Fettercairn has one bottle on the shelf this week, an eighteen-year-old single malt, and it is asking more than double what the whiskies around it are asking. There is no cheaper Fettercairn to fall back on. This is the whole range, and the whole range is a trophy tag.
Because there is only the one bottle, a word on how I am reading it. The model stands each whisky next to the ten drams it judges nearest on flavour, and the middle price of those ten is the going rate for that style this week. I will call it the neighbourhood. For the Fettercairn 18 that neighbourhood is about $148. The bottle itself is $358. That is roughly 142% over, which is to say it costs about two and a half times what its closest company is asking.
The company matters here, so look at who is in it. The ten whiskies the model rates nearest the Fettercairn are not cheap blends being flattered by comparison. They are the likes of Glenlivet's eighteen, the Singleton of Dufftown eighteen, Glen Grant's fifteen and eighteen, Glencadam's fifteen, Clynelish fourteen, Aultmore twelve. Several of them carry the same age as the Fettercairn or near it, from Speyside and Highland distilleries with longer reputations, and they sit clustered down around that $148 mark. Only one bottle in the whole neighbourhood, a twenty-one-year-old that is older again, comes anywhere near the Fettercairn's tag. So this is not a case of a rare old malt standing alone above a crowd of youngsters. It is an eighteen priced above a room of comparable, and in some cases older, eighteens.
1/A price guide for Fettercairn 18. We set it beside the three single malts closest to it, and show what each usually sells around, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink costs this week. The table is below, and the read comes after it.
2/| Bottle | Usually around | Range we've seen | This week | Per standard drink, this week | |---|---:|---|---:|---:| | Fettercairn 18 | $358 | $358 | $358 | $13.85 | | The Dalmore 18 | $536 | $536 | $536 | $22.57 | | Dalmore 21 Malt | $990 | $990 | $990 | $42.68 | | Glenfiddich 18 | $175 | $170–$180 | $175 | $7.92 |
3/This week all four sit at their everyday price. Fettercairn 18 is $358, where it usually sells. The Dalmore 18 is $536 and the Dalmore 21 Malt $990, each where it usually sits; Glenfiddich 18 is $175, inside its usual $170–$180. Nothing here is a special. Taken as the cost of a pour at home, Glenfiddich 18 is $7.92 a standard drink, Fettercairn 18 $13.85, The Dalmore 18 $22.57, the 21 Malt $42.68. So a yes for each: the Glenfiddich for an easy evening of apple, barley and warming cinnamon; the Fettercairn if you want more age without the Dalmore outlay; the Dalmore 18 for honey, orange marmalade and bitter chocolate; the 21 Malt when you want dark fruit, chocolate and that long finish.
Glencadam 10 costs $0 more a bottle than Dalwhinnie 15. Both sit at $95. But at 46% against 43%, the Glencadam is the cheaper drink: $3.74 a standard drink against $3.99. The Dalwhinnie earns its keep. A deep, honeyed nose, caramelised fruits and a touch of thick cream, then a gentle, chunky middle that is the secret of it. Per standard drink this week: Glencadam 10, $3.74 Dalwhinnie 15, $3.99 Aberfeldy 12, $4.71 Glencadam 15, $5.51 Fettercairn 18, $13.85 A pint at the pub runs about $6.28. Four pour for less at home; the Fettercairn 18 asks more.
Two bottles at $95, and the gap between them is $0, yet the glass tells a different story: at 46% against 43%, Glencadam 10 is the cheaper drink at $3.74 a standard drink against Dalwhinnie 15's $3.99. Per standard drink this week: Deanston 12 $3.79, Glencadam 15 $5.51, both sitting with those two under a pub pint's $6.28. Fettercairn 18 is well above that, at $13.85. Four quiet pours for any night, and the 18 for when you want to linger.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
What should a bottle of Lagavulin 16 cost? It has been the distillery's main bottling for more than 30 years, an Islay malt built on peat and sea air. So the question is a fair one to put plainly: what are you paying for, and how does $160 sit next to the bottles around it?
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fettercairn 18YO Single Malt | Highlands | $357.99 | observed | $357.99 | $281.88 | 21.3% | #30 of 38 | $13.85 | #31 of 36 | 6 |