to something...but if this were to blow up in their face what would the damage be to the brand?

 

None, best publicity there is.

[Hearsay]

Hearsay, I am going to play Devil's Advocate. If I were a representative of Pappy or Buffalo Trace, my retort to you would be the Pappy Bourbon does not need anymore international celebrity, it sells at very high prices as fast as it is bottled.

 

Again, not arguing, just if I represented either bourbon company, that would be my arguement back to you. Due to how the bourbon was stolen over a period of time, I have to think this is an inside job so doubt a principal could do it. Let's just hope for his sake he isn't good friends with a warehouse worker.

 

Here, Pappy is well-known, and among bourbon enthusiasts and aficionados it is well-known. However it is not well known in Jackson Hole or the Bay Area. Marketing people will have to explain the value of obtaining worldwide acclaim while at the same time maintaining "inside secret" status.

[rockmom]

 

I smell what your cooking er Distilling there...I think that you may on to something...but if this were to blow up in their face what would the damage be to the brand?

 

"Bad publicity is...still publicity."

[Jumper_Dad]

Haven't drank anything in years, but must admit I'd like to try this stuff to see what all of the fuss is about. Bourbon was my weakness of choice for many years...

[Hearsay]

Haven't drank anything in years, but must admit I'd like to try this stuff to see what all of the fuss is about. Bourbon was my weakness of choice for many years...

$45 a shot, my friend. And people pay for the bottle and label. Find a 20 year bottle of Evan Williams and you will be tasting the same product at a quarter of the price.