It'll hurt if I swallow

Rather than waiting for a tasting sample to be mailed to me, or going all the way to Alameda to buy it from the distillery, I decided to buy a bottle of St. George Absinthe Verte on its launch day. (*update- It's 8:30 PM, and I just figured out today isn't Friday, the official launch day. I just got lucky that I found a bottle a day early.) I went to D&M Wine and Liquors and plopped down my credit card without asking the price. (I thought it was $75 like it as at the distillery, or less.) I paid $97.64 including tax, which made it about $86 before tax. Ouch. In the spirit of investigative journalism I decided to make some phone calls to all the places that are supposed to be selling it. At the distillery, they're charging $75 for it. They have 1600 bottles. No real limits on purchase amounts. (D&M had a one bottle per person limit.) K&L Wine Merchants are sold out. They pre-sold all their supply. The Jug Shop is sold out. (They were charging $69.99.) Hi-Time wines aren't selling it until Friday. The phone person didn't know the price. It's not currently on their website. (I think they'll have 100 bottles to sell but I could be wrong on that.) Wally's Wines (in LA) said they have 6 bottles left. Long story short- if you want one from this batch, you had better go to the distillery Friday or Saturday.