Not sure I'd fully agree with that GWh ....
You are probably getting your valuation from auctions which
is the way to go but as we all know these prices can be very volatile.
However, I usually take a very considered view of collectablity, unlike the Irish Whiskey industry who feel that any usage of the word limited is an excuse to charge over the odds for their whiskey.
For me, It is quite a dangerous way to market your whiskey as in Ten years time we're going to have any amount of "Collectable" whiskey on the market with all the newer Distilleries coming on line. I see very little in the way of Brand building by many enterprises so far and the current emphasis seems to be with "Limited" this and "Exclusive" that or "Premium" this and "Superior Quality" that. Ironically the often maligned West Cork Distillers are one of the few trying to build a brand with a proper range of offerings at fairly decent price points.
But I digress
Yes the 2009 is rarer than most other Midletons but it is still a very recent Bottling and they are not as rare as they are made out.
We have no idea how many Midletons are released each year. However we have been given various clues of what that can been. 50 hand selected casks between 12 -25 years (and these we know are all bourbon casks so circa 200-250 L casks.). Take an average of 18.5years However I'm sure there are more younger ones than older ones so if I took a mean the IWS very own 17year old per cask it gives us a ball park guide.
The Irish Whiskey Society Midleton Cask was 17years and 8mths when bottled @ 55.2 yielding 204 bottles. This I believe would equate to circa 280 bottles @ 40% abv.
So taking an average of 280 bottles per cask for Midleton at 50 casks we have a limited run of circa 14000 bottles.
Even if the production was halved that still makes for a very decent batch of 7000 "Limited" bottles. This is pure supposition by the way as I have no idea really but I would estimate they did not slash it less than that as the Christmas period is always the biggest selling time for Whiskey especially for gifting and the last 3 months of the year can amount to 80-90% of total sales for Permium whiskey such as Midleton for gifting at this time which in one way shows why a smaller batch sold out quickly. However it is the gifting of Midleton which makes it such a bottling that has a habit of being put at the back of the cabinette to resurface in forums like this years later. We still see older Midleton still popping up regularly as people now realise they maybe worth a few quid.
However, Lets put it into context .... from a collectablity point of view ...
Man o Lamh was limited to 2000 bottles and really was bought by people in the know ... aficionados and collectors but took nearly a year to sell out.
This to me show that the collectors market in Irish Whiskey is far from matured to the likes of Scotch Single Malt Collecting as if this was a top Scotch it would have sold out in a week.
I agree Midleton 2009 will be a very desired collectible in years to come but in my opinion it is too early and is still a very common bottling and I would place it in the 200-250 range max.
I suppose my point is that collectors especially but also aficionados or just drinkers of quality whiskey need to be aware of marketing hype and the drip feed effect of so called limited bottles over the reality of supply.
If you can get €350 for the bottle great I would never knock someone doing well out of it but also be very aware that supply and demand on such bottling can change from month to month where one may see huge returns and another may see only near cost price returns. Very much down to luck and serious collectors should know to be patient and not rush to find that elusive bottling when we know there is still the possibility of thousands of them out there.
Just my slant by the way so I'd be curious what others thought