So, what are you drinking now?

@MadSingleMalt I suppose there are few things readily available that one can by for the msrp and then sell for 500% profit one foot out the door - which might be a reason we’re having difficulty finding parallels. Really concert tickets are the best equivalent. The Ontario gov recently took steps to counteract mass ticket buying after it was determined that 7/10 tickets were bought that way. I suppose I just want to have a shot at a taste or two.

@nooch , are the lottery entries paper or electronic?

If they're paper, it seems unlikely that anyone would check for duplicate entries.

@MadSingleMalt Electronic. You set up an account and place an order. If you win, your order is processed.

No way to prevent people from entering more than once. Unless they ask internet providers to chase down origins of orders...which is illegal.

@Nozinan, don't you have to provide your name & contact info? Why can't they check those for dupes?

I've never tried to game the system with multiple email addresses (or getting others to enter on my behalf). I figure, if I win, great - if I don't, well I really could spend less money on whisky anyway...

@nooch, concert tickets are a perfect analogy! Thanks.

Just last week, I tried to buy tickets for Jack White. Before the price was announced, I told my gal I was taking her and that I'd be willing to pay up to around $150 per ticket. Then they went on sale for the artificially low price of $72 and sold out in about eight seconds—none for me. (Womp womp.) I now plan to buy tickets on the secondary market, and as long as I find them for under $150, I'll consider it a good buy.

Or to take another spin here, I recently received tickets to a beer & cheese fest as a gift, but I couldn't go so we offered them for sale on Craigslist at face value. Then the event sold out, and suddenly I had a mob of people trying to buy my tickets. If I hadn't already agreed to a deal right away, I could have taken one of the many offers I had for face value + ~20%, and I would not have felt guilty about that. Should I have?

@MadSingleMalt Never feel guilty about selling something for a price the buyer is willing to pay, no matter how high it is.

@talexander I wish I could do that. But I would probably have to tear up my party membership.

I would probably consider a reasonable "in between" if someone wanted a prized possession, but for a friend who wants to drink it, I can't see myself selling an Amrut I paid $75 for for $140. In 2 years the money (and maybe the friend) would be forgotten. If I let him/her have it for cost, the memories would be sweeter.

Sure, friends are nice to friends. But I don't think that's what we're talking about here.

@MadSingleMalt no - I don’t think you should feel guilty about making some profit. I guess I lament the fact that the vast majority of tickets bought for jack white were bought to sell at a profit rather than bought with the intent of using. My assumption is that you would attend the tasty beer event if you could - in other words you didn’t procure tickets to flip them. I know people who will buy 8 tickets to a concert with the intent of selling 4 to pay for the 4 they actually want to use. It feels a bit icky to me because those tickets are then less affordable to someone who actually intends to enjoy what they are being used for. I suppose I’m being a bit hypocritical in that I’ve made money off of items sold on kijiji. In the end I just want to have a shot at enjoying a tasty beverage.

The underlying problem is that the official prices of these things (BTAC whiskies, Jack White tickets) are less than their actual market value.

Given that premise, flipping, gouging, auctioning, gray markets, and all other shenanigans are inevitable. And, I think, they're 100% understandable.

I hate high prices as much as the next fella, but I think it'd all work much better if these things just retailed at their market price to begin with. Note that the annual release of Lagavulin 12, for example, does not stir up these controversies. Diageo is already selling it for top dollar.

@nooch There are some who might say that those who make their living hoovering up concert tickets and selling them at a huge profit are providing a vital service to those who can't get those tickets on their own.

There are others who call them parasites.

I never heard anyone buy something at auction and then curse the person who sold it to them.

@MadSingleMalt Lagavulin releases 30k bottles of the 12 according to whisky base. Chances are those who want it will get it. Not a great comparison. The availability is based as much on volume produced as much as anything else.
Obviously scarcity of BTAC plays a huge role in after market cost, but I don’t know that BT doubling the msrp would make a huge dent in their ability to sell out the stock.

There are 38 k bottles of George T. Stagg being released this cycle. I don't see any on the shelves.

William Larue Weller 19 k

Thomas H Handy 14 k

Sazerac 18 Rye 2.6 k

Eagle Rare 17 1.4 k

breakingbourbon.com/buffalo-trace-antique-…

Had supper with a friend, a really solid rendition of bœuf bourguignon was served. While doing the dishes, she opened a bottle of Benriach Peated 2006. Wow, it reminds me a tad of Ardbeg 10 on first impression,minus the lemon and licorice. This one is more waxy and mineral with a touch of pears on the finish.

In my haste I forgot to correct my typo, I enjoyed a dram of Benromach peated 2006. I know that @RianC mentionned his unopened bottle was murmuring sweet nothings to him. It will be worth the temptation once you finally open it

@cricklewood - Possibly the next 'peater' I open! Thanks

@RianC it will be an interesting contrast after Port Charlotte SB. Is your bottle from the same vintage 2006? I noticed this one is a 10yr old (or close to it, says it was bottled in 2016) I think some of the earlier releases we're younger I believe.

@cricklewood - For sure! Yes mines the 2006 vintage and almost 10 years old with all first fill bourbon casks. How did you find it? Ralfy spoke highly of it iirc.

@Victor, thanks for digging up those numbers. So it sounds like the amounts of GTS and Lag 12 are comparable.

Even if they weren't, the principle was still hold:

•If retail price = market price, then the product all sells through and there are no shenanigans. (Hardly even a single shenanigan!) See: Lagavulin 12.

•If retail price < market price, then you get lotteries, a secondary market, and all the other shenanigans. See: Stagg.

•If retail price > market price, then this probably goes without saying, but the product sits on the shelf collecting dust. See: Mortlach OBs.

@MadSingleMalt while we are talking about availability the concern in this most recent draw related to pappy. It releases sig less.

@nooch, I don't understand your post. "sig less"?

EDIT: "significantly less"?

@MadSingleMalt Either way, whisky shenanigans result!

@talexander, what "either ways" are you talking about?

@MadSingleMalt Oh, just the 3 points about retail price vs. market price that you make above.

@MadSingleMalt

If retail price > market price, then this probably goes without saying, but the product sits on the shelf collecting dust. See: Mortlach OBs.

Unless the company has great marketing and manages to convince people that their incredibly dull and ordinary whiskies are “worth” the 25%-30% more than the competition. See: Macallan and Dalmore

@talexander, unless you're making a joke that I'm missing, no—it's only when "retail price < market price" that we endure shenanigans.

@OdysseusUnbound, I dig the gibe you're making, but I'll continue being Mister Boring Econ 101 here for another minute to say that, really, what you're describing is a way for sellers to increase the market price until it reaches the heights of their absurd retail price.

@MadSingleMalt Yes, I’m being a smart-ass. Since there is no way to objectively assess the “quality” of a whisky, its value is whatever people are willing to pay. My digs at Macallan and Dalmore are based on my opinion alone.