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I was looking for a bottle of single malt to give as a birthday present and was browsing through the Macallan range.
They've got one (1938) that is priced at £12,000. Now I like an occasional drop of Scotch but who really pays that much and what are you getting for more than you'd pay for some cars?
Would you actually drink it?
They've got one (1938) that is priced at £12,000. Now I like an occasional drop of Scotch but who really pays that much and what are you getting for more than you'd pay for some cars?
Would you actually drink it?
In reply to FesteringSore:
If someone offered me a dram, I'd drink it. I certainly wouldn't pay for it.
I guess this is the sort of thing that people buy to demonstrate their wealth... and probably drink with coca-cola or wotnot because they don't actually like whisky at all, they just want to be the type who enjoys expensive whisky.
If someone offered me a dram, I'd drink it. I certainly wouldn't pay for it.
I guess this is the sort of thing that people buy to demonstrate their wealth... and probably drink with coca-cola or wotnot because they don't actually like whisky at all, they just want to be the type who enjoys expensive whisky.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
even dafter, it will probably get bought, kept fora decade, sold for a profit to another collector who'll repeat the process, and it will never get drank. The world is full of oddness.
even dafter, it will probably get bought, kept fora decade, sold for a profit to another collector who'll repeat the process, and it will never get drank. The world is full of oddness.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
I have heard (possibly apocryphally) of someone who bought a £30,000 bottle of whiskey which he and his mates polished off in a night. The phrase more money than sense...
I have heard (possibly apocryphally) of someone who bought a £30,000 bottle of whiskey which he and his mates polished off in a night. The phrase more money than sense...
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In reply to FesteringSore:
I was speaking to the Scottish chap in the Whisky Shop in Piccadilly in London about exactly this last week. He's had the opportunity to try some ridiculously expensive stuff and said most has been quite ordinary. He's of the view that people buy the very expensive stuff for bragging rights over rarity, if it happens to be great Whisky it's a secondary thing.
I don't understand spending money like this other than as an investment when there's such great stuff for less than £200.
I was speaking to the Scottish chap in the Whisky Shop in Piccadilly in London about exactly this last week. He's had the opportunity to try some ridiculously expensive stuff and said most has been quite ordinary. He's of the view that people buy the very expensive stuff for bragging rights over rarity, if it happens to be great Whisky it's a secondary thing.
I don't understand spending money like this other than as an investment when there's such great stuff for less than £200.
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In reply to Mooncat:
Much less than £200 I would say. I think it's a bit like wine snobbery. I doubt that anyone can tell the difference(in a blind tasting) between a bottle of plonk selling for £15-£20 or thishttps://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwj-4tnY88XOAhWTCtMKHVe-A4AYABAL... that the latter might, after that time, be undrinkable)
> I don't understand spending money like this other than as an investment when there's such great stuff for less than £200.
Much less than £200 I would say. I think it's a bit like wine snobbery. I doubt that anyone can tell the difference(in a blind tasting) between a bottle of plonk selling for £15-£20 or thishttps://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwj-4tnY88XOAhWTCtMKHVe-A4AYABAL... that the latter might, after that time, be undrinkable)
Post edited at 13:12
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In reply to CurlyStevo:
And it should have been drunk, then.
Personally, I don't really understand "collectable" stuff. Perhaps I have moved countries too many times but I now live by a simple rule: it has a reason and a place or I don't buy it. Whisky has a reason: drinking it.
I guess I do have a couple of ornaments in my flat but they all have a reason, too: they're there to show where I come from or to tell a story. I guess "I'm rich" isn't a story I consider worthy of the telling.
This is probably why I am not rich.
And it should have been drunk, then.
Personally, I don't really understand "collectable" stuff. Perhaps I have moved countries too many times but I now live by a simple rule: it has a reason and a place or I don't buy it. Whisky has a reason: drinking it.
I guess I do have a couple of ornaments in my flat but they all have a reason, too: they're there to show where I come from or to tell a story. I guess "I'm rich" isn't a story I consider worthy of the telling.
This is probably why I am not rich.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
Absolutely, it's a case of diminishing returns, a bottle of 15yo Springbank costs just over £50 and that's almost as good as it gets for me.
> Much less than £200 I would say. I think it's a bit like wine snobbery. I doubt that anyone can tell the difference(in a blind tasting) between a bottle of plonk selling for £15-£20 or thishttps://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwj-4tnY88XOAhWTCtMKHVe-A4AY... that the latter might, after that time, be undrinkable)
Absolutely, it's a case of diminishing returns, a bottle of 15yo Springbank costs just over £50 and that's almost as good as it gets for me.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
A guy in Scotland where we've sometimes stayed collects whisky. A couple of years ago we were there and I spotted in his display case a bottle of Port Ellen from a single numbered cask and said: "Oh, my wife bought me a bottle of that, same cask number, for my birthday about 25 years ago".
Him: "Do you know how much she paid for it?"
Me: "Wouldn't have been much more than £30 because back then we limited main presents to around that"
Him: "What did you do with it?"
Me: "Drank it of course, it was delicious!"
Him: "Thank you"
Me: "Why?"
Him: "Well my bottle's worth about £700 now, thanks to you and others like you"
I reckon I had the best deal, as I had several nights savouring a wonderful flavour. All he can do is watch its "value" increment (or decrement, if the whisky bubble bursts) and know that if he were ever to want to actually taste it, the bottle's "value" would plummet to zero as soon as he cracked the seal.
A guy in Scotland where we've sometimes stayed collects whisky. A couple of years ago we were there and I spotted in his display case a bottle of Port Ellen from a single numbered cask and said: "Oh, my wife bought me a bottle of that, same cask number, for my birthday about 25 years ago".
Him: "Do you know how much she paid for it?"
Me: "Wouldn't have been much more than £30 because back then we limited main presents to around that"
Him: "What did you do with it?"
Me: "Drank it of course, it was delicious!"
Him: "Thank you"
Me: "Why?"
Him: "Well my bottle's worth about £700 now, thanks to you and others like you"
I reckon I had the best deal, as I had several nights savouring a wonderful flavour. All he can do is watch its "value" increment (or decrement, if the whisky bubble bursts) and know that if he were ever to want to actually taste it, the bottle's "value" would plummet to zero as soon as he cracked the seal.
Post edited at 13:38
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In reply to FesteringSore:
Perhaps. If I was rich enough that the 12k would be the equivalent of an 50-100 pound bottle now.
I got the impression they are just used either as investment or just as a equivalent of a bit of art to show off.
> Would you actually drink it?
Perhaps. If I was rich enough that the 12k would be the equivalent of an 50-100 pound bottle now.
I got the impression they are just used either as investment or just as a equivalent of a bit of art to show off.
In reply to FesteringSore:
I may be wrong here but I think I read that whiskey doesn't age in the bottle like wine, only the cask? In which case it's just rarity value, or a particularly unusual batch? Either way I'd drink if offered but wouldn't buy.
I may be wrong here but I think I read that whiskey doesn't age in the bottle like wine, only the cask? In which case it's just rarity value, or a particularly unusual batch? Either way I'd drink if offered but wouldn't buy.
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In reply to KevinD:
Yes. It's worth bearing in mind that every now and then someone pays upwards of a million dollars for a used postage stamp of no great historic importance, compared to which a few tens of thousands for a bottle of whisky seems like a bargain.
> I got the impression they are just used either as investment or just as a equivalent of a bit of art to show off.
Yes. It's worth bearing in mind that every now and then someone pays upwards of a million dollars for a used postage stamp of no great historic importance, compared to which a few tens of thousands for a bottle of whisky seems like a bargain.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
A good ten years ago I took a Port Ellen 1982 Conoisseurs Choice to a bothy with friends. It wasn't worth what it is now but was still a pretty pricey bottle. I had, however, found it at the back of a wine auction and paid around £50 for it. There was some muttering along the lines of 'I'd have sold that and bought a case of something', understandably, but on tasting it these quibbles soon disappeared and it remains one of the better whiskies I've had. It wasn't showing off and I'd rather tan a decent bottle with friends in a night than have it mouldering in the cupboard for years. £750 was a drop in the ocean, I'd buy a few more bottles. The following year we all chipped in for a Macallan Replica 1861 - wasn't very nice (very solvent) - and the year after we were back to Glen Grant 1968 (not that expensive) and a bottle of Islay Mist.
I have been very fortunate to taste a lot of top end malt and I would agree that unless you value rarity or the taste of wood, sticking to <£100 will get you 95% of the best whiskies available. And if £750 sounds a lot, the last £1000 wine I had was oxidised (Ramonet Le Montrachet 2000) and got tipped down the sink: the Port Ellen could provide pleasure over years.
A good ten years ago I took a Port Ellen 1982 Conoisseurs Choice to a bothy with friends. It wasn't worth what it is now but was still a pretty pricey bottle. I had, however, found it at the back of a wine auction and paid around £50 for it. There was some muttering along the lines of 'I'd have sold that and bought a case of something', understandably, but on tasting it these quibbles soon disappeared and it remains one of the better whiskies I've had. It wasn't showing off and I'd rather tan a decent bottle with friends in a night than have it mouldering in the cupboard for years. £750 was a drop in the ocean, I'd buy a few more bottles. The following year we all chipped in for a Macallan Replica 1861 - wasn't very nice (very solvent) - and the year after we were back to Glen Grant 1968 (not that expensive) and a bottle of Islay Mist.
I have been very fortunate to taste a lot of top end malt and I would agree that unless you value rarity or the taste of wood, sticking to <£100 will get you 95% of the best whiskies available. And if £750 sounds a lot, the last £1000 wine I had was oxidised (Ramonet Le Montrachet 2000) and got tipped down the sink: the Port Ellen could provide pleasure over years.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
Whisky's made to be drank as far as I'm concerned. I echo the comments of this who say you needn't spend >£100 for a great, not just good whisky.
I was at a whisky tasting event on Sunday and by far the best I tried was a 40 year old Glenglassaugh, no price listed for it but I'm not sure I even want to know. Probably the best "affordable" one was a 17 year old Benriach done in Pedro Ximenes sherry casks that goes for ~£85 a bottle.
Whisky's made to be drank as far as I'm concerned. I echo the comments of this who say you needn't spend >£100 for a great, not just good whisky.
I was at a whisky tasting event on Sunday and by far the best I tried was a 40 year old Glenglassaugh, no price listed for it but I'm not sure I even want to know. Probably the best "affordable" one was a 17 year old Benriach done in Pedro Ximenes sherry casks that goes for ~£85 a bottle.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
Had the same sort of conversation with my boyfriend. He feels guilty for spending almost £100 on a bottle of whisky sometimes, although I pointed out that him drinking a nice whisky is different to going on a night out where you could easily spend that amount of money and more for what will usually result in a hangover the next day. As I said in the other whisky thread, he is a huge fan of the drink, is a self-confessed geek on the spirit and is so passionate about it that he is going to make that his career once he leaves his current career. I think if he could afford it and really justify the purchase, then yes why not go for a more expensive one, especially for a very special occasion. What he doesn't know is that if he did end up being somebody I marry, then I'd seriously consider saving up for something like that as a gift to him. I'd probably have to consult him on it before sinking money into it but it's a thought I had if that ever were to be where life takes me with him.
When I visited Highland Park on Orkney some of the special ones do have a lot of other things going for them as well. There was one which had quite an extensive piece of silversmithing wrapped around the bottle and came in a nice presentation box. There was another I saw which had a lovely wooden presentation box with Viking knotwork on the facing panel of the box. Things like that just add to it rather than the cardboard box you get in the bog-standard whisky that is produced.
Had the same sort of conversation with my boyfriend. He feels guilty for spending almost £100 on a bottle of whisky sometimes, although I pointed out that him drinking a nice whisky is different to going on a night out where you could easily spend that amount of money and more for what will usually result in a hangover the next day. As I said in the other whisky thread, he is a huge fan of the drink, is a self-confessed geek on the spirit and is so passionate about it that he is going to make that his career once he leaves his current career. I think if he could afford it and really justify the purchase, then yes why not go for a more expensive one, especially for a very special occasion. What he doesn't know is that if he did end up being somebody I marry, then I'd seriously consider saving up for something like that as a gift to him. I'd probably have to consult him on it before sinking money into it but it's a thought I had if that ever were to be where life takes me with him.
When I visited Highland Park on Orkney some of the special ones do have a lot of other things going for them as well. There was one which had quite an extensive piece of silversmithing wrapped around the bottle and came in a nice presentation box. There was another I saw which had a lovely wooden presentation box with Viking knotwork on the facing panel of the box. Things like that just add to it rather than the cardboard box you get in the bog-standard whisky that is produced.
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In reply to FesteringSore:
Just seen this one - https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/karuizawa/karuizawa-1964-48-year-old-...
Makes your £12k seem quite reasonable.... Free shipping though so that's a saving.
Just seen this one - https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/karuizawa/karuizawa-1964-48-year-old-...
Makes your £12k seem quite reasonable.... Free shipping though so that's a saving.
In reply to FesteringSore:
Most expensive drop of scotch I've had was a glass of a very old Laphrohaig at "Dinner by Heston" at £85.00 a shot. Absolutely exquisite, the fact that we were sat near Brian Ferry, (plus obligatory supermodel,) just added to the luxury of the experience. It was my birthday after all.
Most expensive drop of scotch I've had was a glass of a very old Laphrohaig at "Dinner by Heston" at £85.00 a shot. Absolutely exquisite, the fact that we were sat near Brian Ferry, (plus obligatory supermodel,) just added to the luxury of the experience. It was my birthday after all.
Post edited at 22:24
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In reply to Toccata:
I was given a bottle of Chatau Malescot St Exupery margaux in 1998 that currently has a value of around £700. Can't bring myself to open it as it'll probably taste like piss. Don't want to sell it either as it was a gift.
> And if £750 sounds a lot, the last £1000 wine I had was oxidised (Ramonet Le Montrachet 2000) and got tipped down the sink:
I was given a bottle of Chatau Malescot St Exupery margaux in 1998 that currently has a value of around £700. Can't bring myself to open it as it'll probably taste like piss. Don't want to sell it either as it was a gift.
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In reply to graeme jackson:
I would open it and drink it. Malescot St E is a lovely wine and although needs 10-15 years to soften, it's worth the wait. As to the value it won't be worth £700 (the legendary 1961 is £350) but that doesn't matter: it didn't cost you anything and the person that gave it to you wanted you to enjoy it. Treat yourself to a big ribeye steak and open it (with a decant first if the vintage is 80s or 90s, without if it's older). FWIW I'm working my way through a case of the 95 which is a bit tough yet and probably needs more time.
I would open it and drink it. Malescot St E is a lovely wine and although needs 10-15 years to soften, it's worth the wait. As to the value it won't be worth £700 (the legendary 1961 is £350) but that doesn't matter: it didn't cost you anything and the person that gave it to you wanted you to enjoy it. Treat yourself to a big ribeye steak and open it (with a decant first if the vintage is 80s or 90s, without if it's older). FWIW I'm working my way through a case of the 95 which is a bit tough yet and probably needs more time.
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In reply to Toccata:
> although needs 10-15 years to soften, it's worth the wait.
Even if you do die of thirst In reply to Toccata:
This.
I kept a bottle of Haut Bommes Sauternes (can't recall the year) for about 14 years waiting for that 'special occasion', and of course as time marched on the required magnitude of said occasion increased. Eventually I mentioned it to a sommelier in France and he said that while it was a very good one, it wasn't a long term keeper and he urged me to contrive an occasion asap. His words were, "Probably it will be wonderful, but it is possible that you have the best vinegar in the world."
We opened it to celebrate buying a house, c. 6months later. It was sublime.
> I would open it and drink it. Malescot St E is a lovely wine and although needs 10-15 years to soften, it's worth the wait. As to the value it won't be worth £700 (the legendary 1961 is £350) but that doesn't matter: it didn't cost you anything and the person that gave it to you wanted you to enjoy it. Treat yourself to a big ribeye steak and open it (with a decant first if the vintage is 80s or 90s, without if it's older).
This.
I kept a bottle of Haut Bommes Sauternes (can't recall the year) for about 14 years waiting for that 'special occasion', and of course as time marched on the required magnitude of said occasion increased. Eventually I mentioned it to a sommelier in France and he said that while it was a very good one, it wasn't a long term keeper and he urged me to contrive an occasion asap. His words were, "Probably it will be wonderful, but it is possible that you have the best vinegar in the world."
We opened it to celebrate buying a house, c. 6months later. It was sublime.
In reply to Removed User:
We have a bottle of an expensive local wine, bought in error, when we were skint, in 2005. It's a Lerida Estate Pinot Noir. We're hoping against hope that when we open it in 2018, it will not be for putting on our fish and chips.
We have a bottle of an expensive local wine, bought in error, when we were skint, in 2005. It's a Lerida Estate Pinot Noir. We're hoping against hope that when we open it in 2018, it will not be for putting on our fish and chips.
In reply to Big Ger:
At least do it the honour of pickling some eggs with it.
> We have a bottle of an expensive local wine, bought in error, when we were skint, in 2005. It's a Lerida Estate Pinot Noir. We're hoping against hope that when we open it in 2018, it will not be for putting on our fish and chips.
At least do it the honour of pickling some eggs with it.
In reply to Removed User:
Pickled eggs - do people actually eat them?
Have seen jars of them in fish and chip takeaways but never seen anyone order one.
Pickled eggs - do people actually eat them?
Have seen jars of them in fish and chip takeaways but never seen anyone order one.
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In reply to subtle:
One of my favourite things.
I suppose I have to bear some responsibility for derailing a thread about fine whisky into a discussion on pickled eggs.
One of my favourite things.
I suppose I have to bear some responsibility for derailing a thread about fine whisky into a discussion on pickled eggs.
Post edited at 17:58
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