Totally worth it.

Well, I finally did it. I crossed the line into Crazy Bourbon Fandom when I stood in line Saturday morning at Liquor Barn, waiting to snag a bottle of either the Four Roses Al Young Limited Edition or the W.L. Weller 12 Year.

Me and two buddies I managed to convince to join the expedition showed up at the Fern Valley Road Liquor Barn at approximately 6:30 a.m. I packed a thermos of coffee and brought along my four-legged sidekick, Brady. And Heather brought a breakfast burrito wrapped in aluminum foil. Tracy brought the jokes and one-liners.

At that hour, we landed the 13th spot in line, and we watched in awe as the line behind us grew bigger and bigger. People were nervous, pacing the grounds, awaiting for the employees to kindly open the door at 9 a.m. I felt like I was in a race for a Cabbage Patch Doll, and wondered if I had the balls to trip someone on my dash to the prize.

Thankfully, though, this wasn’t the first bourbon rodeo for Liquor Barn, and they kept things calm, cool and collected. It was single-file only, and only one bottle per person. The first six people grabbed the six bottles of Four Roses, while the second six grabbed all the 1.75 Weller 12.

Lucky 13 wasn’t so lucky, but I had first dibs of everything after those two highly coveted bottles were gone. I went with the 750mL bottle of Weller 12 and left with a smile on my face.

Next time, camping out all night is not out of the question.