What Makes The Balvenie Sixty A $145,000 Whisky?

Oh, you know, just sitting around sipping a whisky that costs as much as a fancy sports car. As one does. (Photo courtesy The Balvenie/William Grant & Sons)

I’m not gonna beat around the bush and feign impartiality. I love the Balvenie. It’s one of my favorite Scotch single malts — hell, one of my favorite whiskies, period. Some of their rarer expressions are out of reach, price-wise, for all but the fattest of cats, but hey, it’s The Balvenie — not just one of the finest distilleries in Speyside, but one of the most historically significant as well. So if they want to charge $2,000 for a 27 year old bottling that’s been finished in rare Caroni rum casks from Trinidad, I’m gonna go hunting in my sofa for $2,000 in loose change underneath the cushions. $7,000 for the 40 Year Old, $50 grand for the insanely good 50 Year Old (which I tasted with Malt Master David C. Stewart himself when it was first released in 2012, just saying)… they’ve earned the right. And of course they’ve got some terrific bottles for less than $100, for the rest of us.

But though I’ve never blinked an eye at any of the Balvenie’s price tags before, I must confess to a severe case of sticker shock upon finding out their ridiculously rare and highly coveted Balvenie Sixty, the first 60 year old expression in the history of the distillery, was priced at a cool $145,000. As my daughter would say, “Blud, what the flip?” Even some seasoned whisky collectors I know, who rarely thought twice about plunking down six figures for a highly-coveted bottle, blanched at this one. What were they thinking?!

Well, that’s what my latest article for the fine folks at Forbes is all about — trying to understand the justification for charging the amount of a starter home (depending on where you live, of course) for a single bottle of, I won’t lie, very tasty whisky. Yes, I got to taste it and yes, I’m totally bragging. If you want to know what a $145,000 whisky tastes like, and find out more about the bells, whistles, and historical context surrounding the Balvenie Sixty, you’ll just have to read the article. Link is -> HERE <-.