r/Bourbon Single Barrel Program Sign Up
How It Works (Long Story Short)
- Sign Up! (It’s Free! Must be 21+)
- Each week on Saturday you receive a survey with the week’s barrels. Mark your preferences to be entered into the lottery for each release.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Etc winners are drawn and you receive an automated link to purchase at 1pm EST. Bottles are shipped to your door for you to enjoy.
- Releases go public on Fridays if there are bottles available.
- New barrels are announced on Saturdays!
More Info and FAQ Below!!
What the flip is a single barrel program?
A single barrel program is organized by and for groups of whiskey enthusiasts to quite literally buy an entire barrel of whiskey selected by our subreddit.
Members of r/bourbon can sign up to get on the email list to get information regarding the barrel program.
We’ll pick the entire barrel, it will 100% be sold to r/bourbon and we’ll sticker or mark it to designate it as an r/bourbon selection. Then, you can congress with other members of r/bourbon to drink said bottle, review it, give tasting notes, a thumbs up or thumbs down, discuss, chatter, etc.
How Do I Sign Up?
Sign up HERE. You’ll receive an email every week on Saturday for our weekly barrel preference survey (where you learn about the week’s barrels and note your interest) and the weekly Friday email (where barrels go to overflow and important announcements are made).
You’ll receive emails on
- Saturday at 430pm EST: Barrel preference survey for the week opens
- Sunday at 430pm EST: A reminder email to fill out your survey if you haven’t already
- Wave emails are sent M,T,W,Th (see more about waves below)
- Friday at 1pm EST overflow opens with any leftover bottles being announced to the entire email list. Some special announcements may be announced in this email as well.
How Do I Buy Bottles?
All sales are managed through licensed US retailers who abide by US regulations and ID verification. No actual selling happens through r/Bourbon or this website.
We work with a retail network to ensure wide coverage across the US, and they manage age verification, legal shipping and legal sales It also gives you the peace of mind to know you’re purchasing from a legal, competent source.
Right now, when a barrel is released to buy, a couple of things happen. If there are 200 bottles in the barrel (roll with me here), I randomize based on the preference survey each week (you’ll receive it in your inbox, fill it out) and generate “waves” of winners.
Every week, Saturday at 430pm Eastern timezone, a preference survey is emailed out. If there are no barrels to be sold that week, no preference survey will go out. If there are, though, this survey will poll your interest in every barrel that’s arriving that week.
You can select your preferences, ranked highest to lowest, or even select if you’re not interested in a barrel. Your answers are used to generate each week’s lottery round winners and their waves. If you do note mark a preference for a barrel, you won’t be entered into the lottery for that barrel.
If there are 150 bottles in that barrel and there is a limit 1 per person for that barrel, the waves look like the below:
- Wave 1 (~150 Folks) [Monday]
- Wave 2 (~100 Folks)[Tuesday]
- Wave 3 (~100 Folks) [Wednesday]
- Wave 4 (~100 Folks) [Thursday]
- Overflow (entire group notified)
Each wave gets alerted 24 hours apart, with overflow occurring at 1pm Eastern on Fridays.
As you can see, by Wave 2, your odds are very good – but there may be a few more, or few less bottles than winners based on how many Wave 1 winners flake on making their purchase and the overall yield of a barrel. Same deal for Wave 3. And for Wave 4. IF (big if) there are bottles remaining after Wave 4 winners are notified, then the bottles go to overflow: the entire group is alerted and given the sale link to purchase. If you get an email and wait more than 24 hours, your spot may go to someone else in a future wave if you don’t act within your window.
Wave 1 is guaranteed, Waves 2,3,4 are first come first serve, and exist to ensure that folks can purchase as they wish without every barrel becoming a total free for all, given the size of the group.
Can I change my preferences on the weekly preference survey after submitting?
You sure can.
Just take the survey again, and your most recent preference submission will be kept by the system.
You can change your mind and update your preferences as many times as you want each week between the release of the survey at 430pm EST on Saturdays and when waves lock in at 9am EST on Mondays.
What’s Overflow
IF (big if) there are bottles remaining after Wave 4 winners are notified on Thursdays, then the bottles go to overflow at 1pm on Fridays: the entire group is alerted and given the sale link to purchase.
If there’s no overflow, there is no Friday email.
Why are there more folks on some emails (like Round 2 Winners or Round 3 Winners)? Why are only Round 1 Winners 100% guaranteed access to a bottle?
Great question. Honestly, it’s a tradeoff between the best use of my time, and your best odds of getting a bottle. Routinely, if 200 people who mark a bottle as their TOP choice, only ~150 of them will purchase (hypothetical numbers here).
I refer to that as “the churn” or the “flake rate”. There’s nothing wrong with people who flake here or there, but the point is that there is never 100% participation between selection and someone purchasing, even if not 48 hours before they indicated it as their top preference and now they’re a winner with their time to buy. If you flake repeatedly, you may be removed from the program. If you flake occasionally because life happens (I get it, unexpected weekly expenses happen to everyone), that’s just fine.
So, If you’re a Wave 1 winner – congrats. You get a guarantee.
If you’re in Wave 2 or 3, you have fantastic but not 100% odds. I calculate the average flake rate daily, and use it to inform the size of waves (listed above) but it’s just not reasonable to constantly change the size of groups and winners pools, especially when we’re doing several barrels a week.
I got selected to purchase a bottle but an unexpected expense came up. Am I in trouble?
No. Life happens.
There is currently NO penalty if you’re a winner, and elect not to purchase from time to time. You don’t need to email me to let me know, just go ahead and let your purchase window roll on by.
If you sign up every single week yet never pick up a bottle, on the other hand, you may be removed from the group, as you’re taking a spot from someone else who actually wants to be involved.
Selling your winners spot or offering it up to others is not permitted, and this will see you removed from the program as well.
How Much Do You Make On This, t8ke?
I don’t make commission from brands or mark up bottles and the like. When you purchase a bottle, the cash goes to the retailer. While many groups mark up bottles to pull a cut for themselves, our program does not run that way.
Each year, you’ll see some charity opportunities, but those will be clearly laid out when some bottlings may feature a markup for a D2C (direct to charity) contribution.
Can I flip/trade a bottle I win?
Nope. You’ll be removed from the group.
Bottles may also be submitted to charity auctions without penalty.
Selling your spot in line, flipping bottles and the like will earn you a silent, lifetime, ban from the program.
I really really really really want a specific bottle. Can I guarantee I get one?
No – sorry. This program is about democratizing whiskey, so your odds are always random.
I live in a country that isn’t the United States of American – can I partake?
This is tough. We can’t ship out of the country right now, but if you know someone in the country who will hold your bottles for you so you can arrange shipping / personal hand off on a visit, that’s ok.
I have a question – who should I talk to?
/u/t8ke – I run this thing. Let’s leave subreddit modmail for actual sub running purposes. You can PM me general questions on Reddit and I’ll respond. You can also reply to any barrel emails anytime and I’ll respond there also.
What kind of emails will I get?
You’ll get emails related to any subreddit selections, The Reveries, Aficionados Group, and any relevant selections.
Sometimes other spirits get picked (rum, brandy, agave) and you’ll get info on those too. If they’re not up your alley – totally cool. Just ignore them and know that bourbon emails go out about 10:1 to other spirits stuff. Hang tight.
You’ll get emails with announcements, updates, barrel buy notifications, overflow notifications, and more.
I’ll make sure you don’t get more than a couple a week, and they’ll never be spam. Just pure barrel pick goodness.