Whisky inflation - a snapshot of 2002

[bifter]

A friend told me about a great wee shop in Pitlochry today, Robertson's. I believe it's still going strong. One half is a general merchant, the other is a whisky emporium. I checked their Web site and found a price list that made my eyes stand out on stalks! Then I saw the date at the bottom of the page, 16th July 2002.

http://homepages.which.net/~a.robertson/malt.htm

Funny thing is some of these malts are still very similarly priced, whereas others have rocketed in the last 10 years. It was very interesting to compare these prices with today.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Alexppp]

Wow, Ardbeg 10 for £19.99, Lagavulin 16 for £24.95! Those must've been the days! (I say that because I didn't drink much whisky 10 years ago) On the other hand kudos to distilleries like Talisker and the Balvenie, they've remained pretty much the same.

[Mark]

I recall when Ardbeg 17 was £27.99 today £300 from a whisky shop

[Brummie]

Now if i could go back in time i would take all the Port Ellen and Rosebank they have. If only i knew then what i know now.

[albo]

I had the same 'if only' thoughts when I saw this.

Which begs the question, what today is going to be worth picking up at a good price with a view to selling on in 10 years then?

[Kray]

Hopefully we have seen all the big increases in standard core range bottlings and future price increases will follow inflation and any tax increases as i do believe there has been a lot of cashing in on the increase in popularity of whisky in the last 10 years.

[Quaich1]

Great talk about inflation and how things used to be, especially whisky prices. I remember looking at a Sears-Roebuck merchandise Catalogue from the early 1900's and the low prices blew my mind. In my own lifetime, I remember when I was a boy in the late 1950's and my dad took me out for lunch in Montreal-we had 2 steamed hot dogs each, french-fries each and 2 cherry cokes and he got change from a dollar. Those were the days......
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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[Cuba]

Looking at the prices of the blended whiskies, they havent increased the same way as the single malts which to me confirms they are profiteering on the popularity of single malts over the past 10 years or so and when is the price increases going to end.

[Innes]

What i have noticed most over the past few years is the older the whisky the bigger the percentage price increase.

[bifter]

I found a handy UK inflation tool that you can use to compare these prices with today's money though, of course, it doesn't take account of changes in duty.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

Certainly some of these malts have increased drastically. The Lagavulin 16 for example has practically doubled from £24.95, whereas the inflation tool says it should be around £32.44!!!

However some others have remained pretty close to, or even beaten, the rate of inflation, for example the Glenfarclas 10 at £21.50 can be found for less than the £27.95 suggested.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Alastair]

It does make you wonder what £30 whisky will be worth £300 in 10 years, although i do think that is much less likely to happen now.

Also are some whiskies going to price themselve out of the market such as Ardbeg and Lagavulin.

[William]

I would predict that prices will continue rising, especially for older whiskies as they have limited availability and demand continues to rise. I would also predict more no age statement single malts.
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[jcarrick]

[bodger]

Read an interesting article on collecting whisky and the advice was , never pay more for a bottle of whisky so that you cannot afford to drink it .The one`s to look for anything limited bottling` or discontinued lines. But beware I have 20-30 Bells decanters that are only drinkable value. But you can always drink your mistakes Bodger`

[Archer]