4 ms·

If they get 98% of the flavor profile right and bring costs down substantially, they'd open up their products to a ton of people who can't currently afford to d

If they get 98% of the flavor profile right and bring costs down substantially, they'd open up their products to a ton of people who can't currently afford to drink "40 year Scotch" but still want to try it/enjoy it. That's huge. It won't kill the craft whiskey industry. If anything, it would make the "truly aged" whiskies even more niche and a higher luxury.

Eric_WVGG 12y ago
If the end result is a quantum leap in the quality of “well whiskeys”, I won’t complain
- tptacek 12y ago
  See: http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-best-kept-secrets-in-bourbon-are.html http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-best-kept-secre...
  - ebiester 12y ago
    ...which is fine for buying at home, but doesn't help at a bar. The lowest of the low end is much better than 20 years ago, but is still a bit rough taste-wise. That said, we don't appreciate the exponential rate of improvement in the low end of spirits and wine.
    - defen 12y ago
      > That said, we don't appreciate the exponential rate of improvement in the low end of spirits and wine. Really makes you wonder what actual navy rum or frontier whiskey tasted like 200 years ago.
tptacek 12y ago
There's good whiskey available for ~$20/bottle, or even less, so I'm not sure this market is a great new vista. For what it's worth: what you're pitching is basically Templeton Rye (albeit for Scotch), which is also chemically "improved".
- ampersandy 12y ago
  Any particular recommendations?
  - cschmidt 12y ago
    I'm not sure I'd like much at $20. For ~$30 you might start to get drinkable bourbon. Something like Evan Williams Single Barrel is good bang for the buck.
    - bmelton 12y ago
      I've purchased W.L. Weller for as little as $12 a bottle, and it is, generally speaking, fantastic. According to thewhiskeyjug.com, its median price is $17 for the Special Reserve. In a marked note of irony, Pappy Van Winkle is oft-regarded as the best bourbon around, so people tend to consider "close enough to Pappy" as being a fantastic bourbon. In an interview once, Julian Van Winkle mentioned that he though W.L. Weller was "just about as good" as Pappy Van Winkle. Because Weller was, at the time, very inexpensive, and Pappy very much in the expensive category, there was a giant boom for Weller... so much so, that now some of the older bottles of Weller go for 4 figures. Hilariously, more than what it costs to buy a bottle of Pappy (though both are nearly impossible to find, and people do pay plenty for Pappy when they can find it.)
- erichurkman 12y ago
  Of course there is! There's also good quality bread for $4/loaf, but there's still a market for higher quality specialty bread at $9/loaf.
beachstartup 12y ago
it will also open a counterfeit market, and yield countermeasures such as certification etc.
- Lorento 12y ago
  And make more targets for laughing at who worry about if their gemstone/champaigne/whiskey/painting/low oxygen platinum infused speaker cables are genuine or not when nobody can tell the difference.

Eric_WVGG 12y ago

If the end result is a quantum leap in the quality of “well whiskeys”, I won’t complain

tptacek 12y ago
See: http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-best-kept-secrets-in-bourbon-are.html http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-best-kept-secre...
- ebiester 12y ago
  ...which is fine for buying at home, but doesn't help at a bar. The lowest of the low end is much better than 20 years ago, but is still a bit rough taste-wise. That said, we don't appreciate the exponential rate of improvement in the low end of spirits and wine.
  - defen 12y ago
    > That said, we don't appreciate the exponential rate of improvement in the low end of spirits and wine. Really makes you wonder what actual navy rum or frontier whiskey tasted like 200 years ago.

tptacek 12y ago

There's good whiskey available for ~$20/bottle, or even less, so I'm not sure this market is a great new vista. For what it's worth: what you're pitching is basically Templeton Rye (albeit for Scotch), which is also chemically "improved".

ampersandy 12y ago
Any particular recommendations?
- cschmidt 12y ago
  I'm not sure I'd like much at $20. For ~$30 you might start to get drinkable bourbon. Something like Evan Williams Single Barrel is good bang for the buck.
  - bmelton 12y ago
    I've purchased W.L. Weller for as little as $12 a bottle, and it is, generally speaking, fantastic. According to thewhiskeyjug.com, its median price is $17 for the Special Reserve. In a marked note of irony, Pappy Van Winkle is oft-regarded as the best bourbon around, so people tend to consider "close enough to Pappy" as being a fantastic bourbon. In an interview once, Julian Van Winkle mentioned that he though W.L. Weller was "just about as good" as Pappy Van Winkle. Because Weller was, at the time, very inexpensive, and Pappy very much in the expensive category, there was a giant boom for Weller... so much so, that now some of the older bottles of Weller go for 4 figures. Hilariously, more than what it costs to buy a bottle of Pappy (though both are nearly impossible to find, and people do pay plenty for Pappy when they can find it.)
erichurkman 12y ago
Of course there is! There's also good quality bread for $4/loaf, but there's still a market for higher quality specialty bread at $9/loaf.

beachstartup 12y ago

it will also open a counterfeit market, and yield countermeasures such as certification etc.

Lorento 12y ago
And make more targets for laughing at who worry about if their gemstone/champaigne/whiskey/painting/low oxygen platinum infused speaker cables are genuine or not when nobody can tell the difference.