Looking at these prices, it appears to be steeper than the few hundred I imagined. If I can't find something reasonable, he might just end up with a 40 ouncer.
I don't blame you--the thought is great, but the great whiskies at that age are both scarce on the ground and expensive as shit. I'd really recommend two 20 year olds; it's not the same as one 40 year old, I know, but your options would really open up and you could get some great whisky at better value for your dollar (or pound). Plus, this latter option would definitely keep you somewhere within your "few hundred" limit.
With all this talk about expensive single malts and what some people are prepared to pay let's say for a 40 year old Glenfiddich I find fascinating. I doubt there are any Russiam oligarchs in this forum but I read recently where one of those rich Russians purchased the oldest Bowman single malt bottled in Islay in 1850 for about $60,000. There is also a guy at our club who claims he spent $2,500 for a 40 year old Glenfiddich for his dad who just turned 70 and enjoys single malt scotch. The old saying of "people with champagne tastes and beer pocket books" came to mind. It raises two questions:- 1. Are we now approaching or at the apex of a bubble market in whisky? 2. If so, what would a crash bring?
Agreed - as long as there are people with more money than they can spend, it's going to stay hyper-inflated.
Not even sure it is inflated. There are many good bottles available at reasonable prices, especially as compared to grape products. There haven't been any big surges in price to suggest any sort of fad or bubble, and whisky is reaching new populations all the time. They have manufactured scarcity with some limited release and old barrels...they could drop off some, but I don't know why they would.
I guess if there was a genuine whisky crash coming it would most likely mean closed distilleries rather than slashing of consumer price levels.
There will not be a 'whiskey crash'. Those crazy prices you cite are outliers and are the perfect example of the law of diminishing returns. . . yes, the market is finding room for more expensive offerings, but quality Whiskey can still be had for a reasonable prices. If anything, I would argue that a bottle of commodity-level whiskey is much better now that it was 30 years ago due to improvements in production/quality-control and such.
Did a favor for a friend and got this in return: As far as the previously discussed 40 yr old scotch, the cheapest bottle I could find locally was $2200. He's going to have to settle for a pair of concert tickets and this:
So I've been on a Scotch/Irish whiskey kick recently and decided to bump this. Found a bar that does whisky tastings every month. Had some Readbreast, which is single pot still Irish whiskey and it is phenomenal. Definitely have a bottle of that sitting at home! They also did a Islay region tasting. My favorite from the group was Bruichladdich Rocks (the person in charge said it is the least peaty Islay malt). The other two were Ardbeg 10 year and Laguvalin (sp?) 16 year. They were quite good as well. Got to enjoy some Laphroaig 15 year on Thanksgiving. It was excellent.
I'll have to find it somewhere. Only Island singles I've had are Highland Park and Talisker. Definitely like Highland Park more, but Talisker is good in small doses . A lot going on there.
Try the new batch of Laphroaig 10yo cask strength. I love the 15 as well, but nothing beats Lappy above 50% abv!
Me too (so says my avatar), but for me heaven on earth is a good single-cask Laphroaig at cask strength. Ironically, when I moved to Paris I could only bring 2 bottles of whisky with me and neither of them was a Laphroaig. Whisky is incredibly pricey here. For my money and for the selection I'm better off buying from the UK, even though the dollar is weaker against the pound than the euro.
I don't know much of Whiskey, but recently some German companies decided to make some as well, one of them being Slyrs. I tried it during the holidays and have to say I quite like it, and even my brother who does drink Whiskey quite regularly said it was good. Has anybody of you had the chance to try it?
nope, but I'll have to recommend it to the place that does the tastings. They are looking to have a tasting involving whisky not from Scotland, Ireland, or the US.
You might try the Glenfarclas 105, a very affordable and delicious cask strength whisky. Others you might like would be the Macallan cask strength and the Aberlour A'bunadh, both excellent drams in their own right.
Powers Paddy Bushmills 16 year Sampled those last night. I'd had Powers many times and hadn't had Paddy since I was in Ireland in '04. The Bushmills 16 was very good as well.
I was told it was, started in Feb. The lady who runs the tasting told me, and she also said she didn't know how long it would be around so she had to include it in a tasting.