2025 BEST PRACTICE AWARDS

Best Off-Premise Partnership

During the events, bourbon industry legend Freddie Johnson met with consumers and signed bottles of Buffalo Trace and Sazerac products purchased during the events. Consumers at each event, which were held at six OHLQ locations, could enter a raffle for the opportunity to purchase one of three allocated products: Double Eagle Very Rare($ 3,000), Blanton’ s Gold($ 128.99), or Weller Millennium($ 7,500).

A total of 46 bottles of the rare products were available for purchase at each of the six raffles. In three days, there were 3,302 raffle entries and 276 winners. All the allocated products were sold, resulting in $ 949,872 in incremental sales.

OHLQ in September 2024 hosted four in-person raffles for highly sought-after, allocated products at locations across Ohio. During each of these events, Bruce Russell, associate blender and national ambassador of Wild Turkey Distilling Co., met with consumers and signed bottles of Wild Turkey products.

Events were held at OHLQ locations in Cuyahoga Falls, Columbus, Centerville and Cincinnati. At each event, consumers were able to enter a raffle for the opportunity to purchase one of two allocated products: Russell ' s Reserve 15 Year($ 249.99) and Wild Turkey Master ' s Keep Triumph($ 274.99). A total of 60 bottles were available for purchase at each of the four raffles.

In three days, there were 1,273 raffle entries and 240 winners resulting in $ 62,998 in incremental sales through the raffle alone. OHLQ also had a variety of other Wild Turley and Russell’ s Reserve products for sale. During the four events, 1,494 bottles of product were sold, resulting in $ 130,394 in incremental sales.

Beyond the numbers, attendees valued the fairness of the process, the opportunity to meet industry legends like Johnson and Russell, and the chance to engage with brands in a unique and memorable way, according to an OHLQ spokesperson.

What’ s more, retail stores saw a measurable uptick in door swings, driving incremental sales dollars, the spokesperson says.“ And our supplier partners were able to leverage these opportunities to showcase their entire portfolio, not just the allocated items.”

OHLQ’ s other on-premise initiatives include its first Holiday Lottery Quest, a select store bottle lottery that took place at 231 OHLQ locations from Nov. 18, through Dec. 2, 2024. Featuring nine highly sought-after lottery products, consumers entered the Quest by visiting participating OHLQ locations and obtaining a unique ticket.

When the lottery closed, OHLQ had received 172,210 entries. There were a total of 4,430 bottles sold, resulting in $ 734,129.88 in sales.

And OHLQ’ s Single Barrel Saturday— its third, which took place on Nov. 16, 2024— was Ohio’ s largest release of single barrel products, including 36 different items from 14 brands. OHLQ released 38,268 bottles of unique, sought-after products at 231 locations across Ohio.

In one day, these locations sold 29,784 bottles or 78 % of all the special release products. By the end of the day, there was $ 2,042,965 in incremental sales resulting in total daily retail sales of $ 7,316,635.

“ OHLQ’ s success with raffles, lotteries, and Single Barrel Saturday underscores the strength of Ohio’ s unique control model,” the spokesperson says.“ These initiatives prove that retail innovation, supplier collaboration, and consumer trust can thrive together. By pairing fairness with excitement, we not only sell bottles— we build lasting relationships between consumers, suppliers, and the Ohio market.” www. stateways. com Fall 2025 • StateWays 25