As the dealers slowly finished their unpacking and the tables filled, I was increasingly impressed both with the quality and quantity of “stuff” to look at. True, prices on much of it were high, but this was the west coast, after all. I lost count of the number of times I circulated the show floor during the two days I was there (11 hours total!) – at least 20 or so. But even as the show was closing and it was time to leave, I was still finding more to look at and buy. Later that day, I discovered that the casino ATMs spat out one-hundred dollar bills (there was box of pamphlets with instructions on where to gain help for a gambling addiction strategically placed above each cash machine.  Not much help to me since I didn't drop so much as a penny into a slot machine on this trip – but where was the leaflet for people who mainline glass?!) and it would have been easy to burn through a hefty stack of cash.

I realize that the meager amount that I eventually ended up spending at the show pales by comparison to the bottle nuts, one of whom was rumored to have dropped $100,000+ on just two whiskies, but the sheer quantity of glass on offer forced some hard decisions. Much of what I was seeing was already included in my collection, but most of it was also mint and this would have been an excellent chance to upgrade. If there’s a rule to live by in pre-pro glass collecting, it’s buy mint when you see it, because you’ll never regret it. My main regret now is that I didn’t buy enough, but restraint was the order of the day in the face of such bounty.
 

During one of my circuits, I paused and said hello to Brad, who’d been one of the people nice enough to sit through my talk. To be honest, I thought he was going to be the only one for a while! Brad is an exceptionally nice guy to chat with and completely obsessed by shots. I’m going to save his story for another time because it’s worth telling in its own right, but let’s just say he has a record-setting collection. Nice to meet you Brad and I look forward to getting together with you and your collection next year!

 

My biggest coup turned out to be an etched label-on-bottom glass, a Cyrus Noble from Crown Distilleries of San Francisco. Having never seen an etched-on-the-bottom glass until the Protection Rye showed up on eBay some months ago, this was a completely unexpected find.

It was tucked into a display case on Steve Abbott’s table. In case the name doesn't sound familiar to you, Steve is famous in the bottle collecting world for having published a booklet that lists every known Californian whiskey brand.

The Cyrus Noble had a $90 price tag on it and after asking Steve if he could do better, I walked off with it for $75. Now that’s a “found in the wild” to write home about!

By the time the show closed at 5 pm, I was tired and hungry and my legs were sore. I grabbed a sandwich from one of the many places to eat in the bowels of the casino and made my way back my room. I sat at a table in the window and ate and worked on the next Random Shots article that was due in a couple of days. The sun settled over the horizon behind me and I watched as the hills to the south were finally bathed in a golden light. Maybe there were nuggets in Reno after all…!

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