I love bourbon and I’m used to the mania around rare bottles. But my jaw dropped when I got the email yesterday from the Mecklenburg County ABC about the latest bottle they got into their warehouse.

The bottle is the Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year, meaning it’s been aged in a rickhouse in Kentucky for a quarter-century. Mecklenburg County got just one bottle. The price?

Great googly moogly.

I could be wrong, but I think this might be the most expensive bottle Mecklenburg ABC has sold. Earlier this year, they sold a rare Scotch — the Cambus Single Grain 40 Year Old — for $1,149.95.

Here’s the takeaway: If you want rare bottles, you need to watch the Meck ABC email like a hawk.

You’re already too late for a crack at this one. To get in the lottery, you already had to be on the county’s email list and enter your name before 10 p.m. last night. If you’re not on the list, you can get on it here.

This appears to be the new status quo: Mecklenburg County ABC will distribute its rare bottles on a lottery system, rather than the first-to-respond system they’ve used up until now.

Better start now because Pappy Van Winkle season will be here before you know it.