If anyone had a winning bid (congratulations! and condolences to your bank account), please share photos of the box when you receive it. I'm sure we'd all like to see it. I am looking forward to receiving the coaster with the bottle I ordered today.

There is no international shipping so no whisky for me unfortunately.:(

Did they wait until the blind bids sale was done, then throw out another cheaper product with the pine tree coaster?

good question:) quite possibly!

onthetrail wrote:

Did they wait until the blind bids sale was done, then throw out another cheaper product with the pine tree coaster?

It was always their plan from the beginning to sell a larger selection of the cheaper product. That was in the original announcement. They had about 30 or so up for bid with the full wooden box, and then somewhere north of 100 bottles that would be sold with the coasters. My understanding was that when the blind bidding closed (today) winners would be notified and everyone else would be able to purchase the cheaper product on the website. Since the cheaper product went up for sale, I assumed they notified the winning bidders so they would know they didn't need to buy the cheaper product. But I never received a notification about my bid, so I don't actually know if the winning bidders were notified.

Edit: From the website, it looks like the amount available is 370 bottles total. So subtracting the 30 up for bid, I guess that there are about 340 available for sale with the coaster. I went ahead and bought mine in case they run out quickly.

Tuor son of Huor wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

Did they wait until the blind bids sale was done, then throw out another cheaper product with the pine tree coaster?

It was always their plan from the beginning to sell a larger selection of the cheaper product. That was in the original announcement. They had about 30 or so up for bid with the full wooden box, and then somewhere north of 100 bottles that would be sold with the coasters. My understanding was that when the blind bidding closed (today) winners would be notified and everyone else would be able to purchase the cheaper product on the website. Since the cheaper product went up for sale, I assumed they notified the winning bidders so they would know they didn't need to buy the cheaper product. But I never received a notification about my bid, so I don't actually know if the winning bidders were notified.

Ahha, that's cool. Good that everyone knew that. I only skimmed the announcement as I had no intention of bidding. I'd drink the whiskey and be left with an empty bottle in a box 😁

I am looking forward to having a piece of the tree more than the whiskey. I'm not really a fan of rye, more bourbon and Scotch for me. I've thought about framing it with a photo of Tolkien leaning against the tree but may decide to just keep it out and use it for special occasions like the Tolkien Birthday Toast.

Well, yipee - I won one of the 30 bottles! Bid £601.50p + VAT (in case anyone is interested).

Apparently should be here in 3 days (I am in the UK). Will post photos.

Cannot stand whiskey - so no risk of drinking the product.

You can buy a bottle with the coaster for £150:

https://www.theoxfordartisandistillery ... roducts/black-pine-whisky

EDIT: Interesting information on the tree:

https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/p ... 00/Profiles/OP/Pinusnigra

It’s great a Tolkien fan has one of these, as I’m sure lots of serious whiskey collectors probably went for them too. Will look forward to your pictures.

Lake Town Geezer wrote:

Well, yipee - I won one of the 30 bottles! Bid £601.50p + VAT (in case anyone is interested).

Apparently should be here in 3 days (I am in the UK). Will post photos.

Cannot stand whiskey - so no risk of drinking the product.

You can buy a bottle with the coaster for £150:

https://www.theoxfordartisandistillery ... roducts/black-pine-whisky

Excellent, congratulations! I look forward to the photos. I bought one of the bottles with the coasters when they released, and it was delivered today to the U.K. address I listed, but I live in the U.S. so have to get it re-shipped to me and probably won’t receive for another week.