Looking At Whiskey From Both Sides — Affordable & Ridiculously Expensive

George Dickel’s Bottled-in-Bond is a terrific whiskey, but a $45 suggested list price makes it even better.

Over the years, I’ve found a weird niche in the spirits world — namely, writing about insanely expensive spirits, mostly whiskey (and whisky). And because I try not to write about anything I haven’t tasted, I get to actually drink them, too. I’ve got to admit that it’s a lot of fun. And I’d like to think that I’m performing a service, faithfully reporting my endeavors for people who will never get to know what a $100,000 single malt tastes like. But not everyone agrees that what high-end spirits writers do is worthwhile. In particular, my friend, spirits/hot dog/theater writer extraordinaire Robert Simonson, who called into question the whole point of writing about bottles with the monster price tags. Robert is nothing if not an open-minded journalist, even on his Substack where he has license to be as opinionated as he wants. But his questions were fair, and even though he disagrees about the value of reporting on super-duper-premium booze, he didn’t make me or my cohorts look like idiots for writing about them.

Ironically, the day his Substack was published, I was working on a writeup of one of the best bargains in American whiskey. The general awesomeness of George Dickel’s Bottled-in-Bond is no secret — it was showered with praise by virtually every whiskey publication around when it debuted in 2019. But what made it newsworthy was the price tag, a mere $35 at a time when American whiskey sales were going through the roof and most folks wouldn’t have blinked an eye at paying two or three times as much for it. The latest bottling is out after a hiatus of more than a year and a half, and I got to talk about it with distiller Nicole Austin for the good folks at Forbes. Have a read! And then go buy a bottle (it’s up to $45 now, which is still a bargain if you ask me)! Link is -> HERE <-.

And while you’re at it, have a look at Robert Simonson’s Substack piece, “The Pricey Booze Press Grab Conundrum,” with quotes from yours truly — I’m not sure if it’s paywalled or not, but hell, it’s worth the subscription price. Link is -> HERE <-.