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3,919 bottles of rare whiskeys are up for grabs online

Deadline is May 5. A third party will oversee the online whiskey drawing, the PLCB says.

The 10-year and 15-year Van Winkle bourbons, shown at a shop in Maryland, are among the whiskeys offered by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
The 10-year and 15-year Van Winkle bourbons, shown at a shop in Maryland, are among the whiskeys offered by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.Read moreTim Henderson / MCT

With 3,919 bottles of rare whiskeys to sell and 585 Fine Wine & Good Spirits retail stores, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has started online registration for a limited-release sales lottery.

This lottery, whose deadline is 5 p.m. May 5, will feature 11 products from brands such as Caribou Crossing (the Single Barrel Canadian Whisky for $49.99 each), W.L. Weller C.Y.P.B. Straight Bourbon ($49.99), W.L. Weller Single Barrel Straight Bourbon ($49.99), and Parker’s Heritage Collection Straight Whiskey Double Barreled Blend 16th Edition ($174.99).

Three bottles — one Van Winkle Special Reserve Straight Bourbon 12 Year Old ($99.99) and two bottles of Old Winkle Handmade Straight Bourbon 10 Year Old ($89.99 each) — were leftovers from a previous sale and will be available only to individual consumers, not to licensees such as bars and restaurants.

Participants may opt in to one, several, or all of these drawings. Purchases are limited to one bottle per person. If a participant wins a bottle in a drawing, they will be removed from subsequent drawings.

The PLCB also cautions that private citizens may not resell these bottles. Apparently, previous lottery winners have tried this, the agency said.

The PLCB has offered such lotteries several times a year since 2015. The earliest began at a specified date and time, but that crashed the system and were unfair to those who may have been unavailable, said spokesperson Shawn Kelly. Now, private citizens and licensees are given five days to register and a third party will witnesses the random drawings.

Winners will be notified by email during the week of May 8. The bottles must be picked up at the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store designated by the winner at the time of entry.

A state Ethics Commission investigation last year spurred the PLCB to tighten rules about the lottery purchases after it was discovered that a onetime PLCB board member and three high-level PLCB employees were found to have bought unclaimed bottles. They are now resold in the next online lottery.

To join the lottery, consumers and licensees must have an active account with FWGS.com with billing information on file.