High spirits: rare whiskey fans camp outside ahead of big liquor sale

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A small tent city has taken over a section of Vancouver’s flagship Cambie Street liquor store as diehard whiskey and spirits fans camp out to get a taste of some of the world’s most elusive and expensive liquors, but not all of the around 40 people in line are there for themselves.

Tucked beneath a tarp, graciously provided by the liquor store, those at the front of the line staked out their spots last Friday, and have braved days of rain to be the first in for the annual Premium Spirit Release because of short supply and a one-bottle-per-customer limit for some of the rarest gut warmers.

Among the most sought after items is a $449.99 bottle of 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, while some may splurge on the biggest ticket item; a 65-year-old Macallan Lalique VI highland Scotch for $43,500.

At the front of the line is a man who identified himself as Cousin Eddie. He says lining up outside the store has become a family tradition.

“We started three years ago. We like to drink and collect whiskey. It’s becoming more and more significant every year with their selection,” he says.

Eddie says bar owners and employees are frequent faces in the lineup and some people have traveled from as far as Detroit and Seattle to buy rare drinks they don’t have access to, for one reason or another, at home.

“You get a spectrum of people who have a lot of money, every day people or people who scrimp and save all year and wait for this to be able to camp out and get one or two bottles they can’t find. We really want to protect the innocence of that.”

The liquor store has set out rules which say those in line can leave for up to six hours at a time, but over the course of days, Eddie says a real sense of comradery develops among the crowd as “whiskey brings people together.” Stories, games and even meals are shared among the fans as they huddle in front of portable propane heaters or under blankets and in tents.

“The whiskey’s why we come, the comradery is why we stay because it keeps the mundaness of eight days at bay,” he says.

Eddie says he has no problem with any fan from any location coming to wait in line, but it’s frustrating when others, in an attempt to bypass the waiting process or circumvent the bottle limit, pay people to wait for them and don’t “do their time.”

Chris Lafernier is among around half a dozen people who were paid $100 a day by an “international lawyer” to wait in line and buy a list of items. Originally from the Sunshine Coast, Lafernier says he came to Vancouver a while ago, but hasn’t been able to afford the trip back home.

“I’ve been out here too long and it’s time to go home, so this is my ticket home,” he says. “It’s better than going to temporary labour.”

The man who has hired the place holders intends to resell the bottles, according to Lafernier.

The fans bare no ill will towards those who have been hired, according to Eddie, and they don’t resent the man who paid them.

“We say you do what you need to do, and the rest of us are here for the chase and the passion,” he says, adding the first 20 people in line arrived extra early this year to make sure true fans got first dibs. “We thought let’s go and be number one to be sure that the innocence of this event is kept in the hands of true whiskey connoisseurs.”