It could be a dream come true: all the Van Winkle bourbons and the entire Buffalo Trace Antique Collection for just $100. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission (NHLC) is raffling off the whiskey haul to raise money for a good cause. A $100 raffle ticket buys one entry to win a bottle of each the following: Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year old, Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year old, Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15 year old, 20 year old, and 23 year old, William Larue Weller, George T. Stagg, Eagle Rare 17 year old bourbon, Sazerac 18 year old rye, and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac rye. You don’t have to live in New Hampshire to enter—all U.S. residents are eligible—but the bottles must be retrieved in person in Manchester, New Hampshire. With the raffle, the NHLC aims to raise $200,000 for Best Buddies New Hampshire, a nonprofit dedicated to help those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
And if you think the odds will be against you, bear in mind that the NHLC is capping the entries at 2,000 tickets, available for purchase through October 4 or when they sell out. In addition to the 10 bottles, the prize also includes airfare for two to New Hampshire, hotel accommodations for three nights, two tickets to a Pappy Van Winkle Family tasting dinner (Nov. 5), two tickets to the Women of Whiskey & Spirits event (Nov. 6), and two tickets to the Distiller’s Showcase of Premium Spirits (Nov. 7). There is no limit to the number of raffle tickets an individual can purchase.
In the past two years, the NHLC held raffles with the full Van Winkle bourbon lineup as the prize, raising $150,000. With the addition of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (which is a collection of bottles from 2017, 2018, and 2019 releases), the group hopes to bump up the fundraising further. The NHLC estimates the market value of these 10 bottles as $18,000, so if you walk away with them for just $100, you’re saving a whopping 94.4%. For additional details, including how to purchase tickets, visit the Distiller’s Showcase website.
