Well it has been an eventful few weeks in the whisky world, hoards of flippers flocking to Macallan in order to fleece some poor person who couldn’t make it there, roads shut and chaos descending in order to let a small number of actual fans who actually camped out and managed to get themselves a bottle or two for their own collection and drinks cabinet instead of instantly running to the auction sites.. But I do have to wonder how good this whisky actually is and just how much the propaganda wheel actually brainwashed these people into paying over the odds for a whisky that might actually be worth half the value if you are lucky..
That brings me onto the actual topic I have been discussing with friends lately, the actual cost of whisky and the value we as consumers are actually getting..
I recently looked at the bottles I am buying and thought just how many actually gave me a fantastic value for money return, no surprise that it isn’t actually many !! Now don’t get me wrong there is a point where you pay a lot more money for a bottle, it might be one for a collection or just one that you desperately want to try and you pay what it costs to obtain that bottle, this isn’t a rip off because you wanted it.. I am talking about those bottles that you find and you just know the price is wrong and above what really is market value just because they carry a particular name.. we all want those bottles that have such a good price it is screaming at you to buy it. There is still one set of bottles that just jump out at you for outstanding value and that is the Bottle your own from Glen Moray.. £50 for a single cask offering, bottled by yourself at the distillery, all natural and ok they might be youngish ( (6-12 years on average) but the quality is always top notch, and at £50 when so many others are charging at least £75 upwards for similar quality, age and whistling pigs.
My point in all this is, it’s about time some of these companies took a good long hard look at the prices and started to justify what they ask for the product.. Ok I know as long as we as consumers pay the price they demand they will keep on stinging us..
We are now asked to pay £75 for a 10 yo from Macallan, £199 for an 18yo from Macallan, are these bottles really twice as good as other similar ages products ? Then you get something like the Aberlour Abunadh that was once £30 a few years back and is now demanding a RRP of £79-£85 for a NAS, ok it’s great quality but it’s hard to justify the price point these days. You then have the lakes Distillery who decided to put the first batch of bottles to auction in order to get far more than it was worth, ok this is business and I get that but for those who supported the company by becoming founders and those that have visited and supported them by buying the products already and were then shafted by the greed it just stinks a little.. Not many typical consumers can afford the high hundreds and low thousands that this first release commanded but I guess these typical consumers were not important enough anymore..
The whisky produced these days does not give value for money when these prices are demanded, my only advice is start to look elsewhere, look at the independent bottlers, look at the distilleries that are offering you great value for money and stop giving the greedy, overhyped giants of the industry that demand you dip into your pockets just a little deeper to part with your hard earned cash.. Alas we all know nothing will change but we can all do our little bit to increase the attention to the companies that are still thinking about the consumer.
ocdwhisky.com 
Generally I don’t like to comment on articles on blogs, however I wish to add a thought to this write-up.
What people sometimes forget is the flippers are investing money they have earned just the same as others, this is not a crime so please stop hating on them.
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Well said.. I for one will not be buying too much Abunadh at this inflated price.. It is such a shame as it was always one of those great value for money bottles..
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I can’t believe Abunadth is up to that price! It was a good value drink at £30 to £40, but anything above that you’re paying for ‘cult’ status. I can understand the temptation to sell high when the demand is there, to try and smooth out the lean years when the fashion swaps to another spirit, but honestly, I think it drives actual whisky lovers away from the brands as fast as they attract fashion/investor drinkers.
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This whole ‘Macallan’ and other new releases from other companies causes such a mêlée.
For me there are people trying to buy the image (luxury / wealth / status), then we have the fans and friends of distilleries who want them because they love the whisky (but the prices are too high for so many of them to be able to buy). And then I am in no doubt some just purchase them to make a profit so they can afford a short time cost to make a large return.
The companies / distilleries release these at high prices because they can, they see it works very well for them. I have spoken to others with this, and I feel similar as your article, look to Glen Moray where you can get a splendid whisky for very little money and I agree.
It is right I think that people buy whisky as investments etc. It is the non whisky drinkers who do this for an instant ‘quick kill’. I do not see that this will change sadly.
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Right on point mate.
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Great idea !! I do tend to push the distilleries and companies that I feel offer good value for money.. And yes unfortunately the flippers will go nowhere and this is down to the pr side pushing how good Whisky is as an investment..
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I for one will not buy any Macallan bottles ! Overpriced whisky that is only sold to people with too much money and no sense.
As for the “buna” this is a classic example of the greedy folks running a company.
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A topic close to my heart, I hate the greedy bastards who charge a fortune for mediocre whisky.
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While I share your frustration with the inflated price of many whiskies, market forces are market forces; demand and supply will dictate prices. And, the flippers, dippers and greedy ones will always be there when the opportunity to make a quick profit is present.
Perhaps one thing we can do is focus more of our attention on whiskies that we find are value for money. Imagine if whisky blogs and tweets for the next month focused only on whiskies that were found to be value for money. Would it make a difference? Perhaps, particularly if we went at it distillery by distillery and published the results. It’s an idea.
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Price hikes like that are extremely hard to justify..
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I said as much myself in one of my blogs ref Aberlour. Shocking now. I won’t be buying any at that price.
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