7,813 Montgomery County Residents Register for Liquor Lottery

Per Montgomery County: “The Montgomery County’s Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) lottery that will allow winning County residents opportunities to purchase limited availability whiskeys attracted 7,813 registered entrants during the one-week period that registration was open earlier this month. ABS will have 555 special bottles available for purchase starting Jan. 8. The winning numbers in the lottery will be posted on the ABS website at noon on Dec. 19.
In addition to residents who registered, 55 ABS licensees registered in a separate lottery to be able to purchase rare products they could serve to guests. The lotteries are open only to Montgomery County residents and licensees. The ABS system makes Montgomery County one of the largest single purchasers of wholesale alcohol products in the nation. As such, suppliers allocate the special products to ABS at various times.Among the spirits that County residents will have an opportunity to purchase are Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year, Old Forester 2022 Birthday Bourbon and several rare releases from the Willett Distillery.

“While this promotion creates a lot of excitement, it is only one part of the ABS story,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “ABS is the exclusive alcohol wholesaler of liquor, beer and wine for Montgomery County businesses. It operates 27 retail stores generating more than $35 million in net income per year. Profits go toward the County’s debt and into the general fund. The money replaces almost 2 cents on the tax rate. Without these sales, taxes would increase.”

The winter lotteries were special additions to the ABS lottery program. Annual lotteries are regularly held by ABS in March. Those lotteries are open to Maryland residents in addition to Montgomery County residents and licensees. ABS lotteries are free to enter, but have residency requirements. Entrants must be 21 or older.

In this year’s March lotteries, 9,972 Maryland residents (8,488 County residents) registered for the opportunity to purchase 1,172 special bottles. The number of registrants set a record since ABS started holding the lotteries.

Winners of the winter lotteries will be able to purchase their bottle from a designated store from Monday, Jan. 8, through Sunday, Jan. 28.

Each winning resident will be able to select their top preferences from the list of bottles available. Bottle counts are listed on the registration forms. Details on the lotteries are available on the ABS website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/abs/lottery.

“This year has been outstanding for highly allocated products, and we are pleased to be able to offer a special, second lottery for Montgomery County residents and license holders only,” said ABS Director Kathie Durbin. “As always, the lotteries are designed to offer fair pricing and equitable access, including the chance to sip rare spirits at local restaurants.”