Post #321125 by The Gnomon on Wed, Jul 25, 2007 11:53 AM

On 2007-07-06 12:19, The Gnomon wrote elsewhere:
In Maryland we have no shortage of Lemon Hart 80/151, which is distributed by Republic National Distributing Company to MD and 18 other states.

You might contact National Distributing to see if they can give you a list of stores where they deliver Lemon Hart.

I'm also in Montgomery County. Not all county stores have the same variety of stock. They have a ton of stuff on sale now though the end of the month, including Appleton Estates Extra, which is a rarity. That hardly ever goes on sale.

Before wasting a trip to any you don't know personally, even if you live in the county, it pays to call ahead. A lot of the branches are small and don't have room to carry even everything that is on sale by the county. You can find the number of any store from the MC Liquor website provided by Rupe.

There as a comparatively new branch in the Falls Grove shopping center across from Shady Grove Hospital that has a great rum selection. I am surprised that it does not carry Lemon Hart, as many stores do, but it does carry El Dorado.

Right next to the El Dorado you can find similarly priced Pyrat, if you like that, and it is one of the very few stores where you can find Appleton Estates 21 (at $116/bottle it does not fly off the shelf).

If you go into any county store, they have two valuable tools that the wise shopper should know about. First, they have a computer print out of all items that are on sale now and that will be on sale for several weeks into the future. Most sales only last a week. Others are seasonal promotions that last longer, but the data sheets will let you know if something you use will be coming on sale soon. No sense buying a lot of something now if it's coming on sale next week.

The other thing is that they can look up a product's item code in their system and find out how many bottles are in stock at any store in the system. A store close to me ran out of Wray & Nephew White Overproof when I needed it. They looked it up in their system and, as it turns out, almost all of the county stores were out—except for one, not too far away, that had plenty. I could have been driving all over creation with no luck, but instead I drove only a couple of miles directly to the store that had it.

Anyway, I'd definitely check with National Distributing to see if they'll point you to some nearby stores.

If you're desparate enough to contemplate a trip to MC, your closest store will be the one in Burtonsville (240.773.2007).