Steal This Play · Oct 5, 2026
Pour the allocated bottle instead of selling it: Evergreen's tasting bar play
A Kentucky retail chain turned its scarcest bourbon into a high-margin destination draw by pouring it instead of raffling it, and the same mechanism works for library wine, rare beer, and single barrels.
Cox's Spirit Shoppe & Evergreen Liquors, an employee-owned Kentucky chain now at 26 stores, had a scarcity problem. A large national competitor was entering their market, and allocated bourbon allocations were brutal: two or three bottles for 15 to 20 stores. CEO Mike Fisk told Beverage Dynamics the question was simply "how do I decide you get a bottle and this person doesn't?"
The play: stop selling the allocated bottle and start pouring it. They built a tasting bar inside Evergreen and put the rare stuff on the backbar for anyone to buy by the glass, priced below steakhouse and bar pricing but at a better margin than a normal retail bottle sale.
Fisk's math: instead of making one person happy with a bottle of Pappy 23 year, you make 25 people happy. Bourbon Trail tourists started posting about which bars had the best whiskey at the best prices, and Evergreen climbed the must-visit lists. Beverage Dynamics reports the Louisville store boomed over the past five to ten years. Exact revenue figures are not public.
Adapt it down: one shop, one shelf, three allocated pours a week, posted on Instagram every Thursday. Adapt it up: concentrate scarce inventory in one destination store instead of splitting it. Wineries and breweries can run the same move with library vintages and one-off kegs. Check your state's pour license before you build the bar.