Yes, the Costco Hot Dog Bourbon is Real

Rare Character is a Las Vegas-based whiskey brand known for high-proof, single-barrel limited releases with custom artwork labels. Each barrel is unique, and the brand has partnered with thousands of retailers and restaurants, with every bottle featuring its own one-of-a-kind design.

The collaboration was dreamed up by Costco’s D.C. regional team, who commissioned a barrel featuring the chain’s legendary $1.50 hot dog and soda combo on the label. The result: a 126.1-proof, 11-year-4-month-aged single barrel bourbon for a very respectable $85.99. Despite what the label might suggest, it tastes nothing like a hot dog.

Rare Character co-founder Pete Nevenglosky confirmed that this was a single barrel with a one-per-membership purchase limit, making it one of the most genuinely limited whiskey releases you’ll come across. The bottle sold out at the D.C.-area Costco by approximately 9:45 a.m. the day after it hit shelves, and it was never listed on Costco’s app or website.

For the record, reviewers who got their hands on a bottle say it’s pretty good juice, and far removed from the prison hooch its name might inspire. One Reddit reviewer described it as “Very good. I get lots of oak, marshmallow, and maybe something spicy that I can’t quite name.” Perhaps the je ne sais quoi in question is a hint of beef fat and grease, although the commenter indicates its something closer to cardamom. Boring.

There are no confirmed secondary sales as of this writing. We’ve seen several people claiming they’ve received offers of $1,000 or more for their bottles, but nothing concrete.

A more reasonable near-term expectation is somewhere in the $100 to $200 range, which still represents a solid premium over the $85.99 retail price. The $1,000 figure is possible given how extreme the hype has gotten and how few bottles exist, but until we see confirmed sales, it’s speculation.

The other thing worth flagging: as media coverage spreads, knockoff listings will almost certainly appear. Be cautious about any bottle without clear provenance from a Costco membership purchase.

If you got one, the floor is probably $100 to $150 once confirmed sales start appearing, with the ceiling genuinely unknown given how little supply exists. If $1,000 offers materialize into real transactions, that would be a remarkable return on an $86 bottle.

All in all, this was pretty much a “right place, right time” situation for resellers. If you happened to be shopping at this particular Costco on this particular day and strolled into the liquor aisle at 9 in the morning (we’re not judging), you would have been able to snag one of these bottles and potentially hundreds of dollars in profit afterwards. The rest of us will just have to be content with some Jack Daniels in our coffee like usual.