Whisky Budgets

Given that I have a stash of unopened bottles that will take me some time to exhaust, I buy something new only under one of the following conditions:

•Undeniable bargain, like the $25 Arran 10 I bought last night.

•Celebratory purchase justified by some milestone that I want to mark with a shiny new bottle. These are very uncommon - I think the last of these was the bottle of Octomore I bought for my 40th birthday last year.

•A personal purchase that somehow "makes sense" as part of my plans for our whisky club. For example, I recently owned a bottle of Port Charlotte MC:01 that I sold to the club for $100 for an upcoming club night, and I used part of that money to buy myself a new bottle of Port Charlotte Islay Barley that I will then share with my club buddies that same night. I indulge in a fair number of these club machinations, but they're usually close to "revenue neutral," so to speak.

So, all that is to say, that I my ongoing budget is effectively ZERO, and I violate that only under exceptional circumstances. Clear as mud?

@MadSingleMalt - Makes sense to me and I can relate to it.

@Nozinan - I have no set budget to speak of and generally buy when/if I have some spare cash; but like @MadSingleMalt I have too many bottles as it is, and am rapidly running out of wardrobe and cupboard under the stairs space to put any more, so any new purchases are either

a) a deal too good to turn down

b) a one-off, ltd edition or rare/hard to get bottling that I feel I'd regret that I didn't buy further down the line.

c) a celebration

The problem I'm finding recently though is that where 'rule a' is concerned there are frequently good prices on Amazon for malts that I know I like and see no harm in stocking up on i.e. Benromach 10, Arran 10. It feels like i'm preparing for the end of days

@MadSingleMalt - $25 for Arran 10!?! How many cases did you get?

@RianC ha! I've never had any Arran whatsoever, so I was cautious and bought only one. But I confess that I was eyeing the whole stack with a scheming mind.

@MadSingleMalt Get your running gear on and get back there and buy as many as you can carry.

@MadSingleMalt - Well, judging off your preferences on here (and recent Whisky Club escapades) it might not blow you away but, for what it's worth, it's my favourite 'lighter' malt - waaaaay better than 'fiddich 12, 'morangie 10 and the like - and it also has a touch of the Irish style going on as well.

@RianC, I can dig it. I'm thinking I'll open it next summer.

I don’t so much have a budget. Rather, I have a “whisky tax” on my wife. She likes to buy clothes, purses and shoes. I like whisky. She knows then whatever she spends . . . I am going to spend about half the amount on whisky. But that works both ways. So if I buy stuff . . . she feels free to spend.

We make two trips a year to be with her family: one to Nashville and one to Myrtle Beach. Both times I will spend about $500-$700 on whisky. And she will spend about $1,000+ on other stuff. For my birthday I will probably spend $300 or so. And then I buy stuff through the year.

I once kept very diligent records of my spending. I tried to keep it under $3,000 a year for several years (2012-2016). But it just kept rising. I have stopped keeping track now. Now, I just tell myself, “Look, you’re going to spend $4000 on whisky this year – make it the really good stuff.” So, I have tried to stop buying 8-12 “good-value” and “get-me-through” bottles for $500. Instead, I would rather have 3-6 really good bottles for $500

I like @MadSingleMalt’s three tenets:

• Undeniable bargain
• Celebratory purchase
• Personal “makes sense” purchase

Here are my basic principles

Bottles to Stock up (4 – 6 bottles) on:

• I find a new batch of ECBP
• I find a “very good to me” batch of Ardbeg Corry, Uigeadail, or Ten

Buy two bottles each:

• Ardbeg Special Release
• Laphroaig Special Release
• Laphroaig 10yo CS batch
• Springbank 12yo CS batch
• Stagg Jr.

Buy if I ever see it:

• Weller or Pappy (ya, right)
• BTAC
• Willett

Buy if I run out:

• Lagavulin 16yo
• Laphroaig 10yo
• Redbreast 12yo CS
• Knob Creek SBR 120 proof
• OGD114
• George Dickle Rye

By looking at this list you should have a good idea of what I have on hand. Yes, I do buy other things. But not with the same enthusiasm.

@RianC @MadSingleMalt What's the ABV is on the Arran 10? I think it might be 46%, 43 at least. Haven't had it for a while, but I recall it being a very nice, easy drinker.

Budget? Whatever my Visa card says it is. I abuse it quite badly, but sometimes it fights back.

Thanks for the input.

I used to have no constraints on my purchases. My wife would say she gets a pair of shoes for each bottle but I don't think she has made good on that.

Last year I started representing my district of MDs, and this comes with an honourarium. I decided to save half for taxes and the other half as my whisky budget. I came in $93.18 under budget. This year I will probably get a little less (one of the conference days is my son's B-day so I won't go), but even with unplanned purchases (A'Bunadh 65, Amrut Naarangi, and extra Cadenhead Linkwood and 2 Shelterpoint rye) I am currently over $600 under budget, and since I won't be going to Calgary, unlikely to but more than that.

I don't know if I'll be involved in the OMA after this year, so I have to figure out what I'll do next year. I wish I could be like @Nelom and limit myself to 2 bottles...

I wish I could be like @Nelom and limit myself to 2 bottles...

Good timing on the mention @Nozinan. I just bought the first bottle of the year.

I'm back from a road trip to the east coast (first time on PEI, beautiful place) and drove through Maine and Vermont on the way home. Visited Ben & Jerry's in Vermont, and not far from there there's a distillery called Mad River. Went on a tour and ended up bringing home a bourbon. They also make a rye, and I'm usually a rye hound, but I preferred their bourbon.

If anyone ever find themselves in the Waterbury, VT neck of the woods I can definitely recommend a visit to Mad River. They offer free yours (by appointment only, via the website) although it's a micro distillery in the truest sense of the word, so it won't take long. But on the flip side, that means you truly get an inside look at the operation. Got to try some new make too, although I don't think that's part of the tour, I just asked if I could.

As for the topic at hand, as you've mentioned I keep myself to two bottles per year, for much the same reasons as most folks here try to limit themselves - I simply have too much on the shelves already. But I've put no specific dollar limit on those bottles.

As for how I choose what to buy... I've got no specific rules, but it have to be something special. More often than not that means stuff I find on vacation that I can't get at home. A limited release would qualify also. But I'm not going to use up one of my allotments on something easily accessible just because it's cheap.

Interesting topic. Cheers.

@Nelom my sister, with whom you've tasted and whose initials just happen to be M.A.D., was just up in Vermont with her son's family. She didn't tour the Mad River distillery, but did bring back a bottle of their rye whiskey. We opened it up and tried it a week ago today. It was OK at that point, but not a big draw.

A visit to PEI is still a trip I'd like to make. I've been as close as Shediac, New Brunswick, about 20 minutes away, but didn't cross the water to the island. That was in the days before they built the bridge. I have very fond memories of seafood in Shediac.

@BlueNote - 46% and NCF.

@Victor Shediak is famous for cheap, plentiful and delicious lobster.

@Nelom, Is this your first bottle? I thought you had bought a bottle of "Alabama Style" whisky at the LCBO earlier this year. The same expression a friend picked up for me in DF in FLorida because he was SURE I would not be able to find it here.

(I wish people wouldn't buy whisky for me without research...)

@Nozinan Egads! You're right! I forgot about that one, and apparently forgot to add it to the shelf here on Connosr, so I didn't realize it when I added my new acquisition. Small correction, I didn't get it at the LCBO, I bought it on vacation. Wouldn't have, had I known it was available at the LCBO, but them's the breaks.

Well, I guess that's it for me this year then. Unless I'm given something, like I was last year.

@Nelom Have you tried the Alabama whisky? I'm just wondering whether it is worth opening for the experience, or if I'm better off trading it in with another bottle I was given (Weller Special Reserve) for something nice.

@Nozinan Yeah, I've had some. It's alright. It's not something I'd buy another bottle of, but it's very easy drinking and has a bit of an unusual taste. I don't know if I can attribute it to the apples (according to Wikipedia, the way to make Alabama style whiskey is to add oven-dried apples to the barrels) but there's something there I've never tasted before. I don't regret buying it.

@casualtorture wrote a review of a different expression of Clyde May's, and he's definitely noticing apple/fruits: connosr.com/conecuh-ridge-distillery-clyde…

I'd offer you a sample, but I left my bottle with a friend in Ottawa. I could find out if there's any left, and then next time I go (...maybe early next year) I'll get you some.

@Nelom Maybe I will hold on to it... if my whisky friends indicate they want to try it, and I get some assurances of help in consuming it...

@Nozinan T R A D E it..... without tasting.... without hesitation.... without guilt....

I don't follow a budget. My biggest problem is I don't open the malts that I purchase. I have malts that I bought years ago that are on display. I have my go to whiskies that I'll drink, but many of my more expensive purchases sit unopened. My wife calls it "the thrill of the chase"

@PeterG7 Absolutely! Going after the hard-to-get bottles is almost always more fun than drinking them!

But opening a long-gone bottling with friends can be priceless.

@ Nozinan I totally agree with you about sharing an unopened bottle with friends. Unfortunately, most of my friends are not scotch drinkers. I envy the many on this site who have scotch tastings with their friends. I imagine there is nothing like an evening of tasting and comparing notes on a variety of single malts

@PeterG7 I hear you. Most of the people I hang out regularly with are not bug whisky drinkers. It took effort to get my first whisky club going and then as people moved onto new life events it became harder to have meetings. Connosr was great for meeting people who are like-minded. It's great that there are enough people to to things in Toronto.

@ Nozinan There is a whisky bar called the Highlander in Ottawa. It supposedly has 275 single malts (I suspect it is pretty close). It is one of my go to places when I want something I haven't tried. I'd prefer to spend a few dollars on a malt that may not do it for me, rather than a 100+ on a malt that I didn't like. I suspect I'm not alone in that regard. There are some pretty good whisky bars in Toronto.

@PeterG7 I’ve never gone to whisky bars. Perhaps if my MP friend is re-elected I will visit him and we’ll see about going.

The thing about bars is you never know how long the bottles have been open. Also you pay many times the price of the equivalent volume of a bottle you bought.

I think for the rare unobtainable whisky that’s fine, but not for reliable whiskies or distilleries.

I remember going to spirit of Toronto a couple of years back, not being impressed with the quality of the floor offerings, and, after the after party at which we enjoyed much better stuff, thinking that for the price of the tickets a few of us could have each bought one really good bottle and had a much better tasting on our own, with whisky to take home.

For me, the best way to try many whiskies is to do it with a group of friends.

@ Nozinan: I agree that a tasting of a hard to find malt is worth paying for at a bar before buying. I've tasted most of the off the shelf malts in Ontario. My local LCBO is classified as a vintage store, so they are always getting in new product. If something catches my eye, I'll make note and then research it at home. I read the reviews, but find that many can be all over the map. One may give a review of 68 and strongly recommends using it for cooking. While another review of the same malt gives it a 95 and is hoarding it to be drank on special occasions. The one thing I've learned about whisky is one person's poison is another person's nectar.

@Nozinan I agree re:bars and whisky quality. My one bad experience with Lagavulin 16 (one of my favourite whiskies) was at a hotel bar in Mississauga. My sister and I were at a conference and thought we’d end the night with a few drinks. The prices weren’t terrible, as far as hotel bars go, so I ordered up a double. It was the flattest, blandest Lag 16 I’d ever had. My next drink was a Maker’s Mark (much cheaper) and it was absolutely delightful.

@OdysseusUnbound I rarely order whisky in bars or restaurants. I almost ordered an A'Bunadh out at dinner years ago when I was with my wife on our anniversary but then decided not to. Of course I ordered an A'Bunadh at a fancy club and was given a fake.

But same as you, I had a Lag 16 at a restaurant and it was flat.

Much better to order from my own cabinet.

@PeterG7 You need to get into those babies. The thrill of the chase is outrun by the thrill of the taste.