Doorly's

[bluewave6]

I was glad to stumble across a store in Delaware that carries Doorly's XO ($19.99 ) and Doorly's 5yr for $9.99. The last bottle of XO I bought cost me $32 and I quite enjoyed it so I am definitly picking up a few more at this price. I was wondering if anyone has tried the 5yr and if so what did you think. I figure for 10 bucks I can't go wrong.

[Edward Hamilton]

Doorly's 5 year old used to be a staple of any Bajan's bar. Slightly heavier in character and body than Doorly's XO, the 5 yo dark rum is a different blend and though I enjoy it on the rocks, it is a great rum to make a really good cocktail. Doorly's 5 yo and ginger ale with a dash of bitters is common Bajan drink. Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of the 5 yo on US shelves. I would expect that this rum would sell for between $17 and $22 a bottle. It sounds like someone is closing out that rum to make room for something else. I'd definitely stock up while you can. While you're there take a look for Foursquare Spiced Rum also bottled by RL Seale.

[Hank Koestner]

There seems to be plenty of 5 here, especially at Total Wine.

[bluewave6]

That is actually where I found this in DE was at Total Wine. They had both listed as a new item so I am guessing these are introductory prices since everywhere else I have seen the XO it runs over 30 bucks a bottle.

[Edward Hamilton]

I would be surprised if that is an introductory price on Doorly's 5 yo. That sounds a lot more like a close-out. Distillers don't want their better products sold at what amounts to a loss. $20 for Doorly's XO may be an introductory price, but the 5 yo for less than $10 is less than the cost of putting that product on the shelf in the US.

Total Wine may be using this as an introductory item but don't expect it to last.

[Matusalem]

... or they may have made a mistake.

[Edward Hamilton]

Ah yes, the old mispriced rum bottle trick. I used to find Appleton 21 mismarked in St Thomas as K-Mart occasionally. And then there was the mispriced Havana Club Anejo Reserva in Sint Maarten.

[RobertBurr]

I'm pretty sure these are not mismarked. I saw Doorly's XO for $19, Doorly's 5 for $10, Foursquare for $11, Santa Teresa Gold and White for $9, Zaya was $22, One Barrell was $16, Apple Estate Extra was $19, El Dorado 12 was $15, the Eldorado 15 was $22, Leblon Cachaзa was $22. I don't remember every price, but I was really amazed at how cheap some of my favorite premium brands were selling at Total Wine.

They have 49 stores and growing fast. These mega-warehouse stores carry more than 2,000 brands of spirits. They're grossing $650 million this year, much of it in wine, but a lot of spirits and beer as well.

This super-aggressive pricing reminds me of WalMart, except of course, they're not selling cheap inferior imitations from China, they're selling many of my favorite brands of great rum.

It's possible that R.L. Seale may be dumping all that Doorly's 5 in order to bring out a new version, but it's probably not mis-marked. They did not have the new Cockspur 12 (previously VSOR), but when I mentioned it, they made a point of looking it up and ordering right away.

[Matusalem]

Mistakes do occur from time to time at every level of spirits distribution.

In a whisky example a company's products were improperly listed (prices) because the distributor was buying from an importer I'm sure Edward is familiar with (Southern California guy that also dabbles in imported rums), anyway the state distributor published his prices instead of their own marked-up figures... some merchants ordered right away and the "before wholesale" price had to be honored. The merchants were able to sell the product at about the cost that the distributor listed in it's printed materials.

Another simple example witnessed often. A merchant places an order for a case of say English Harbour 5 year old, the distributor mispulls English Harbour 21 year old and delivers it. The invoice has the correct 5 year old price, but the merchant has the 21 year old rum in hand (and is billed the 5 year price).

Examining the second example further, sometimes when things are new or re-newed supplies come to the distributor, the warehouse staff is unfamiliar and the newer items are not coded properly in the inventory system as well as the stocking staff may misplace the item.

However, 49 stores and growing fast sounds like the prices could be accurate and instead of introductory prices they're pulling off a Trader Joe's or Costco schematic purchase. Buy a hundred cases and the combo discounts go through the roof. If you have 50 stores and are doing well with your own distribution network, 100 cases is 2 per store and not that much to float.

[Hank Koestner]

Picked up a bottle of Doorly's 5 for $9.99 today at Total Wine. I wanted to try it with Ginger, since this a recent topic of interest.