vPub Live - How Much Should Whisky Cost?
Aqvavitae
5,021 views
How Much Does Whisky Cost?
A Lot.
That’s the trite answer. The obvious response.
Whisky costs a lot more today than it ever has.
Or is that really true?
If we dwell negatively on the cost of whisky today, is that because we know for absolute fact that it’s considerably more than it used to be? It’s costing us more than ever? Or is it simply because we feel like that’s the case. Are there perhaps other factors at play here?
When pressed, many industry voices will be quick to point out reasons for rising costs - on everything - over recent years; but in whisky it tends to be transport and dry goods to grain, staffing and especially energy. Honestly, many of these claims are founded in truth. Yet it doesn’t take much digging to uncover where that argument falls a bit thin.
But, can we prove this? Or is it all anecdotal?
Well, I’ve done the crunching of the numbers - so you don’t have to.
Since 2020 I’ve been taking retail price snapshots for core distillery ranges across their NAS/entry level offerings, through 10yo, 12yo, 15yo, 18yo, 21yo and even their batch-strength or cask-strength expressions, where they’re offered.
This data has allowed me to do something very specific, to measure the shape and changes of prices over the years and compare that directly to the general rises in inflation for the same period.
Fundamentally, I wanted to demonstrate my continued, gleeful and overly-optimistic claims of ‘whisky’s coming back to us!’ are true. So, did I manage that? Or do I need to confess my delusion?
I’ll share with you this week. But there’s more.
This time around I went further. I took out the bluntest of cleavers and split apart the producers. I grouped them into those who prioritise natural products over mass-market volume. Ugly, and fraught, I know. But I was curious. Are we being asked to pay more for that extra ABV? That purer experience? That unfettered and much preferred way to present the whisky? Does it cost us? Well, now I know for sure. And come Thursday, you will too.
We’ll also know where the sweet spots are for those categories of whiskies. Huge, sweeping generalisations can be absolutely guaranteed, but I think all of us will feel the truth that the numbers betray.
I really hope to surprise you all this week.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/51889318...
8 Comments
But still a lot of whisky is to expensive.
For older whisky's there are great prices to be found (mostly IB and auction)
But for the staff thats losing there jobs it's hard,
vPub Live - How Much Should Whisky Cost?
Aqvavitae
5,021 views
How Much Does Whisky Cost?
A Lot.
That’s the trite answer. The obvious response.
Whisky costs a lot more today than it ever has.
Or is that really true?
If we dwell negatively on the cost of whisky today, is that because we know for absolute fact that it’s considerably more than it used to be? It’s costing us more than ever? Or is it simply because we feel like that’s the case. Are there perhaps other factors at play here?
When pressed, many industry voices will be quick to point out reasons for rising costs - on everything - over recent years; but in whisky it tends to be transport and dry goods to grain, staffing and especially energy. Honestly, many of these claims are founded in truth. Yet it doesn’t take much digging to uncover where that argument falls a bit thin.
But, can we prove this? Or is it all anecdotal?
Well, I’ve done the crunching of the numbers - so you don’t have to.
Since 2020 I’ve been taking retail price snapshots for core distillery ranges across their NAS/entry level offerings, through 10yo, 12yo, 15yo, 18yo, 21yo and even their batch-strength or cask-strength expressions, where they’re offered.
This data has allowed me to do something very specific, to measure the shape and changes of prices over the years and compare that directly to the general rises in inflation for the same period.
Fundamentally, I wanted to demonstrate my continued, gleeful and overly-optimistic claims of ‘whisky’s coming back to us!’ are true. So, did I manage that? Or do I need to confess my delusion?
I’ll share with you this week. But there’s more.
This time around I went further. I took out the bluntest of cleavers and split apart the producers. I grouped them into those who prioritise natural products over mass-market volume. Ugly, and fraught, I know. But I was curious. Are we being asked to pay more for that extra ABV? That purer experience? That unfettered and much preferred way to present the whisky? Does it cost us? Well, now I know for sure. And come Thursday, you will too.
We’ll also know where the sweet spots are for those categories of whiskies. Huge, sweeping generalisations can be absolutely guaranteed, but I think all of us will feel the truth that the numbers betray.
I really hope to surprise you all this week.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/51889318...