BarnBuster
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What’s Driving the Price of High-End Whiskies?
APRIL 19, 2018 | AARON GOLDFARB Whisky Advocate
Examine some whiskies from Whisky Advocate’s 2017 Top 20. Number 3, Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Decades—a mix of bourbons aged between 10 and 20 years—costs $150. Yet number 10, Glen Moray 18 year old, comes in at just $90, while number 15, Kentucky Peerless Straight Rye—a 2 year old craft whiskey—is $125. Meanwhile, Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year old hit the market last year at $1,800, while Michter’s Celebration—a 33 year old bourbon—has a recommended retail price of $5,000. They’re all whiskies, made from grain and aged in barrels—so why such a massive disparity?
How do companies set prices on old, limited, or in-demand whisky? Do they use some algorithm that takes into account age and quantity? Do these prices show the actual cost of production? Or is it just a guessing game by the liquor companies, trying to maximize profit on their rarest offerings?
“I don’t feel there’s a real rhyme or reason to what they do,” says Joseph W. Mollica, chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. Running the liquor purchasing for a control state that sees a lot of well-heeled tourists passing through, Mollica—who oversaw almost $865 million of alcohol sales in 2017—is able to get his hands on some of the rarest, most expensive whiskies on earth, like Glenmorangie Pride 1974 ($5,799) and Glen Grant 50 year old ($13,999). He’s a whisky retail expert, yet even he can’t put his finger on what exactly influences the price of a bottle. “Everybody seems to have a proprietary pricing method,” Mollica says.
continued:
http://whiskyadvocate.com/driving-price-high-end-whiskies/
APRIL 19, 2018 | AARON GOLDFARB Whisky Advocate
Examine some whiskies from Whisky Advocate’s 2017 Top 20. Number 3, Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Decades—a mix of bourbons aged between 10 and 20 years—costs $150. Yet number 10, Glen Moray 18 year old, comes in at just $90, while number 15, Kentucky Peerless Straight Rye—a 2 year old craft whiskey—is $125. Meanwhile, Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year old hit the market last year at $1,800, while Michter’s Celebration—a 33 year old bourbon—has a recommended retail price of $5,000. They’re all whiskies, made from grain and aged in barrels—so why such a massive disparity?
How do companies set prices on old, limited, or in-demand whisky? Do they use some algorithm that takes into account age and quantity? Do these prices show the actual cost of production? Or is it just a guessing game by the liquor companies, trying to maximize profit on their rarest offerings?
“I don’t feel there’s a real rhyme or reason to what they do,” says Joseph W. Mollica, chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. Running the liquor purchasing for a control state that sees a lot of well-heeled tourists passing through, Mollica—who oversaw almost $865 million of alcohol sales in 2017—is able to get his hands on some of the rarest, most expensive whiskies on earth, like Glenmorangie Pride 1974 ($5,799) and Glen Grant 50 year old ($13,999). He’s a whisky retail expert, yet even he can’t put his finger on what exactly influences the price of a bottle. “Everybody seems to have a proprietary pricing method,” Mollica says.
continued:
http://whiskyadvocate.com/driving-price-high-end-whiskies/
