This is the end...

So I usually leave the incredulous ranting to Driscoll, but today I just can't help myself. We've all heard talk about whisky prices going up. Old & rare prices are astronomical. Old Pulteney 21 year went up $20 in a matter of weeks after winning Best Whisky of the Year. Every few months our Macallan rep informs us that the range will be taking a price increase. Sometimes $3 sometimes $5, occasionally we'll see larger price jumps $10-15 a bottle on the high-end.  But today, I've just seen the beginning of the end.  It is truly sad day for all single malt lovers and a clear picture of how the whisky companies plan to move forward. I would call it abuse, but they call it business.

Today, I tried to buy Talisker 18 year. This is a moment I look forward to every year, it only happens once or twice. Talisker 18 year has long been considered one of the finest values in Single Malt. It may not be an A+ whisky, but it's really very good and for under $90 it is a true "value." That’s its thing, the whole shtick, a lot of whisky for not a lot of dough. So, of course when it comes around we buy as much as we can fit in our small warehouse. While we've seen price incremental price increase on this product over the years, the market has happily absorbed them without much trouble, until today. The order went through as normal price quoted at the same rate we received last time, but when the product was actually delivered, my operations guys were confused. Had they shipped 6 packs instead of 12 packs? What's going on with these prices? My problem is not that no one told me the price had doubled, which is what the distributor assumed, my problem is that anyone think that this whisky is worth $150. It’s a freakin’ travesty. Their excuse is the whisky shortage. For years, whisky companies have relied on the so-called whisky shortage to justify price increase, but today the gouging has officially begun. The truth is there is no whisky shortage. The shortage is of whisky that's actually worth what you pay. There’s plenty of crappy cheap whisky out there. There’s a deluge of super expensive choices that only a select few can afford. There is, however, a shortage of good whisky that is not wildly overpriced. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something that is well…overpriced. I mean I'm trying to sell you something too, but this is honestly not a moral quandary. We just WON’T do business this way. We’re not going to sit here and say, “well this whisky used to be one of the best values in the store, but well now it’s just good whisky that’s super overpriced.”

 At a certain point, these companies are going to stifle the business that they’ve come to rely on, but we’re not going to sit here and help them with it. They say, “Hey guys, we’ve raised the price every year and no one has stopped buying. Why don’t we just take the next ten years of price increase now and take those profits immediately? There’s a whisky shortage after all. People will pay anything for this stuff. I mean we're still making less money on this than when we dump it into Johnnie Walker. No one will notice.” Unfortunately, we HAVE noticed. I mean I was literally prepared to buy nearly 200 hundred cases of Talisker 18 year. I'm not sure who is going to be able to sell this stuff at this price, but I can assure you that I will be laughing at whoever does. The only way to move this product at this price is by ripping off your customers. Eventually, every bottle of Talisker 18 year at the old price will be sold, if it hasn’t already. All that will be left is this new product at an outrageously high price. It will all seem like a normal thing, “Talisker 18 for $150. Well, Macallan 18 is $180, so this seems like a deal!” But it’s not. In the end you’ll still be getting ripped off. I love Talisker 18 year. I really enjoy it. Now I'm sad because it is dead to me.  And it should be dead to you too. Please find and buy all the 18 year you can at the old price because anyone who buys it for $150+ is a sucker.