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You are here: Home / Blog Post / This wine auctioneer is drinking moonshine
Jun 01

This wine auctioneer is drinking moonshine

Sherry Truhlar Leave a Comment

Post-tasting! Enjoying the moonshine with two friends at Bloomery Plantation.

Enjoying the moonshine with two friends at Bloomery Plantation.

It’s wine week!

What is wine week?

This week I’ve devoted every day of my blog to a wine-related post. Or something close.

I’m celebrating a birthday soon so it seems proper to have a toast. In honor of the big day, every post this week will discuss something about wine or some other beverage (like moonshine) worthy of being poured into a glass and raised during a toast.

This past weekend I sampled moonshine (or sweetshine, as they call it) at Bloomery Plantation in West Virginia.

I spend a lot of time working, so maybe it’s no surprise that I tend to learn about the world through my auctions.

  • Where did I learn about Bloomery Plantation? At a fundraising auction.
  • Where did I find the architect drawing up my bathroom plans?  At a fundraising auction.
  • Where did I find the landscape architect helping me navigate major drainage issues at my house? At a fundraising auction.
  • Where did I get all of my esoteric knowledge about Pappy Van Winkle? At a fundraising auction.
Bloomery Plantation closed sign

Closed. But not for long.

You get the picture.

So I met the team from Bloomery Plantation at an auction in spring 2014 and have visited their facility three times. The second time (February 2015), I took my friend Caroline.

Unbeknownst to us, the place had closed hours before, due to some archaic West Virginia law. Thanks to a groundswell of Facebook fan support and considerable work on behalf of the distillery’s management team, the law was changed a few weeks later. The tasting room resumed business.

As the red head didn’t get to sample her sweetshine in February, we (and a third friend) traveled back this weekend.

A match made in heaven.

A match made in heaven.

I bought two of their flavors: Cremma Lemon and Chocolate Raspberry. Yesterday, I opted to try the “funtenders” (Not bartenders.  Funtenders.) recommendation and put a shot of the Ghirardelli-based sweetshine into my coffee.

Heaven.

I made it twice, just to make sure it was as good as I thought the first time.

As this isn’t a blog for sharing recipes, let me get to the point:

Alcohol sells well in fundraising auctions.

If it’s legal, put it in your silent auction, live auction, raffles, whatever makes sense for your event.

 

 

School auction homemade kuhluaSee the photo of the handmade kahlua?

That bottle sold well over its value.

At a different auction, a bottle of homemade moonshine sold at 200% of value as soon as guests arrived and spotted it.

I might be a wine auctioneer, but today’s tip isn’t just about wine. If someone doesn’t know what to donate to your auction, suggest they go make a bottle of handmade kahlua.

Or limoncello. Or home brew. Or homemade wine.

In most auctions, alcohol sells high.

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Copyright © 2015 Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and educator, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

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Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

Krystal Fenwick
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Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

Diane Albano, Director of Development
St. Joseph Academy Catholic High School (St. Augustine, FL)
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Sherry is flexible and easy to work with. She gives honest feedback and advice throughout the planning and implementation process. Without a doubt, Sherry and Red Apple Auctions has helped take our annual fundraising event to the next level.

Beckie Middendorf, Development Director and Janet Gulla, Development Coordinator
St. Henry District High School (Erlanger, KY)
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Sherry is “on board” from day one of auction planning, works closely with our steering committee and is only just a phone call away. The night of the auction, we toss her the keys and let her drive the event! We are never disappointed!

Charly Ryan, Director of Institutional Advancement
The Academy of the Holy Cross (Kensington, MD)
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I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Pete Goldlust, Director of Development
Oak Hill School (Eugene, OR)
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If your auction needs to upgrade, call any auctioneer you find on Google. But if you want your auction to be impressive, meaningful, and profitable, you need to call Sherry.

Erin Banda
2016 NYUMBANI Board member
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The auction was entertaining .. proactive … the crowd was involved and felt a part of it,” he said, emphasizing, “The entertainment value was huge.

Darrell, a long-time attendee
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We plan on booking Red Apple Auctions much earlier for our next event so we can take advantage of more of the pre-event offerings.

Nicole Carr, Director of Grants and Special Events
The Ivymount School (Rockville, MD)
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Sherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year! Some of the tidbits: You added EXCITEMENT and ENTERTAINMENT… You added EXPERTISE and FUN… You helped the evening FLOW, in a wonderful and positive direction… You were FUN,… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

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Aren’t KK and Michael a cute couple? They liked that I “moved the crowd along … kept the crowd engaged but wasn’t obtrusive or invasive. We were able to talk but still keep track of what was going on.”

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You have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, … she got the bidders to bid without being rude/pushing, … I loved observing her, I just watched her, … she did a great job.’ It was… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

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Geri said: “Great job of getting potential donors in the room to step up to the plate and not feel guilty or bad about it. They actually wanted to give more … and that’s not something I’ve seen in many other auctioneers.” The following year, she herself ‘stepped up’ and became one of the gala… Read The Rest “Geri”

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Irene attended one of my New Hampshire auctions and assumed I must be a radio personality — until I started to chant that fast talk. “I’ve been to this event before with a couple of other auctioneers,” she said, “Your ability to get personal with people in a way that isn’t intimidating — men, women,… Read The Rest “Irene”

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Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering.   Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went off… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

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As a former Fox News Anchorwoman, I am often called on to perform at auctions. So, I know first-hand that auctioneering can be a difficult job. Sherry Truhlar is one of the best in the business. She is skillful at managing an audience and keeping them focused on the task at hand – which is… Read The Rest “Cynthia Steele Vance”

Cynthia Steele Vance
Guest at The Potomac School 2014 auction (McLean, VA)
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