Glen: The Bourbon Assistant Who Knows Every NC ABC Board
June 29, 2026
Glen is your bourbon assistant, built directly into the Pro dashboard. He knows NC ABC delivery patterns, community sightings, shelf timing, product history, and which boards behave which way. You talk to him the way you'd talk to someone who's been watching these boards for years -plain questions, straight answers.
He lives in two places: a two-sentence take on the overview that reads your watchlist before you open anything, and a full conversational interface under Ask Glen where you can ask him anything. On mobile, he takes over the full screen -optimized for when you're already in the field and need a quick answer.
This is a complete walkthrough of everything Glen can do, with real examples from each type of question you can ask him.
"Is It on the Shelf Right Now?"
The most common question you'll ask Glen is the most direct one: is this bottle actually on a shelf somewhere? Glen checks recent delivery data, shelf timing windows, and community sightings, then tells you specifically which boards have had it and when it was last confirmed there.
In this example, the member asks "Is Eagle Rare on the shelf anywhere?" Glen responds with three specific boards -Angier ABC Board (May 21), Monroe ABC Board (May 14), and Mecklenburg County ABC Board (May 5) -with the date each sighting was confirmed. That's the difference between knowing Eagle Rare exists in NC and knowing where it was on a shelf last week.
Notice the confirmation chip below Glen's response: "Eagle Rare 10Y -right product?" Glen tells you exactly which product he searched against before he answers. If he misread your question, tap the X and search for the correct product yourself. If he got it right, hit the checkmark and move on. This keeps his answers accurate and gives you visibility into what he's actually pulling data on.
"What About in the Past?"
Glen retains context within a conversation. If a bottle isn't currently available, you can follow up and ask him to look at historical sightings - and he'll answer without losing the thread of what you were asking about.
Here the member asks about Penelope Rio on the shelf or in a drop. Glen's first answer is honest: currently nothing available, all recent delivery windows have passed. The member follows up - "what about in the past?" - and Glen comes back with a full list of historical sightings: Asheville ABC Board on June 11, Cumberland County ABC Board on June 25, Wake County ABC Board via drop on May 15, and Blowing Rock ABC Board on May 11.
That history tells you which direction to look. If a bottle shows up on shelves regularly at multiple boards, you know to check availability scores and plan a run when the window opens. If every historical sighting was a drop or lottery event, you know not to walk into boards expecting to find it - you watch your alerts instead and move when one fires. Glen's past data makes that call clear before you waste a drive.
"Which Boards Are Getting It and When?"
For limited distribution bottles, Glen can give you a board-by-board delivery breakdown -not just whether it's been there recently, but where it landed, when the shelf window passed, and when the next delivery is predicted.
This is Glen's most detailed output. The member asks about Russell's Reserve 13, and Glen comes back with five boards -Lincoln County, Beaufort County, Valdese, Chatham County, and Concord -all showing the same pattern: last delivered 20 days ago, shelf window has passed, may be depleted. But Glen doesn't stop there. He gives a predicted next delivery date for each board: Thursday, July 2 for some, Wednesday, July 1 for others.
This is the answer to "is it worth going this week or should I wait?" When every board on the list is past its shelf window but deliveries are predicted within days, you wait -and you know exactly what day to start checking again.
Glen Learns How You Talk About Bottles
When you ask Glen about a bottle, he shows you exactly which product he searched against before answering. That confirmation chip - "Wild Turkey 101 - right product?" - comes with a checkmark and an X, and below it Glen surfaces any variants so you can pick the exact one you mean.
Once you confirm, that mapping is saved. The next time you type "WT101" or "RR13" or "EHTBP," Glen already knows what you mean and answers directly without asking again. He builds your personal product shorthand over time so you can ask questions the way you naturally think about bottles - not the way they're listed in a catalog.
If Glen gets a mapping wrong, tap X and search for the correct product. That correction is saved too. After a few conversations he has your vocabulary down and the confirmation chip stops appearing for bottles you've already mapped.
"What Does This Cost / What Variants Exist?"
Glen knows NC ABC retail prices, bottle sizes, and allocation status for the products in his catalog. Ask him about a specific bottle and he'll give you the details -useful before a run if you want to know what you're looking at on the shelf.
The member asks "How much does Weller Full Proof Cost?" Glen comes back with both variants: Weller Full Proof (.75L, 114 proof) at $64.95, and Weller Full Proof Single Barrel Select (BTB) at $66.95 -plus allocation status for each. The member then follows up with "What about EHTBP?" -shorthand for E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof -and Glen resolves the abbreviation correctly and answers without having to ask for clarification.
Those abbreviation resolutions are saved. Once Glen learns that you use "EHTBP" for E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof, he'll recognize it every time. Your shorthand becomes his shorthand.
"What About Lottery or Drop-Only Bottles?"
Some bottles don't move through regular distribution at all -they show up through store-run lotteries or official drop events. Glen knows the difference, and he'll tell you honestly when something falls outside his delivery data.
When the member asks where they can find BTAC (Buffalo Trace Antique Collection), Glen doesn't guess. He explains that BTAC isn't tracked for regular distribution -it surfaces through store openings and lotteries. Instead of fabricating a delivery timeline that doesn't exist, he offers to check recent sightings in the member's area instead.
This honesty is what makes Glen trustworthy. If he doesn't have data on something, he tells you -and he tells you what he can do instead. An "Add to watchlist" button appears so you can stay notified through community sightings even when distribution data isn't available.
Community Sightings Across Every Board
Glen also has access to the full community sighting history -not just your area, but across all NC ABC boards where Pro members have logged verified finds. Ask him about recent sightings for any bottle and he'll pull the full picture.
The member asks "Has Wild Turkey 101 8 Year been seen recently?" Glen comes back with eight sightings: Marshville ABC Board on June 22 (Drop), Catawba County ABC Board on June 18 (Shelf at Terrel), Johnston County ABC Board on June 18 (Shelf at Smithfield Store), Asheville ABC Board on June 11 (Shelf at Sweetencreek), Triad Municipal on May 29, Angier on May 21, Monroe on May 14, and Orange County on May 13. Glen closes with a specific recommendation: Catawba or Johnston County ABC Boards for the best recent shelf availability.
Eight boards, specific store locations within those boards, and a closing recommendation on where to go. That's the kind of answer that takes hours to piece together manually from community posts -Glen has it in seconds.
Building a Hunt with Glen
Glen is built into Bottle Hunter, not just Ask Glen. When you open an active hunt, Glen reads your bottles and your search radius and gives you a prioritized recommendation on where to start - which bottle looks most promising on this route and which board he'd hit first.
You can ask him follow-up questions directly inside the hunt. "Is it worth adding Wake County to this run?" He'll factor in the hunt's existing bottles, the boards already in your radius, and current availability data before answering. It's the same intelligence as Ask Glen, applied specifically to the route you're building.
Hunts save between sessions. When you come back to one the next day or the next week, Glen re-reads the current availability data - so his recommendation reflects what's changed since you last looked. You're not running a stale route; you're running a route that's been updated since you built it.
Where Glen Lives in the Dashboard
Glen is accessible from multiple places in the Pro dashboard:
- Overview -Glen's Take card: A two-sentence read on your watchlist, automatically updated whenever your watchlist changes. This is your pre-hunt briefing before you ask anything.
- Ask Glen section: The full conversational interface. Access it from the sidebar, the overview quick-action bar, or the bottom nav on mobile.
- Distribution search -Search with Glen: After running a distribution search, hit "Search with Glen" and he'll interpret the delivery data you're looking at and tell you what it means for availability.
- Bottle Hunter -hunt detail view: Glen's Take appears on open hunts, giving you a read on which bottle to prioritize on your current route.
Start with Whatever You've Been Chasing
Glen is live in the Pro dashboard right now. Open Ask Glen and start with the bottle you've been hunting hardest. Ask him where it's been showing up -he'll tell you the boards, the dates, the shelf context, and what he'd prioritize if he were planning the run. That's the best way to understand what he can do.
Not a Pro member? Glen, Glen's Take, and all the features above are part of the Pro plan -along with instant drop alerts covering 30+ NC ABC boards, Hunts, Sighting Alerts, and Favorites Finder.