Tennessee Settles Suit for Sip of Jack
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Collector will get back most of his million-dollar whiskey collection
Just as your New Year's Eve hangover is finally subsiding comes this little libation from TheTennessean.com:
A yearlong standoff between an avid Jack Daniel's collector and Tennessee liquor control agents has ended in compromise and the return of most of the man's million-dollar whiskey collection.
Collector Randy Piper will forfeit several hundred of the least-valuable specimens in his collection to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The bulk of the 2,400 bottles in his collection - some nearly 100 years old - will be returned to him.
"It's a reasonable settlement," said his attorney, Raymond Fraley Jr. "It wasn't draconian."
Piper, a Goodlettsville plumber, bought a souvenir shop in Lynchburg six years ago and quickly built up an impressive collection of museum-quality bottles. He ran afoul of the ABC in October 2007, when agents caught him selling a $350 bottle of special reserve whiskey, signed by a master distiller.
To Piper, it was just one collector making a deal with another. But as far as the state was concerned, it was selling liquor without a license. Agents moved in and confiscated not just the $350 bottle, but the entire collection, from the two Lynchburg souvenir shops he now owns, his warehouses and his Nashville-area home.
"The underlying investigation was for the sale of alcoholic beverages without a license," said ABC Executive Director Danielle Elks. "Their defense was that these are collectibles, but the law says people should not be selling alcohol without a license."
What's up for auction
The state will auction off in the near future 400 to 500 bottles from Piper's collection, mainly the less valuable green label whiskey and about a third of the special reserve bottles in his collection. The public won't be able to bid on the bottles, but anyone who holds a liquor license in Tennessee - retailers or wholesalers - is free to bid, Elks said.
Most of the proceeds from the auction will go to the state's general fund. The ABC will keep about 10 percent of the money raised by the auction. Neither Elks nor Fraley had an estimate on the likely value of the forfeited bottles, but Fraley said the most valuable items in the collection, including a 1914 bottle of Jack worth an estimated $10,000, will be returned.
"It's the difference between a consumer and a collector. You're not going to spend $350 on a bottle and then drink it," Fraley said.
The $10,000 bottle didn't even belong to Piper, Fraley noted. It was on loan from another collector and simply on display in his shop when it was raided.
Why bottle is valued
Unlike wine, which usually increases in value and flavor as it ages, a 50-year-old bottle of Jack is going to taste pretty much like the Jack that hit the liquor store shelves this week. The value is all in the bottle, or the signature of the master distiller, or any one of a dozen other fine distinctions that matter to collectors. The minute you crack the seal and drink the contents, the value goes down to almost nothing.
Which may explain why the state isn't bothering to auction off the more valuable collectible bottles. The wholesalers and restaurateurs and other liquor licensees who will be bidding on the confiscated whiskey are likely to be more interested in buying a lot of green-label whiskey they can serve than buying a $350 museum-worthy bottle they could only stick on a shelf somewhere.
In addition to forfeiting several hundred of his bottles, Piper also agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and promised not to buy or sell Jack Daniel's in any manner that would bypass Tennessee's liquor distribution system.
Just as your New Year's Eve hangover is finally subsiding comes this little libation from TheTennessean.com:
A yearlong standoff between an avid Jack Daniel's collector and Tennessee liquor control agents has ended in compromise and the return of most of the man's million-dollar whiskey collection.
Collector Randy Piper will forfeit several hundred of the least-valuable specimens in his collection to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The bulk of the 2,400 bottles in his collection - some nearly 100 years old - will be returned to him.
"It's a reasonable settlement," said his attorney, Raymond Fraley Jr. "It wasn't draconian."
Piper, a Goodlettsville plumber, bought a souvenir shop in Lynchburg six years ago and quickly built up an impressive collection of museum-quality bottles. He ran afoul of the ABC in October 2007, when agents caught him selling a $350 bottle of special reserve whiskey, signed by a master distiller.
To Piper, it was just one collector making a deal with another. But as far as the state was concerned, it was selling liquor without a license. Agents moved in and confiscated not just the $350 bottle, but the entire collection, from the two Lynchburg souvenir shops he now owns, his warehouses and his Nashville-area home.
"The underlying investigation was for the sale of alcoholic beverages without a license," said ABC Executive Director Danielle Elks. "Their defense was that these are collectibles, but the law says people should not be selling alcohol without a license."
What's up for auction
The state will auction off in the near future 400 to 500 bottles from Piper's collection, mainly the less valuable green label whiskey and about a third of the special reserve bottles in his collection. The public won't be able to bid on the bottles, but anyone who holds a liquor license in Tennessee - retailers or wholesalers - is free to bid, Elks said.
Most of the proceeds from the auction will go to the state's general fund. The ABC will keep about 10 percent of the money raised by the auction. Neither Elks nor Fraley had an estimate on the likely value of the forfeited bottles, but Fraley said the most valuable items in the collection, including a 1914 bottle of Jack worth an estimated $10,000, will be returned.
"It's the difference between a consumer and a collector. You're not going to spend $350 on a bottle and then drink it," Fraley said.
The $10,000 bottle didn't even belong to Piper, Fraley noted. It was on loan from another collector and simply on display in his shop when it was raided.
Why bottle is valued
Unlike wine, which usually increases in value and flavor as it ages, a 50-year-old bottle of Jack is going to taste pretty much like the Jack that hit the liquor store shelves this week. The value is all in the bottle, or the signature of the master distiller, or any one of a dozen other fine distinctions that matter to collectors. The minute you crack the seal and drink the contents, the value goes down to almost nothing.
Which may explain why the state isn't bothering to auction off the more valuable collectible bottles. The wholesalers and restaurateurs and other liquor licensees who will be bidding on the confiscated whiskey are likely to be more interested in buying a lot of green-label whiskey they can serve than buying a $350 museum-worthy bottle they could only stick on a shelf somewhere.
In addition to forfeiting several hundred of his bottles, Piper also agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and promised not to buy or sell Jack Daniel's in any manner that would bypass Tennessee's liquor distribution system.
posted by Chris and Frank at 12:01 AM
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