Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In the face of rising prices we have to either tighten our belts or stomach it and pay up. But when it comes to cynical, inflated prices or those designed for positioning, either to appear just as good, better or similar to a competitor's (hiked!) product, or to parade as a luxury item with an appropriate price tag to infer desirability, we have a different choice.
We can either stay loyal - quality should be paid for after all - or we can vote with our feet and take our business elsewhere. However, before we go petulantly giving two fingers to those we once held dear, shouldn't we ponder the value proposition? What if those expensive whiskies are actually the best? What if they do indeed deserve those hiked prices? (Spoiler - they don't).
Anyway, I've selected three such products that are now outside of my comfort zone on price. Yet, I still bought them. One last time perhaps, and so maybe you don't have to. I've sent them to some pals from the Whiskytube space who'll join me in a very blind challenge to do nothing more than decide which are best, and then try to apply prices to the blind drams. Over four participants (and perhaps one or two out there in the community too) we should get some idea if we're either being asked to pay the right price for quality or being gouged for being stupidly loyal.
Sorry for missing February 2nd (I’ll share where I was hiding - it is whisky related!) and I look forward to welcoming you there.
0:00 - Opening
1:28 - Intro to topic
3:27 - How this session is set up
5:14 - Welcoming in the whisky folk
11:39 - Trying to remain pragmatic
23:37 - Welcoming in Shane from The Whisky Lock
38:27 - Welcoming in Jeff from Jeff's Whisky
48:50 - Welcoming in Jim from The Whiskey Novice
56:18 - Flight 1 - Sherry & Spice
1:09:04 - Flight 2 - Lightly peated
1:26:26 - flight 3 - Heavily peated, cask strength
1:48:51 - It's our own money
1:56:35 - One or two other honourable mentions
2:01:26 - Quiz at the End
See the results from the guests and the control sets from the live chat:
docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTa5gVZspzrNQwjWnvcqJTDZFDw6NQRFQrrzISraxunnCKxpmDO8J7A4WqG2JcmZdMKuRBBQEi9UpAk/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=5000
The Whisky Lock onYouTube:
youtube.com/@WhiskyLock
Shane's Chill-filtration experiment
youtu.be/On_xuwSemWM
Jeff Whisky on YouTube:
youtube.com/@JeffWhisky
The Whiskey Novice on YouTube:
youtube.com/@WhiskeyNovice
In the face of rising prices we have to either tighten our belts or stomach it and pay up. But when it comes to cynical, inflated prices or those designed for positioning, either to appear just as good, better or similar to a competitor's (hiked!) product, or to parade as a luxury item with an appropriate price tag to infer desirability, we have a different choice.
We can either stay loyal - quality should be paid for after all - or we can vote with our feet and take our business elsewhere. However, before we go petulantly giving two fingers to those we once held dear, shouldn't we ponder the value proposition? What if those expensive whiskies are actually the best? What if they do indeed deserve those hiked prices? (Spoiler - they don't).
Anyway, I've selected three such products that are now outside of my comfort zone on price. Yet, I still bought them. One last time perhaps, and so maybe you don't have to. I've sent them to some pals from the Whiskytube space who'll join me in a very blind challenge to do nothing more than decide which are best, and then try to apply prices to the blind drams. Over four participants (and perhaps one or two out there in the community too) we should get some idea if we're either being asked to pay the right price for quality or being gouged for being stupidly loyal.
Sorry for missing February 2nd (I’ll share where I was hiding - it is whisky related!) and I look forward to welcoming you there.
0:00 - Opening
1:28 - Intro to topic
3:27 - How this session is set up
5:14 - Welcoming in the whisky folk
11:39 - Trying to remain pragmatic
23:37 - Welcoming in Shane from The Whisky Lock
38:27 - Welcoming in Jeff from Jeff's Whisky
48:50 - Welcoming in Jim from The Whiskey Novice
56:18 - Flight 1 - Sherry & Spice
1:09:04 - Flight 2 - Lightly peated
1:26:26 - flight 3 - Heavily peated, cask strength
1:48:51 - It's our own money
1:56:35 - One or two other honourable mentions
2:01:26 - Quiz at the End
See the results from the guests and the control sets from the live chat:
docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTa5gVZspzrNQwjWnvcqJTDZFDw6NQRFQrrzISraxunnCKxpmDO8J7A4WqG2JcmZdMKuRBBQEi9UpAk/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=5000
The Whisky Lock onYouTube:
youtube.com/@WhiskyLock
Shane's Chill-filtration experiment
youtu.be/On_xuwSemWM
Jeff Whisky on YouTube:
youtube.com/@JeffWhisky
The Whiskey Novice on YouTube:
youtube.com/@WhiskeyNovice
