An unusual Excel spreadsheet lives on a computer in a government office in the warehouse district just north of the Beltline.
This file is a symbol of the area’s growing taste for fine food and drink – a list of the 541 people waiting to pay as much as $250 for a bottle of whiskey from their friendly government liquor agency.
Danielle Brigman, finance director for the Wake County Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, is the keeper of Pappy Van Winkle, perhaps the most hyped liquid in the Triangle.
“They seem to know to ask for me,” she said. Some whiskey lovers call her office directly to ask about the beverage. Others are pointed there by the clerks at county-run liquor stores.
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