The search for hard-to-find bourbon in Virginia is a challenge. The State controls the sale of distilled beverages through their own distribution system and retail stores, known as the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (VA ABC). It's a huge money making scheme, that at the same time creates a manipulated supply and demand for sought after spirits. It's a system any Marxist government would be proud of. For more than a decade there have been pushes to privatize sales of alcohol, which are met with strong resistance from the "revenuers." 

About a year ago, Virginia began supposedly randomizing the distribution of certain spirits, mostly bourbon, to its stores. The stores sit on the stock of "allocated" beverages until, supposedly without any advance notice, until the State decrees certain stores are "authorized to sell any limited availability products in stock." Emails and social media posts are sent out and enthusiasts rush to the listed stores. (Example notification here.) Most of the spirits are limited to three or six bottles of a variety in any given store, and the specific products made available is varied and unknown until one arrives at the store.

The system is not without issues. There have been incidents when an included store actually had no allocated stock to sell. I've arrived at my nearby store in as little as 17 minutes after the announcement, only to see lines out the door and the shelves picked bare of the most sought after spirits. Even if there is a selection left, purchases are limited to one bottle per customer per day from all the limited availability products offered in any location.

The State also runs periodic lotteries for the allocated bourbons. A selection of the allocated beverages is made available through a lottery, in which the winners are given the opportunity to purchased the selected bottle. The listed items may have available quantities from two to several hundred. Entries received for each product are typically upward of 25,000. Not great odds. 

It as been rumored that in April 2022 lottery, ALL of the winners had last names starting with the letter A, or the entrant has inserted a space before their last name. That leads one to believe that the lotteries have long been handled incompetently and unprofessionally. Suspicions around the lottery were heightened this week, in what VA ABC described as a "statistically abnormal" occurrence when a few lucky folks won multiple bottles.

I was surprised last week to read in a Virginia bourbon enthusiasts Facebook group a post from someone claiming to show his lottery winnings of three of the four bottles. I was naturally skeptical, until I saw more discussions on Facebook and Reddit, and subsequent media release by the agency.

The "statistically abnormal results" are revealed by VA ABC here, 

"Two entrants won all four products; 50 entrants won three products; and 229 entrants won two products. There were 978 total winners for 1,313 available products. The lottery was conducted April 19-23. Winners and non-winners of the lottery were notified on May 12. Virginia ABC is honoring the results and selling the products in line with the lottery terms and conditions."

 . . . 

"George T. Stagg Bourbon – 37,485 entries and awarded 770 bottles = 1 in 48.68 chance of winning

"Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye – 35,828 entries and awarded 286 bottles = 1 in 125.27 chance of winning

"William Larue Weller Bourbon – 37,416 entries and awarded 209 bottles = 1 in 179.02 chance of winning

"Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old – 35,492 entries and awarded 48 bottles = 1 in 739.41 chance of winning"

To describe one person winning all four as "statistically abnormal" is a stretch. Two people winning all four is goes beyond that. VA ABC says "Everyone who enters during the 3-day period has an equal chance of being selected. Odds depend on the number of entries received and the number of bottles available." Obviously that statement is blatantly false, without apology. The VA ABC statement says the normal process was used for the drawing. If that was the case, this would be a normal occurrence. Social media posts described the selection process to be one of manual sorting, review, and lots of cutting and pasting in Excel. Not something one would expect from a well-funded state agency. Or maybe, exactly what one would expect.

I do not doubt that advance word of the random store drops is made available in some cases to friends and family, maybe even for profit. The unusual lottery results in May could be a matter of incompetence and lack of oversight, or some as yet undiscovered corruption. In any event, the Virginia ABC is struggling to prove both competence and integrity. The state should stop issuing noncommittal and meaningless statements, and replace the system and the people behind it. Or better yet, respect private enterprise and get out of the alcohol distribution business.

Cheers!

There's an update with more head shaking absurdity here.

 Quafftide: Noun. Time for a drink, especially an alcoholic one. Circa 1582. 

Source: Words and Phrases from the Past.

Cheers!

Most of these are from Tuckahoe Creek Park on 5/20. The feeder shots are from the backyard.

More and larger photos.

This is not the story I had planned to tell. Instead, I have a different story to relate. Pull up a chair. 

I have not attempted to shoot any sanctioned IDPA matches since 2019, limiting my time to the occasional local match. In the year following the "cardiac event" in January 2019, I did shoot a few big matches. From a health point of view, all was well, but I never seemed to get back in the groove. My shooting has since been limited to 50-60 rounds at local monthly matches.

This year I decided to shoot the MD State IDPA Championship, which was held in Lexington Park, MD last Saturday. This is always an enjoyable match, with interesting stages and fun people. I've even had a modicum of success at it. I was looking forward to the day spent with friends.

Despite pleasant weather the week leading up to the match, the weather for Saturday was predicted to include no small amount of rain. As it turned out, the rain was limited until the shooting day was over. The intermittent showers had no effect on the waterproof targets employed by the match organizers.

Shooters waiting to start

I started the match shooting poorly. Was I rushing, not paying enough attention to my sights, or just succumbing to pressure? Maybe all of that. But, there was still a lot of match to go. On our fourth stage, I left the point of cover and moved to back around the end of a wall. Then I heard "Stop!" I obeyed and looked at the timer SO to my right, thinking there was a prop malfunction on the stage. He turned to the score pad SO who said I had broken the 180. I was stunned. I quickly asked him if I had muzzled him, and he replied the gun had not broken the line by much. I obviously was unaware, but a small infraction is an infraction nonetheless. After, "unload and show clear" I thanked the SO, hung my head, and began packing my gear. Thirteen years of competing in IDPA and I had never experienced a DQ. I've always heard, "There are those who have DQ'd, and those who will." I've never subscribed to that, and believe it to be a defeatist attitude. And, now here I am.

Looking at a bright side, lunch was now being served. I retrieved car keys from our driver for the day, stowed my gear, and headed to lunch. At least it was a tasty Mission BBQ spread.

Now there was nothing left to do but watch and enjoy the show. Fortunately, I had packed a few cigars, intending to enjoy a wind down smoke at the end of the match. That was now a consolation smoke. 

Since I wasn't able to leave, I also opted to help paste with my squad to pass the time. Even that was limited as the squad was efficient and quickly swarmed to reset the stage between shooters; there was a lot of incentive as the rain was quickly approaching. Conversations with the SOs on each subsequent stage was also quite humbling. Each roll call still included my name, with which I answered, "Dave's not here," followed by an explanation from my squad mates, which could also include a friendly dig, at my expense of course. I'd expect no less from my friends. Despite not shooting, I still logged 3.7 miles of walking that day.

After the match, I was able to enjoy another smoke with some other shooters as we waited for the award presentations. Then it was time for my second favorite activity when traveling to Maryland for IDPA — shopping for bourbon. I picked up something new, and a replacement for an empty. 

There was no time for a smoke after returning home. An after dinner drink was comforting after a day spent on the range, watching.

Cheers!

That evening's smoke was a long-time favorite, the Southern Draw Manzanita. This stick has been resting in my humidor since last October so was ripe for lighting up. I truly enjoy the earthy smoke accented with bold dark chocolate and cedar notes. There is kick of pepper to help it match the simple demands of the bourbon.

The Blanton's Single Barrel is one that is considered allocated in Virginia's state-run distribution scam scheme. Since it's not often easy to get, I'll drink it on limited occasions. Not only special occasions, even Tuesday evening will do.

Of course, before the cigar was finished, the next batch of rain was moving through.

Cheers!

I've been trying to get back to posting with some regularity. Obviously, that has not been successful. It's not that I haven't been penning posts. I have been drafting Musings fairly regularly. I never committed to publishing them, and soon they seemed too "in the past," or were deemed to be thoughts or opinions best kept to myself.

Yet, I've missed it. I frequently note that this blog is primarily for my own enjoyment. It's a way of reliving interesting occurrences in my average life. Yet, it seemed that there was little variety in the content. These days, that reminiscing purpose has somewhat been supplanted by Instagram. Just about all my cigar, bourbon, and beer experiences get logged there. Check it out.

Surprisingly, over the past month I've had three folks mention to me in person that they noted the absence of content. Frankly I was shocked. First, I rarely talk about this blog to friends, yet some knew. Second, I didn't think there were that many readers!

I've got a few posts in draft, and some ideas for others in mind. It felt odd to just jump back in without some intro though. I don't know to whom it will be interesting, but it will be to me. That's what matters.

Cheers!

I have avoided camping at Powhatan State Park because it's only 25 minutes from home. It turns out, that was a mistake. Powhatan is a fabulous park. The campground is only 29 sites, but all 29 are large, wooded, and private.

We arrived on Friday evening after work, and after a quick dinner of hot dogs and chips, we spent the evening around the campfire. Only being 25 minutes from home meant we had a solid cell signal at the campsite, so I listened to the Red Sox game. They blew the lead in the 9th and lost to the Cardinals.

Saturday morning we got up at 7 AM and headed out birding. The Turkey Trail runs along the line between a forest and a meadow, and it was a fabulous area for birds. I saw my first Prarie Warbler, and heard my first Kentucky Warbler, but the KY Warbler was deep in the woods and not inclined to come any closer. The meadow was covered in Indigo Buntings, but none of photos came out well as the blue was always washed out. Shockingly, I have not mastered bird photography in 2 weeks!

After lunch on Saturday I went for another hike, and shortly after I made it back to the camper a line of thunderstorms rolled through, chasing us inside for a while. The Red Sox had an afternoon game on Saturday, and again blew the game in the 9th when the bullpen imploded. The threat of rain kept us inside that evening too, where I watched had the Dodgers - Padres game on TV in the background as Michelle kicked my ass in Gin Rummy and Scrabble. A fitting result, given it was Mother's Day weekend!

On Sunday morning we again when out birding, back in the same area. Afte that it was time to pack up and make the long 30 minute drive home. Pohatan is close to Richmond, so it's going to be really hot and humid in the summer months. But it's a nice base if you want to camp while exploring the RVA area.

BTW, it is pronounced Pow-ah-tan.

A couple of weeks ago I felt an urge to revisit the classic Bob Segar live album, Nine Tonight. Released in September, 1981, it propelled Segar to mega stardom. I owned the double album as a young teenager back in the day, but had not thought about the record, or Bob Segar, in many years. I have no idea why I suddenly wanted to hear the record.

Luckily, it's 2023 and I have a YouTube Premium subscription, so the album was only a couple of clicks away. I've gone back to it several times in the ensuing weeks. In a word, the record bangs. It's mostly a greatest hits compilation of his previous three records. He was on a killer run in the late 70s so he had plenty of material for this September 1981 release.

I don't have any specific memories of the record. When it was released, I was an almost 14 year old latch key kid. It probably got a lot of turntable time in those hours after school before my parents came home, when I could crank it up with no repercussions.

It holds up very well. I've always preferred the live version of Old Time Rock and Roll to the studio version. But every song on the record is a keeper. This is a 100% filler, no fluff record. It's also a well done live record in that you can actually hear the audience and get a sense of what is was like to be there. In September 1981 I was almost exactly 3 years from attending my first concert. But that is a different story that I've already told here.

Normally, I'd buy any record I'm listening more than three or four times. But Bob got his payday on my purchase of this record in the early 80s, so I don't feel bad leaving this one in the streaming library at YouTube.