Kroger has dozens of bottles of Pappy for sale but there’s a catch

Do you feel lucky?

Kroger is again drawing names to see who gets to buy its bottles of “Pappy,” the coveted bourbon that sells for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. The offer is available only in Kentucky.

Each Kroger liquor store will get two, and then names will be drawn on Dec. 9 at 9 a.m. The winner has to pay the suggested retail price, which ranges from $59.49 for a bottle of 10-year-old Old Rip Van Winkle to $235.49 for a bottle of 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve.

Kroger also has the 12-year-old Van Winkle Special Reserve for $69.49, the 15-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve for $93.49 and the 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve for $151.99. No word on which stores will be get which versions. This year there is no rye to release; it’s expected to return next year.

You can enter the drawing at each store once a day. Two names will be drawn; the first has 48 hours to buy the bottle before the offer is made to the second name drawn.

“This is an incredible opportunity that we wanted to offer our customers. Pappy is rich in lore, scandal and history,” says Erin Grant, spokeswoman for Kroger’s Louisville Division.

The bourbon was at the heart of a theft ring that has been accused of stealing barrels of rare bourbon along with dozens of cases of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and rye from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.

A blogger, Bourbonr, has posted for the last five years a map that tracks when and where the Pappy bottles have been spotted.

This story was originally published November 27, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Kroger has dozens of bottles of Pappy for sale but there’s a catch."