What did you NOT buy and why?

@CanadianNinja Would you have opened the bottle or put it away? Had you purchased it and opened/enjoyed it you may have been more depressed that you opened what is now a $10k bottle of Whisky :)

@Astroke, without question I would not have drunk it at that time. I would still have it, unopened. Definitely.

I have drunk (almost) only the Karuizawa whiskies which I have had doubles of. I was under no illusions as to how much it would potentially be worth.

Uggh..... just thinking about it kills me....

@CanadianNinja if I had been completely convinced of the coming exponential rise in value of a bottle as you say that you were, I would have purchased the bottle, for sure. I consider Pappy Van Winkle 20 yo worth about $200 per bottle for my drinking pleasure, but I paid $ 300 for a bottle once, the most I have ever paid for a bottle, because I know that they regularly auction off for $ 2,000. I paid a lot for that bottle, but I continue to have only good options as to what I want to do with it. I considered it a no-lose proposition, unless I drop the bottle and shatter it on the ground. Most likely I'll drink that bottle, but I'd also consider it for trade.

I paid $223.50 for a bottle of Balvenie Tun 1401 because I knew that that price was at the low end of the initial offering price range and I expected appreciation. At the time it was the most I had paid for a bottle. Average world asking price is now $ 798. Will I drink it, trade it, or sell it? Probably drink it, but I like having options.

I paid what was to me at the time, 2011, a very high price of $ 130 for a bottle of Rittenhouse 21 yo Rye because I rarely saw it offered for sale and loved the whiskey. You can't touch a bottle of that stuff for under $ 1,000 now. You never even see it anywhere any more, like Karuizawa. I see $ 3,212 listed today on Wine-searcher.com as the current average world asking price.

You have to have the faith of your convictions. You snooze, you lose. He who would catch fish must first venture forth his bait.

@Victor None of what I buy nowadays is for investment. When the SWA challenged Glenora for using the name GLEN Breton I was sure the bottles would appreciate when they changed the name...no such luck. Since then, no speculation. Incidentally I wonder what the SWA would make of the Golan Heights single malt called GlenShlomtzion...

A few times I have bought whisky knowing it would appreciate in value. When @Nosebleed and I collaborated to rescue 8 bottles of Macallan CS at $73 each (tax incl), we knew that they were selling for 125 GBP at the time on thewhiskeyexchange.com. Now wine searcher lists the price range as $1007 - $8307. No, I DO NOT REGRET that 75% of those bottles went to another person. Just as I do not regret that I am only keeping one of the last 7 Amrut Intermediate Sherry bottles found and purchased in Calgary at under $100 each (currently listed at neatly $150). I will enjoy watching my friends enjoy their bottles. And opening mine, knowing I got it so inexpensively, will be a treat.

I saw 2 bottles of Longrow Burgundy 14YO in a store a couple of years ago for about 60% of the price listed on Wine searcher at the time. If I sell the remaining bottle I can break even now.

But sometimes you don't know. Before I really got into bourbon @paddockjudge highly recommended I get a Four Roses 125th Anniversary bourbon. At $80 I figured I'll get one, try it and get more if I like it. Well, it never got opened because I tried a sample from him (which only came to me because the person it was for didn't show up to a tasting). I wasn't that impressed (I might think differently now). A few more of those could have helped my kids' university fund.

Words of wisdom @Victor!

The thing is though, again, I was VERY well aware of the investment I would have made.

I started my whisky journey just before its explosion in popularity worldwide. I started my journey here in Japan. I fell in love with whisky because, first and foremost, I love drinking it! However, whether it be comic books, sports cards or whatever, I have also always been a natural collector. And if I do say so myself, I’ve always had a knack for knowing/finding good investments among the items I collect.

When I began buying bottles seriously, whether with the intention of drinking them or keeping them, I focused on Japanese whiskies and of course particularly Karuizawa whiskies.

I honestly do not know what kept me from buying that bottle that day. I can’t believe I expected it to still be there the next day......

And you know what? Would I have ultimately sold it? Drunk it? I have no idea! I just know that I would most certainly still have the bottle today and, like you, I like having options! ; )

I didn’t buy Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. It may be an excellent bourbon, but at over 2 X the price ($142) of Wild Turkey Rare Breed ($65), it’s a hard no from me. The LCBO can go fuck themselves.

@OdysseusUnbound That's a discount from the last time it was for sale at the KGBO price of $150.

Must be the removal of the trade war tax... Now instead of being overtaxed it's just overpriced.

@Nozinan , @OdysseusUnbound , Heaven Hill is the Ardbeg/Balvenie of American Whiskey when it comes to the LCBO pricing. For that matter HH products are way overpriced across Canada compared somewhat overpriced Buffalo Trace, Beam 's low/medium end products. Wild Turkey and Four Roses are solid buys at the LCBO for the most part.

@OdysseusUnbound, I was lucky enough to pick up several bottles of Elijah Craig 18 years ago before it became hard to find/ridiculously overpriced. I love it! Been wanting to pick up a bottle of the Barrel Proof for quite some time.

In Japan I don’t believe the price is unreasonable, I’ll check when I get back.

Also....Indeed, fuck the LCBO.

@Astroke, what is the availability and pricing situation for Blanton’s in Canada/LCBO?

@OdysseusUnbound $142 is ridiculous. I pay $79 and still think it’s a bit high.

@CanadianNinja I bought two bottles of Blanton’s Original for $65 CAD each. I’m almost done my first one. Nice, but not “mouthgasm” level. WT Rare Breed is also $65 and is much better to my palate.

@CanadianNinja When it shows up there is usually lots of it. It will sell out quickly though, same as Eagle Rare. Even the underwhelming/under powered Blanton's Reserve will sell out quickly. Blanton's is usually available in every province in Canada between $65-$70 Canadian dollars

@OdysseusUnbound, no idea what you’d pay for it in Canada but I can’t recommend this enough....

Blanton’s Gold. Open the bottle and remove/drink enough so there’s a little more than two thirds or so left, put it back on your shelf and let it oxidate for a couple of months. Incredible. You will not be disappointed.

@CanadianNinja I’ve sampled Blanton’s Gold and enjoyed it, but it’s an allocation/lottery item now so I’ll likely never get one.

@CanadianNinja I reviewed Blanton’s Gold here

@OdysseusUnbound, Blanton’s Gold is readily available where I am. It’s difficult to recall walking into a decent liquor shop and NOT seeing it.

I’ve gone through 3 bottles over the years. Each time was exactly the same. The first few glasses after opening the bottle were very good. After several months of oxidation, absolutely incredible.

Blanton's Gold: scarce in Ontario, ubiquitous in Japan, and not sold in the USA. Age International owns the brand. It chooses to sell Blanton's Straight From the Barrel and Blanton's Gold abroad only. @CanadianNinja is there a ready supply of Blanton's Straight From the Barrel in your area? My only bottle came in from Belgium.

@Victor Blanton's Gold has become a lottery bottle in Ontario. Hard to get even in Alberta but there are a few stores there that it is on the shelf. I had 3 bottles at one time, drank 2 and traded my last bottle thinking it would be easy to replace. One and a half years later , 2 lotteries and pleading emails to online stores in Alberta and still no replacement bottle. I have a bottle of SFTB which came through a trade and has a UK sticker.

Any bottle from ZYN. They no longer ship outside of Alberta.

There certainly is @Victor.

Gold and Straight From the Barrel are very easy to find in Japan.

@Astroke I took advantage of the cyber weekend sale. 1 bottle of Corry piggy-backed onto someone else's order, and picked up a bunch of bottles at prices too low to pass up, with 9 bottles (only 4 for me) shipped for < $60. I'm glad I got in before the curtain fell.

I really have nothing I need to buy, but in case there were something, it's kind of good for me that this route is no longer available. It may hep me rein in impulse purchases.

@Astroke, way too much chatter on-line....way, way, too much. It was only a matter of time before the whisky pipeline dried up...but the recent Supreme Court ruling on Inter-provincial commerce (oil pipeline case) indicating trade across provincial borders is federal jurisdiction....things may change.

@paddockjudge For Canadian whisky that may be true, but for imported whisky not produced or bottled in Canada the SC ruling may not apply.

@Nozinan, I'm of the opinion at least half of the cops out there don't know Scotch comes from Scotland.

@paddockjudge I would say half of the entire population. I brought Amrut to a meeting once and the son of a Scottish gentleman asked about the Indian scotch.

I also saw (don’t judge me) an episode of Desperate Housewives where one of them buys her husband his “favourite scotch”... and gives him what is clearly visible as a bottle of Blanton’s.

Desperate Housewives was a great show @Nozinan! Well, the first few seasons anyway.....

Yeah, I said it.

@paddockjudge, @Nozinan , I did a test purchase on Craft Cellars and it would have been shipped without issue. This leads me to believe that ZYN may have an issue with the shipper as they did before and for awhile were using Canada Post. Just a thought.

@Astroke I hope ZYN continues to ship outside Alberta, they have some of the best prices available anywhere. Craft Cellars uses Canada Post and shipping is reliable, fast and relatively cheap. Maybe ZYN will have to start doing the same.

@BlueNote My test purchase from Craft resulted in a $52 "shipping kit" added to the price. Zyn was $40ish or so to start and went up by a few bucks per additional bottle. Not the cheapest but better than CC. CC does have constant sales, so a 3-4 bottle order may work out. That said I will wait and see for a month or 2 since without the out of province shipping, bottles will sit on the shelf a lot longer.