Limited releases take all of my rum fire away

I went looking today for another bottle of Myer's Single Barrel Select and found just one that was not in the data base for Total Wine. This one is aged in Sazerac Rye Whiskey casks and is unique to Total Wine. Then I went to another store without a website and there was a bottle of this rum sitting on the shelf for $5 cheaper. Upon closer inspection, the label just read "Reserve Dark". The color comparisons are TOTALLY different. After I open my new bottle of Reserve Dark, I will post an update. This is another tactic to fool consumers, as both bottles look exactly alike in shape. The more expensive bottle rates as an upper 8 for me.

Andy & Paul,

It's probably no chance to change anything around this.

There's one thing that confuses me a bit and that's why the producers do like this, cause it's not they who earns the big money instead is it the guys that just buying as an investment and sells it on auctions.

Happy New Year to both of you!

Andy:

Like it or not, any large company can do whatever they want. However, it is up to us consumers to not buy what they offer and spead the word.

Your idea is a far fetched solution, but it would have almost no chance of working. People like me keep no more than 8 bottles of a favorite rum on hand. Ten months ago, I drove more than 200 miles to pick up 7 bottles of a favorite rum.  I still have four bottles left. Me not wanting to make that long drive again has inspired me to hoard these rums.

I forgot to mention one special case of old versus new rums from one company. Mount Gay produced their XO for many years. The newer version is called XO Triple Cask. I hated the old version and love the new one. Fans of the old version feel the exact opposite. So, Mount Gay has gained sales from people like me and lost sales to fans of the old XO.

I do have one more option for Myer's Single Barrel Select. When I bought four bottles a few months ago, they were not in the data base for the store. I found them hiding on the bottom shelf. It is quite possible that they have some more, but just won't post this on their website. I am crossing my fingers for a morning visit on the last day of this year.

Happy New Year! Good riddans to 2022 for me!!!!! The new year cannot possibly get any worse.

It seems to be a tactic used by so many industries nowadays, from shoes to cars. In rum I could imagine it's less risky to make limited edition runs rather than make a larger upfront investment and potentially not sell all their stock.

I wonder if there's a way we (eg the RR community) could somehow derisk some of our favorite rums by purchasing upfront so they'd make larger quantities? But the downside is we wouldn't exactly know if we'd like the rum... and I guess back to the circle of not knowing purchase quantities and therefore more limited releases.