Liquor Store Scavenging

[marty mccabe]

OK, I just found a place with a whole slew of things I'd never seen, all with very old state tags on them: Campari raspberry (not a typo),

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Any chance you're talking about Campari Cordial? Sweet, clear, completely useless. Seriously...I asked Ted Haigh one time, and he told me that I should pour it over fruit...

If it's not that, it's a new one to me...

[TBoner]

OK, I just found a place with a whole slew of things I'd never seen, all with very old state tags on them: Campari raspberry (not a typo), a different Fernet bitters that isn't Branca, several ancient and wee Cointreau bottles, god knows what else. Any ideas about these first two?

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That Fernet bitters is stocked at an Italian deli here in Dallas, and the gentleman who runs the store tells me it's unbearably bitter. I bought a bottle but haven't cracked it (hey, it's only been a couple of days).

I'll second the question on Campari: I have a bottle of Cordial Campari I found that is basically a raspberry liqueur (nothing earth-shattering). Does yours say "Cordial?" Blue label?

I've been a scourer for some time, and have found 7 bottles of Malacca, the Cordial Campari, Chartreuse at $18, tax-stripped Punt e Mes (still don't know what current product tastes like), and countless bottles of bourbon, Scotch, and rye. Good times, until someone caved in the hood of my car during the 5 minutes I was in a store. No security cameras and none of the residents of the parking lot saw anything, naturally...

Regards,

Edited August 6, 2008 by TBoner (log)

[Dave the Cook]

On a trip back from New Orleans last month, I gave into the temptation cast over me by a series of billboards on I-85, and stopped at Lagrange Liquor and Wine. Since it's near the very popular West Point Lake, I expected to find a lot of single-malt scotches and a good selection of cigars for the weekend power-boat-and-vacation-home denizens.

They had those, of course. What I didn't expect to find was something I didn't even know existed: Cruzan 151. Other than proof, there's no information on the label. It's aromatic -- something like a demerrara -- and of course very heady. I just mixed it in an Atlas. Very nice. Manly, if I may say so.

[bostonapothecary]

On a trip back from New Orleans last month, I gave into the temptation cast over me by a series of billboards on I-85, and stopped at Lagrange Liquor and Wine. Since it's near the very popular West Point Lake, I expected to find a lot of single-malt scotches and a good selection of cigars for the weekend power-boat-and-vacation-home denizens.

They had those, of course. What I didn't expect to find was something I didn't even know existed: Cruzan 151. Other than proof, there's no information on the label. It's aromatic -- something like a demerrara -- and of course very heady. I just mixed it in an Atlas. Very nice. Manly, if I may say so.

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a friend of mine had a bottle of that. it was a vacation souvenir. the idea of it sounds awsome...

[satanswhiskers]

I'm not typically one for thread necromancy, but this one is right up my alley. Since I live in an ABC store state, my wife and I always stop at little hole-in-the-wall liquor stores to scrounge around whenever we leave the state.

I've found some of the usual oddities like old bottles of Cherry Marnier, but my all time favorite has been this:

Warm, spicy, it tastes like liquid apple-y sunshine. The full text of the label is "CALVADOS BIZOUARD Hors d'Age Apple Brandy". I can't for the life of me remember which little joint in South Carolina it came from, and I would just LOOOVE to get some more of it. I've found a few places online that have something that sounds similar, but no label photos and no indications of it being the "hors d'age" bottle.

On my latest trip I came up with this:

Of course when I tore the foil and grabbed the plastic cork-topper the cork sheared right in half and the lower part fell into the cognac. After pouring the liquid into a clean bottle so that I could get the cork out I was able to see that the back of the bottle label indicated that it was bottled in June of 1973. Haven't really been able to come up with much of anything about this online, but it is quite tasty.

[RoyalSwagger]

I found a little place that's basically like walking into a time capsule. Known throughout Tucson as "Ray's Harmacy" due to the marquee lacking a P. I don't think that they had a bottle of liquor in the harmacy that was younger than 1993. It was like walking into a museum where everything was on sale. A few things that stood out during my first trip...

A decanter bottle of Old Grandad in honor of the Bicentennial, anthropomorphic bottles of Wild Turkey and Eagle Rare, both from the 80's, some nice looking ceramic Tiki bottles of rum that I will have to take a closer look at the next time I'm in. Last But not least, a velvet bottle of Cherry Marnier circa 1960's... which I had to buy.

[jmfangio]

I spotted a few dusty bottles of Grand Marnier 'La Grande Passion' in a liquor store today. Has anyone here ever had it? I hadn't heard of it before, but found this bit of info from Grand Marnier on another forum:

In the mid 80's we effectively launched a liqueur based on passion fruits and Armagnac that was called 'La Grande Passion'. It was sweet and contained less alcohol than Grand Marnier. However, mainly due to the fact that we were using a rather expensive Armagnac rather than cheaper neutral alcohol, we were not able to compete against many others price wise. Therefore we ceased the manufacture of this particular product around 1994 hence the reason you won't find it anywhere anymore.

[marty mccabe]

In Rhode Island, the distributor that had del Maguey was sold, and their inventory closed out. I have picked up (at different stores) a bottle of Chichicapa for $50 and a bottle of Tobala for $75!!! Hope it helps...

[marty mccabe]

Not sure this is "scavenging" as much as one of the craziest deals ever: El Tesoro 70th Aniversario tequila at Wollaston Supreme Liquors for $29.99/bottle!!! Bought two bottles myself.

[bostonapothecary]

Not sure this is "scavenging" as much as one of the craziest deals ever: El Tesoro 70th Aniversario tequila at Wollaston Supreme Liquors for $29.99/bottle!!! Bought two bottles myself.

i was on the red line so i followed your tip and made a detour. i picked up two bottles as well. what did you think of the stuff? i don't think i've ever had an extra anejo. the bottle claims it spent seven years in wood.

its kind of opulent and rich stuff. has all the hallmarks of tequila but also a dessert sherry kind of feel to it.

[Chris Amirault]

Found and grabbed a dusty bottle of Skane aquavit last week for 15 bucks, and it's vastly superior to the Aalborg (the only thing I can get around here most of the time). Makes a killer Norwegian Wood in particular.

[Dave the Cook]

I came across two interesting things the other day, though I purchased neither, deciding to wait and hear from folks here first.

One was "S & L Cristiani Maraschino." Until that moment, I didn't think anyone besides Stock, Luxardo and Maraska made maraschino. Anyone know about this other stuff? It was a couple of bucks cheaper than Luxardo.

The other was a group of Doorly's rum bottlings; several ages and colors, 80 and (IIRC) a 151. It was all suspiciously inexpensive. What's the story here?