Whiskey sales have been on the rise, not only in number, but in price, since 2010. The Wall Street Journal reports on investment-grade whiskeys whose prices have risen 175% over the past four years. The Last Drop Whiskey 50, the latest in high-end releases, has just hit the market for $3,995 a bottle. Made of a blend of 82 Scotch whiskys, the bottling is based on the leftovers from three casks that were forgotten in a warehouse by the original maker of a high-end 12-year-old.
An executive at the Last Drop, a rare spirits company, compares the new releases composition to that of an orchestra, and is convinced the value will double within a few years. The red leather packaging may be “plenty nice,” but in a blind taste test, a lifelong whisky drinker actually preferred a bottle of Cutty Sark (priced under $30). Which goes to show you can’t judge a whisky by its bottle. [The Wall Street Journal]