Costco whiskey

[epj]

Went to Costco the other day. They now have a spirits store. They are higher priced on the name brands, because, by law, they must purchase from the state store. However, they have their own brand of Canadian whiskey, They claim that it is made by the folks that make Crown Royal. I have a bottle of each sitting on the bar. Frankly, I can't tell the difference. The Costco brand is just about half the price of the Crown.
Anyone else try this stuff?

 

[cougar14]

Yes. Their premium vodka is Grey Goose, I believe. Both are good sippin' likker.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

State liquor store?
Are those still around?
Went in one years ago in Danville, Va.
It wasn't that easy to even find.
How many states still have them?

 

[Chuck24]

Va still has them

 

[italiansport]

Went to Costco the other day. They now have a spirits store. They are higher priced on the name brands, because, by law, they must purchase from the state store. However, they have their own brand of Canadian whiskey, They claim that it is made by the folks that make Crown Royal. I have a bottle of each sitting on the bar. Frankly, I can't tell the difference. The Costco brand is just about half the price of the Crown.
Anyone else try this stuff?

Is their house brand labeled Kirkland? I'd like to try it.
Jim

 

[BUFF]

Utah has state liquor stores. You can buy 3.2% beer in grocery and convenience stores but anything stronger, the state has a monopoly.

 

[inspcalahan]

Costco, or more correctly Kirkland, liquors are outstanding for middle grade must have around the house bottles - Canadian whisky, bourbon, vodka, brandy ETC.... heck even the beer is ok for around the fire pit. Up here even the name brand stuff is 2/3 the price of any other store.

 

[STCM(SW)]

There base scotch is OK.
Tried the 12 year old, not worth it at all....
Same with any of the older scotches they have.
They do have some good buys even with all the tax's here in WA.
The AF base class six does better sometimes on all brands of whiskey.

 

[Absalom]

.......they have their own brand of Canadian whiskey, They claim that it is made by the folks that make Crown Royal. I have a bottle of each sitting on the bar. Frankly, I can't tell the difference. The Costco brand is just about half the price of the Crown.
......

Oregon isn't a free state (yet), so we get spirits only at liquor stores and Costco doesn't sell any. There's talk of another ballot measure freeing up the liquor market coming up.

Given that Crown Royal is now made by Diageo, the largest spirit conglomerate in the world, at one of the largest distilleries in Canada, Gimli in Manitoba, it's entirely possible they also sell wholesale whisky for house labels. Since Canadian whiskies, with only a couple of exceptions, are all mostly corn-based blends anyways, they can easily adjust the ratio of flavoring whiskies and base whiskies in the blend to make them cheaper for wholesale customers. I'd imagine Costco buys volume and gets good prices.

 

[boykinlp]

Since most of the stuff that I have bought at Costco's or Sam's was sold in large quantities, do the spirits come in 55 gallon drums with a spigot?

 

[epj]

Is their house brand labeled Kirkland? I'd like to try it.
Jim

Yes. Kirkland Canadian Whiskey. Here it's about $30 per 1.75 liter, vs nearly $60 for CR. The store employees will tell you with great confidence that it IS Crown Royal. Not sure that's actually true, but it sure tastes the same to me.

 

[DWalt]

When I lived in Ohio, the state had a monopoly on liquor sales and anything other than beer or wine had to be purchased from a state-operated store at state-fixed prices - even bars had to buy from the state stores and I think there were no price breaks for them. That may no longer be the case.

Locally, the Costco stores have always sold liquors ever since I can remember. Actually, liquor is sold from a separate store, attached to the Costco building. I guess Costco has their liquor retailing operation set up as a separate entity. And you do not need to be a Costco member to buy there. At least here, you can get somewhat better liquor prices at the large chain liquor stores than at Costco. As Costco has a very liberal and anti-gun management, I do not shop there for anything.

 

[Arik]

Went to Costco the other day. They now have a spirits store. They are higher priced on the name brands, because, by law, they must purchase from the state store. However, they have their own brand of Canadian whiskey, They claim that it is made by the folks that make Crown Royal. I have a bottle of each sitting on the bar. Frankly, I can't tell the difference. The Costco brand is just about half the price of the Crown.
Anyone else try this stuff?

It probably is made by Crown. Costco also has their own Tequila but on Tequila bottles there is a 4 digit code that tells you which distillery actually makes it. I've had it, it's ok. Googled the distillery. ....forget the name but the make many brands including their own and some high priced ones as well

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[CBus660R]

When I lived in Ohio, the state had a monopoly on liquor sales and anything other than beer or wine had to be purchased from a state-operated store at state-fixed prices - even bars had to buy from the state stores and I think there were no price breaks for them. That may no longer be the case.

Ohio has loosened up some. The state still sets the pricing, but they no longer own the stores. The licenses are still limited so typically only 1 or 2 permits per zip code, but it is nice to go into the local grocery store and buy the good stuff there instead of driving over to a seedy neighborhood to get your bottle of hooch. Also, it is set up as a separate store within the store with it's own door and register and it does close at 9PM even if the main store is open 24 hours.

Back on topic, my local Costco does not sell hard liquor, only beer and wine.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Sounds good.

There's a Costco not too far from here in Ringold, GA. Unfortunately, they have Sharia law there. Not much better here... light weight version of the Taliban.

 

[FlyFish]

New Hampshire has state liquor stores - a good number of them, with good pricing. The state derives much of its revenue from them and also from highway tolls, which (in part) allows us to have no sales or income tax. The state stores have a monopoly on liquor - grocery and convenience stores sell beer. Wine is sold in both.

 

[DWalt]

Ohio has loosened up some. The state still sets the pricing, but they no longer own the stores. The licenses are still limited so typically only 1 or 2 permits per zip code, but it is nice to go into the local grocery store and buy the good stuff there instead of driving over to a seedy neighborhood to get your bottle of hooch.

When I was living in Ohio, the state stores were not located in the best parts of town, and there were only a few of them (maybe only one) in most smaller towns. An experience much like buying auto parts - you walked up to the counter and asked the clerk for whatever you wanted, then he pulled it off the shelf and you paid for it at whatever the state-established price was. Never any "sales." No wandering through aisles of liquor bottles to select your own. The state stores were all very plain, dingy, and dark, and the clerks all chain-smoked.

 

[bgrafsr]

When I was living in Ohio, the state stores were not located in the best parts of town, and there were only a few of them (maybe only one) in most smaller towns. An experience much like buying auto parts - you walked up to the counter and asked the clerk for whatever you wanted, then he pulled it off the shelf and you paid for it at whatever the state-established price was. Never any "sales." No wandering through aisles of liquor bottles to select your own. The state stores were all very plain, dingy, and dark, and the clerks all chain-smoked.

There's a liquor store located about 4 miles from me, in a small shopping center. Walk in, find what you want, take it off the shelf and go to the cashier to pay for it. Nicely stocked too. If they don't have what you want, they will order it for you.

 

[johngalt]

When I lived in Cincinnati, the best place to do your shopping was Jungle Jim's.

 

[Krell1]

State liquor store?
Are those still around?
Went in one years ago in Danville, Va.
It wasn't that easy to even find.
How many states still have them?

Come to visit or live in Utah. State liquor stores only, none sold in any other store. Beer? You can get it in grocery stores if you want the watered down version. We routinely drive to Nevada, about a 45 minute drive, to pick up real beer, wine and liquor. Yeah, it's probably illegal to bring it back over the state line but a lot of people do it. And, if you think liquor laws are strange, you need to check out underwear.