Today’s story comes from a today’s – The Toronto Globe & Mail.
They were doing a story on the new Glenfiddich 50 year old, currently selling for $16,000 a bottle, apparently William Grant is taking a different approach and not marketing this to the whisky drinker or even the whisky collector – but instead to the investor.
I was asked my opinion for attribution I told him that I feel now the same way that I did back in December of 2005 “World’s Most Expensive Scotch” when I said:
While I understand that positive exposure and free press are a great thing, in this context, and in my estimation, it simply reinforces the widely held misconception that Scotch is for silly old rich men, Dot Com millionaires or Traders with expense accounts.
I wonder if there is a correlation between the release of the “most expensive” stories and a noticeable increase in sales? I also wonder if such stories have the effect of solidifying any “for the old & stodgy” perception that Scotch may have amongst the general public.
All in all, I would really like to know if these stories are a net positive or a net negative. Both for the companies mentioned as well as the sector as a whole.
I’m guessing that the short term bump in brand recognition is not worth the long term effect. But I’ve certainly been wrong before. So lucky for me (and for you) I have access to people in the industry who can and will share their viewpoint with us…
I finished up that story with the opinions of a view industry friends and they are still interesting reading.
From the Globe & Mail story:
An acquired taste, smooth returns
Makers of Glenfiddich release 50-year-old single malt that will sell for $16,000 a bottle – though it could be worth more in a few years on the ‘whisky market’
From the story:
“Like any investment, it’s only worth something if someone else wants to buy it at a later time,” said Kevin Erskine, a Virginia-based author who runs The Scotch Blog and has written a book about single malt Scotch. “And whisky drinkers aren’t usually investors. They’d buy it to drink it. So it goes back to these generally being publicity stunts. And you’ll see the distilleries argue over who has the most expensive bottle, like it’s some point of honour.”
I was immediately proven correct by this Twitter and Blog Post from Whyte & Mackay’s Richard Paterson (@the_nose):
“You call that an expensive whisky? I’ll give you an expensive whisky… http://bit.ly/ivfCO“
I suppose this is really like any investment; you take the chance that a few years down the road no one is interested in your bottle. What happens if someone influential tries the stuff and hates it? All of a sudden your kids’ college fund is down the drain. Or perhaps the bottles sell out, and you can flip a bottle for a quick profit. Either way, when I think about how many newspapers, blogs, forums, etc. have had articles or discussions on this I realize how great of an advertising campaign it is for Glenfiddich (and one that garners them thousands of dollars).
Yeah, “flawless” whisky according to their press release (http://caskstrength.blogspot.com/2009/07/very-old-very-very-old-very-old-indeed.html) which must mean all their other whisky is, er, flawed. A bit harsh on their excellent other bottlings from £25 a bottle up…