Back in 2013, thieves in Kentucky pulled off what was considered by many to be the heist of the year, as they stole a reported 222 bottles of the already impossible-to-find Pappy Van Winkle. While the police searched like crazy to recover the bourbon and rye whiskey valued at more than $26,000, our mouths watered as we kept clicking refresh on Craigslist, hoping to get a bottle of the delicious 20-year old nectar at a bargain, compared the typical secondary market price of $2,000 (or more). This week, in a far less ambitious caper, some no-good booze bandits of the Southeast struck again, as a Miller High Life truck carrying approximately 44,000-pounds of beer was stolen from a truck stop in Orlando.
According to WFTV, the truck carrying the Champagne of Beers was one of two snagged from the same stop that day, but the story is far more complicated than some cheap laughs about cheaper beer. The appropriately-named Van Thomas is the driver and owner of the truck in question, and he broke down in tears while describing the incident, because he just purchased the truck three weeks ago so he could start his own company. Have you no decency, real-life characters from Goodfellas?
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There is a happy ending to Thomas’s story, though, as he was contacted by law enforcement officials and notified that his truck and “most of the cargo” had been found. The thieves probably gave up when they realized that 5,500-gallons of Miller High Life couldn’t even get them one bottle of Pappy.