Whisky enjoys the position of being a valued commodity around the world. While the spirit’s popularity is undoubtedly a positive thing for drinkers and collectors, as with a lot of popular products it attracts those who seek to buy then resell - or flip - bottles for a quick profit.
Many criticise reselling, arguing that whisky is designed to be drank and enjoyed, not endlessly bought and resold and never opened. The counter argument is that, as adults, we’re entitled to do whatever we want with our money. After all, what’s wrong with trying to add a little extra cash to your pocket?
Whatever side of the fence you fall on, ultimately here in the UK there’s nothing wrong, legally speaking, with flipping whisky.
However, in America there are a number of states where reselling alcohol is prohibited. There are 17 states where the distribution of alcohol is controlled by the state. It is hoped that this measure helps protect consumers from counterfeit or low quality products.
Ohio is one such ‘control’ state. Recently, Democrat state senator Bill DeMora has introduced a bill to tackle flipping.
DeMora, himself a bourbon fan, is aware of how limited edition or small batch releases are constantly in high demand. As such, bottles are finding themselves on the illegal secondary market soon after their initial sale, often with inflated prices well above the RRP.
To combat this DeMora put forward Senate Bill 320, that would require all retailers to open and reseal all allocated bottles at the point of sale. It’s argued that this would limit their viability on the secondary market, since the broken seal would raise questions about the bottle’s authenticity.
Ultimately, DeMora argues this will create a fairer system for Ohio natives to get their hands on these rare bottles. He said: “My entire goal is to stop the flipping of liquor, the illegal selling on the secondary market, and to make it fairer for every Ohioan that wants to try to get some of this Bourbon.”
Unsurprisingly, such a radical action hasn’t exactly been met with enthusiasm from across the sector.
Jane Bowie, founder of Kentucky-based Potter Jane Distilling, has raised a number of issues. Firstly, she believes knowing that the packaging will be tarnished at the point of sale will potentially put off buyers.
She says: “distilleries work really hard on packaging, especially for small-volume, high-demand offerings, and opening the original package does impact some of the lustre, especially when gifting comes into the equation…Recorking is not ideal. Breaking a wax seal is not ideal.”
Bowie also notes how the secondary market is important to bourbon as a commodity, and how attempts to limit it could negatively impact the wider industry: “We obviously don’t condone people reselling bottles, but there’s also the reality that every whiskey producer knows, which is the secondary market exists because of interest in the Bourbons we make.
“If it disappears because there isn’t enough interest in Bourbon to warrant it, we’re all in for a much bigger problem as an industry.”
This idea is echoed to some extent by Becky Harris - former president of the American Craft Spirits Association and owner of Catoctin Creek distillery in Virginia (another control state). She says that bourbon is “something that’s highly coveted, so people will do what they want to do to get it. I don’t know that you can legislate that away.”
Harris adds that further change is needed, saying that “it is long past time to revisit how the system runs, top to bottom”, even suggesting “a single platform across the whole United States” in contrast to the different state-operated systems.
DeMora concedes that his drastic solution isn’t perfect, and that his proposition is more about starting a conversation about the problem.
He admitted “I don’t know all the answers. I talked to several other people that have podcasts and that are collectors, and I told them all that I’m willing to listen to anything that they have… People have to talk about it before someone’s going to do something about it, and I think that has occurred.”
Other potential ideas he has that are not included in the bill include introducing an ID-scheme for buyers and tougher fines for flippers.
Who knows what will happen in the future with DeMora’s proposition of opening and resealing limited bottles. It’s certainly a controversial idea - an idea with as much cause for debate as the act of flipping itself!
