What AllocationWatch monitors — and what it does not.
Retailer pages remain the source of truth before a trip. This is rendered HTML, not a bulk inventory feed.
Source coverage registry
Reader-facing source limitsIndiana, Illinois and Kentucky are license-state, private-retailer markets. Their rows reflect listed retailers only; they are not statewide inventory feeds. A failed attempt appears only where a newer poll did not finish or failed.
| State | Retailer / platform | Source type | Coverage | Last successful poll | Latest failed attempt | Known gaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OH | OHLQ state agency inventory | Inventory | Strong | No newer failed attempt reported | Every state agency; counts can change before checkout. | |
| IN | City Hive retailers and Kahn's Fine Wines | Inventory | Partial | No newer failed attempt reported | Selected retailers only, not a statewide Indiana inventory feed. | |
| IN | Payless Liquors | Raffle / event | Raffle-heavy | No newer failed attempt reported | Announcements and right-to-buy events, never shelf inventory. | |
| KY | City Hive retailers | Inventory | Partial | No newer failed attempt reported | Selected retailers only, not a statewide Kentucky inventory feed. | |
| IL | Binny's Beverage Depot | Inventory / news | Partial | No newer failed attempt reported | Binny's only, not a statewide Illinois inventory feed. | |
| MI | Michigan MLCC price book | Catalog / release signal | Manual channel | No newer failed attempt reported | Reference prices and release signals, not live shelf inventory. |
How to read coverage
Strong means a broad state system. Partial means named retailers only. Raffle-heavy means announcements, not inventory. Manual channel means a reference or release signal, not shelf counts.
No raw poll history, JSON, CSV, API, or downloadable data companion is published here.
Known gaps
AllocationWatch monitors only the sources listed above. Here is what that leaves out, in plain terms.
- No statewide feeds outside Ohio. Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky do not have a single state-run inventory feed. Coverage there is limited to the named retailers, so most stores in those states are not watched at all.
- Allocations that never touch an inventory page. Many stores release allocated bottles through raffles, loyalty drawings, email lists, store apps, social-media announcements or in-store scanning. Those channels are not monitored, so a bottle can be allocated and sold without ever appearing here.
- Retailers that may be absent. Total Wine and grocery-chain liquor departments are not currently covered, and independent shops that announce only on social media are likely missing.
- Sources excluded on purpose. Sites that use human-verification gates, disallow automated access in their robots rules, publish no usable catalog, or list secondary-market pricing are intentionally left out. AllocationWatch does not work around those protections and does not track resale prices.
Silence means unmonitored, not unavailable. If a bottle does not appear here, it means no watched source reported it — not that it is unavailable everywhere. Check with the retailer directly before you drive.