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Whisky Prices and Age

With nice regularity we are asked for the best available Whisky. Usually this is done by unknowing people, who would like to give away a bottle but don’t want to be cheated on.

What does one answer to this question? Macallan 25 years or Johnnie Walker Blue Label? Why not Chivas Royal Salute 21J or Ardbeg 1974? Should one recommend rather older or more expensive ones?

Prices of Single Malt Whiskies from The Whisky Store/Germany - Spring 2003

Let us answers this question with a parable: A reasonably famous politician was asked on the occasion of the opening of a Mercedes subsidiary by a radio reporter, what the best car in the world is. Without thinking for long he answered: Rolls Royce. He made a typical mistake of a beginner. He transferred his personal desires and preferences onto a question, for which there is no generally valid answer.

If one particularly attaches much importance to a pollution free car, then the correct answer would probably be VW Lupo 3L or Smart Diesel. On the other hand if one wants a fast car, then the answer could be Porsche or Ferrari. However one already recognizes the actual problem: Beside these two wonderful brands there are also extremely fast vehicles of Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen. Usually one makes a compromise between emotional desires, practical considerations and most naturally, the money available.

It is exactly the same with Whisky. The answer to the question for the best Whisky depends on so many boundary conditions that one does not find a reasonable solution without several further inquiries of the customer.

Quality, publicity of the distillery and age of the Single Malt Whisky are the most important measured variables affecting the price of a Whisky.

If one looks for a representative gift for a non-Whisky-connoisseur, a high-quality and well-known Blended Whisky like Johnnie Walker Blue Label with up to 50 years old Whiskies surely would be a good choice. Johnnie Walker is known to nearly everyone and its unusual filling in royal blue is very representative. The price is so high that the receiver would also be positively surprised by randomly asking. You would be surprised by the high number of calls we receive from people which inform themselves about the prices of their presents.

The 'poor' student, who would like to open a very good bottle with friends on the weekend might only think about a Single Malt from a well-known Scottish distillery with 10 or 12 years age. In comparison to the Discount Whiskies these relatively young bottles already offer great taste experiences.

Prices of Single Malt Whiskies from The Whisky Store/Germany - Spring 2003
same picture as above, scrolling not necessary

Let us look at the diagram from the beginning of the article again. The red points show the 60 most-sold Whisky bottles with 0,7 litres in volume and 40% to 46% alcohol content. The green line connects the cheapest bottles of the age groups; the blue line the maximum prices. Naturally there are more expensive and also cheaper bottles in each age group, but in this diagram we focus on the most-sold bottles.

Surprisingly there is no extreme (super proportional) rise with increasing age as one is accustomed to with most luxury goods. Within the age range of 12 to 25 years the cost per year adolescence increases by approximately 3.70 EUR. That also applies to the most expensive representatives of the particular age groups. Only within the age range of 10 to 12 years a horizontal trend shows up. It wouldn’t make sense to buy a younger Whisky with the feeling to be able to save money. The basic costs for a bottle of Single Malt are constant, whether it is 10 or 12 years old.

Now consider the black average curve. You can notice that the average sold 12 years old Whisky is not as expensive as a the 10 years old are. On the one hand this has to do with special bottles like the strongly sold Ardbeg TEN and Edradour 10. On the other hand it is also because of the larger offer of 12 year old Malts, which leads to an intensified price competition in this age group, which puts a pressure on the prices of the 12 year old ones.

One subtlety is still to be seen in the black average curve. While customers still hold themselves back when purchasing 15 year old bottles, they are quite ready to spend over proportionally more money on 18 year old bottles. However this trend is reversed for the 21 years old Malts. Here customers are more price-conscious, before they decide to pay clearly higher prices for the 25 years old bottles.

Average prices of Single Malt Whiskies from The Whisky Store - Spring 2003

Still older Malt Whiskies are filled like wine according to their vintage. Please take care when you select, that these Whiskies were often filled into bottles years ago on the peak of their maturation. The age of a Whisky from the year 1960 is therefore usually less than 43 years old in the year 2003. It might be bottled already in 1999.

Loosen yourself during the evaluation from the age as the exclusive measurement. Humans do become wiser and better with increasing age, but we also exceeded our maximum sometime and then would loved to be maintained in a younger condition.

This super proportional price rise for these old Whiskies with increasing age/vintage can clearly be recognized as with all rare luxury goods. The jump around 1950 is interesting. While there are some thousand bottles from these vintages still world-wide available, the older vintages became very rare. From the time of the Second World War there is already nothing left.

In conclusion, the question about the best Whisky cannot be answered. However the two diagrams help to evaluate whether a Whisky belongs to the expensive or cheaper group of Scottish Malts. High prices do not always mean better quality. In the first picture you see that Glenfiddich in The Whisky Store has both the most reasonably priced 18 year old and the most expensive 21 year old.

Arrange your favourite Whiskies in the diagram. You will be surprised how scattered the points fall.