A thief has absconded with roughly 65 cases of one of the rarest and highly praised bourbons, Pappy Van Winkle, in what appears to be an inside job that took place over a matter of months, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

The theft was reported on Tuesday after it was discovered that the high-priced bourbon had been taken from a secure are inside of the Buffalo Trace Distiller in Frankfort, Ky. The thief was able to take close to $26,000 worth of bourbon, according to the Associated Press.

"It appears that (the whiskey) was taken off the back of the pallets in the back of the area where they were being stored," Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The pilfered booze was being kept in a very secure area of the distillery that was only accessible by a handful of people; the police plan to look at who had access in the area although they have said that they do not yet have any suspects, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The bourbon is made in extremely limited quantities and has achieved a bit of cult like status because of how difficult it is to find in stores. Many stores have extensive waiting lists for the bourbon, according to Food Republic.

"There's Pappy Van Winkle, then there's everything else," chef John Currence told Food Republic. "If you give me a choice, I'll drink the 15-year-old over anything else in the world."

The bourbon will retail for $130 a bottle but can fetch between $300 and $400 on the secondary market, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

Buffalo Trace, which produces the bourbon, makes about 7,000 cases a year. Due to all of the attention the whiskey has received, it scored a 99 out of 100 at the World Spirits Championship, the distiller has been unable to keep up with demand, in part because it takes so long to age, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

"We are making more bourbon every day," Kris Comstock, bourbon marketing director for Buffalo Trace, told customers in May. "Our warehouses are filling up with new barrels. Waiting for the bourbon to come of age is the hard part."