HooDat wrote:youthathletics wrote:Curious, why is Scotch much more pricey as compared to Bourbon. Is it because it takes longer than bourbon to get to the sweet spot for bottling? and because it takes longer, more of the product has evaporated?
I think it is because "they can".
Although there are some ridiculously expensive Bourbons out there (Old RIp Van WInkle and Old Fitzgerald at
several thousand a bottle come to mind). afan can add far more to this discussion than I, but my understanding is that high-end bourbons have become very popular in the Asian markets which has pushed the prices up at the top end of the market - same thing that happened to scotch.
Yep. It's more expensive because that's what the market will bear. Most single malts have doubled in price over the last five years as demand has surged.
Remember how long a Scotch distilleries timeline. When the first ferment, distill, and fill a barrel...they have to guess what the marketplace will look like fifteen years
from that day. This is an impossible task. And if you're wrong, and make too much that you can't sell--------you go out of business.
It's why Johnnie Walker is so critical. The vast, vast majority of distilleries in the UK are sending their whiskies to Johnnie Walker. They keep the lights on in bad times....when no one else is buying their whisky---they can call Johnnie walker.
They curtailed gift giving limits to Chinese politicians, and that slowed the high end market. But as more and more Silicon bro's get into whiskies? The high end market is in good shape for, at least, several years.
While I no longer imbibe, I have learned some fascinating details about that, which I'm now missing.
