Gold Bowmore.

[John]

Anyone got £3k laying around? On-sale since 23/Sept btw.
J.

[varizoltan]

have you tasted it

[John]

Are you kidding?!
In a word - no.

To be honest, I would be interested in tasting it to see what exactly it takes for a company to put a £3k price tag on a newly-released bottle? One that has done the rounds, been accepted by the market and accomplished a reputation MIGHT in time deserve that tag; but this?! I just posted on another topic which observed that there might be another Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve in the pipleine. I, in addition to another poster, remarked on the poor pricing strategy adopted by IDL for the '07 vintage; Bowmore however take the entire packet of biscuits with this offering!!

Btw, it is me or does this look very 'light' for a 44yo Bowmore?

John.

[JohnM]

I suppose it wasn't matured in exclusively sherry casks, so it would not necessarily be that dark in colour.

I don't think the bottle lights up like that in reality either. Or if it does, our sustainable energy problems are over and it's well worth the money.

[varizoltan]

a good man and a photoshop can do a lot of things

[varizoltan]

it is hard to believe these 2 are actually the same isn't it???

[JohnM]

That's quite a difference, Zoltan.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

In all fairness to Bowmore they are releasing these off the back of the Black Bowmore which achieved £1800 level in auction years ago and I think they originally retailed in the early 90's for £80 or 120> Therefore the market dictated te price and I think Bowmore are well withing their wright to put out these bottles as such. It is bottles of Macallan Lalique that are unproven as classic whiskies but they sell to the haves anyway and us have not's should not worry about these bottles.

Another was the over hyped Ardbeg 1965 for £2600 they were all trying to out do each other except Bowmore who as I see are monitoring the market more closely that others and rightly pocketing the profit rather than letting collectors and speculators have the profit. So I have nothing against them.

You can be guarenteed that these Bowmore are all very high quality bottles and come from similar aged casks whether they worth that money full stop is another question entirely.

[John]

Hi Zoltan,
That certainly is a big difference - caveat emptor etc, etc. especially if you are 'emptoring' on the internet!

Adrian,
I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing?

I'm not convinced that Bowmore have any greater insight into the micro-economics of the field they're in any more than the other major international players; also, as I'm sure you will concede, there is a hell of a difference between achieving a £1,800 price at auction and an initial retail price of £3,000 for two products that, as you say, can't physically differ THAT much from each other?

I would agree with the precept that the market will always ultimately establish the price; however given the timing of the launch and the economic conditions that have existed for the last 18 months, I can't help but feel that this was a 'Celtic Tiger'-type pricing decision and was very poorly thought out.

Just my two cents!
John.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi John, on review I have not really made any sort of clear post ... a bit like my head at the moment

But it is great fun to debate anyway ...

Eventhough I have no real alligence to Bowmore and would not consider it one of my favourite distilleries I do really like some of their whiskies but I do not support high prices usually.

I was basically supporting Bowmores pricing structure in relation to these specific bottlings. The reason is I do see these as being closest to the market value as any superpremium bottle of whiskey.



My point was that over 5 years ago these bottles were commanding £1800 at auction. These days the prices has easily exceeded £2000 at auction and they come up regularly and the price is steady. Further there is a great deal of demand for these bottles. Then remember as time passes by these 1964 casks are getting older and more exclusive. The original Black Bomore was a 30yo since then we have gone on from that and this gold is probably closer to a 40yo. They are all basically the same era casks and are all of a very high quality. But the age is not an issue it is the quality of the cask and thsee do seem to be really top notch.

Then remember at Auction is where a lot of UK dealers/retailers get their old collectable stock for resale. So even if we say £1800 at auction you then add 15% buyers premium + vat(17.5%UK) that is £270 + £47.25. That is a total of £2117.25 before he adds his own profit and UK sales tax which does not leave much room for profit. So now we have to work the figure back for a profit nmargin. The take a selling price of £3000 less 17.5% UK sales tax of £525 which equates to £2475 less cost auction price of £2117.25 leaving a profit margin of £357.75 or 12% which does not come across as unreasonable but for me it just shows the ball park figure of £3000 is not far off the mark. SO I can accept the Bowmore price.

However what I don't like is the likes of Macallan, Ardbeg and even our own Midleton with prices in excess of anything they have ever achieved in the market place for so called premiumisation of the product. WHich for me actually creates a negative for the brand rather than a positive. But then on the other hand I also take another view of these bottles ... why even bother to worry about these prices as they are all well beyond me so not something I'm going to worry about.

[varizoltan]

it is hard to believe these 2 are actually the same isn't it???

the actual bottle looks the same as the second picture anyway