1973 Midleton 30yr old

[mick993]

I just read an article by Tomás Clancy in todays (30/11/14) Sunday Business Post magazine which mentioned an interview of Neil Armstrong by Gay Byrne in 2003.

I was present at that interview and recalled Gay presenting Mr. Armstrong with a bottle of the above.
Crucially, as I recall, the bottle presented was... Number 1 (for the first man on the moon of course)

Fast forward a year or so from then and I wandered into a local off license around Christmas looking for a special present for an elderly relative.

I saw this on the shelf and... as you do circa Celtic Tiger era, just had to buy it.
Needless to say I ended up buying something different (slightly cheaper too) for the elderly relative.

Having seen the retail price going skywards in the past few years, I was just wondering is this due to the fact that obviously some of the 800 bottles have been "appreciated" for the purposes which they were intended and therefore there is less of a stock in circulation?

I have no current intention of selling it, but equally I have absolutely no intention of drinking it either.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi Mick,

Great story, a lovely bottle and a serious investment even at the time of purchase.

Midleton brough out a series of these type bottling over a period and a few years after the were released they arbitrarily increased the price over and over again until they were seriously premium. Basically these a wonderful expressions of Midleton but I reckon they wanted to make sure they were seen as their super premium offerings at the same time to reflect the special nature of these bottlings. Whether they are worth the now asking prices is pure subjective.

From a collectors point of view they would know the original price and would be very unwilling to pay any where near current retail prices but at the same time they will have appreciated fairly well all the same.

What someone would be willing top pay for your bottle currently I could not actually say as they prices on these at auction can fluctuate wildly.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

I spoke to people working in Midleton and they told me that a tourist recently bought the 20th Anniversary bottle that retail for €5000. I'm assuming that the tourist will get the VAT off but again I assume they will be liable for local excise duty. They may be able to avoid this by flying their Learjet to their private airstrip.
It means there are people out there that are willing to pay retail for these. Most collectors I believe would try find them for 1/2 the current retail (that's 4k for the 1973 30year old). I haven't see many at auction over the years so it's hard to gauge how much they have appreciated.

[davso88]

I have one of these bottles for sale. It is unopened in box in it's original mint condition.
Contact me for more details. I am available to meet in Sligo or Dublin. Thanks