true but it's the only approximation of one that was available and it was at least objective, and it also to an extent measured cost (the more years it matures

true but it's the only approximation of one that was available and it was at least objective, and it also to an extent measured cost (the more years it matures the more the costs increase) Now you just have the ever more fancy boxes and words of marketing department to assess whether a given bottle is worth the price tag... The concern here is that this opens the door to companies who are good at marketing and not so great at creating good whisky..