LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s around this time of year that the greatly anticipated release of Buffalo Trace’s annual coveted brand Pappy Van Winkle occurs.

It’s hard enough for regular customers to find a bottle, and the highly sought after bourbon isn’t even being distributed to some retailers who have sold the product for years.

For bourbon drinkers, the name Pappy Van Winkle is known for both its quality and rarity. It's the bourbon that everyone wants, but something no one can seem to get.

Chris Williams, owner of Four Pegs in Louisville, says Pappy Van Winkle is the most sought after bourbon.

"It’s probably the most well known bourbon in the entire world. It is a decent bourbon. It is not the best bourbon, but it is a pretty good one. They have created a hype around it that has really made it seem like the most elite bourbon that you can get," explains Williams.

If you’re on the hunt for the annual release of the wildly popular Pappy Van Winkle, the 40-year-old restaurant owner says you’ll most likely come up empty handed.

"You got lots of tourists coming into town and they want to taste what Kentucky’s product is and that’s bourbon, that’s our biggest product and they can’t even taste the upper echelon of bourbon because it’s not here," said Williams.

Pappy Van Winkle, produced by Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky, has a distinct flavor with a cult-like following, according to Williams.

"Its got a lot of good caramel vanilla notes. It’s not very hot because it’s not a barrel strength bourbon its only coming out at about 80%," explains Williams. 

Bottles of Pappy Van Winkle can cost hundreds of dollars. But people who find a bottle generally end up paying much more.

"It’s more profitable for them to send it to places like Japan or other states because they can get a better profit margin off of it from them because they know we’re only going to pay what it costs," said Williams.

So why are Kentuckians like Julie Tallent more than willing to pay more for it? She says the demand has grown from quality.

"Pappy’s is just in its own sphere, right? So, you just have to respect that," explains Tallent.

Williams posted to social media after a lack of access to one of the most coveted bourbon brands. He says throughout the year they are required to push other brands from their distributor, to have access to certain brands that customers want.

"I wanted to make people aware of how the system is broken and how there’s a much better way to do this and how the little guy in Kentucky are really gettin screwed in this whole process," adds Williams.

In the meantime, Four Pegs plans on promoting smaller distilleries as they rethink whether Pappy’s is worth it.

"I want to start focusing on smaller distilleries that maybe don’t have the name because we’re a small shop, so I want to get their name out there," suggests Williams.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Republic National Distributing Company about why some restaurants didn’t receive an allotment and were given no comment.