Ask any bourbon connoisseur in Oregon about their attempts to find their favorite bottle and they’ll tell you a winding tale that often ends in frustration. Those efforts include tapping informal networks of bourbon drinkers, sharing intelligence on shipments and waiting in line at stores. Many described fruitless entries into the state’s “chance to purchase” drawings and searches of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission liquor locator site, which allows the public to see what’s in stock and where. “I would, of course, love to get an Elmer T. Lee or a Pappy, but it’s so rare I never see it in the state,” said Jim Newton, 57, of Aloha. Newton has had better luck finding Blanton’s, also a Buffalo Trace bourbon. He said the liquor commission website occasionally shows Blanton’s in stock at an Oregon store, but it’s always gone by the time he arrives. Store owners offer to add his name to a list and will hold a bottle for him when it’s in stock. “But you cannot walk in off the str...