If Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 is already your pour, the question is simple: is $68 this week a fair ask? Here's the short answer. At $68 it sits above what the drinkers of the bottles nearest it would pay. It's priced for its fans. It fits them, and it pinches everyone else.
1/A price guide for Label 5 Premium Reserve 12, set beside the two blended Scotch whiskies that sit closest to it: Dewar's 12 and Dimple 12. For each one, what it usually sells around, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink costs this week. Three bottles that look much of a muchness on paper — the guide is where you check whether they are.
2/| Bottle | Usually around | Range we've seen | This week | Per standard drink, this week | |---|---:|---|---:|---:| | Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 | $62 | $62–$68 | $68 | $3.08 | | Dewar's 12 | $63 | $63–$69 | $69 | $3.12 | | Dimple 12 | $54 | $54–$58 | $54 | $2.44 |
3/Read against the guide. Dimple 12 is at its everyday price this week, $54, the bottom of the range we've seen. Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 usually sells around $62; this week it's $68, the top of its range — if you're not in a hurry, it's usually nearer $62. Dewar's 12 is the same shape: usually around $63, this week $69, and usually nearer $63 if you can wait. All three pour for under a pint at the pub per standard drink ($6.28) — Dimple $2.44, Label 5 $3.08, Dewar's $3.12. A yes for each: Label 5 if you want fresh, easy and bright; Dewar's if caramel and oak is your thing; Dimple if you'd sooner pay least and lose little. Near-twins, when you line them up.
Like Label 5 Premium Reserve 12? Dimple 12 gives a Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 drinker about 99% of what that bottle does, at 79% of its price, sitting at $54 this week, with toffee, caramel and a slight citrus edge. More on Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 in this week's piece.
Hand a Dewar's 12 drinker the Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 and they'd put it at 89% of what their own bottle costs them. Close, not quite level, starting from what they already pay. The fuller read on Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 is waiting in this week's piece.
Soft smoke, banana and barley sugar, fresh and easy: that's Label 5 Premium Reserve 12, about 22 standard drinks in the bottle and $3.08 a pour at home, set against $6.28 a standard drink for a pint at the pub. The full tasting is in this week's piece.
Noticed Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 sitting at $68 at Dan's this week. It usually sells around $62, and I've seen it run from $62 to $68, so that's about the top of its range. Nothing to read into either way. More on it in this week's piece.
Soft, fruity and easy: that's Dewar's 15. Vanilla, melon, banana and apple on the nose, a little oak sitting behind. $80 at Dan's, and a gentle pour for anyone easing into blends. Pour one and see — the full tasting's in this week's piece.
Like your Dewar's 15? Dewar's 12 hands a Dewar's 15 drinker about 97% of what the 15 gives, for 86% of the price, and it's $69 this week. Same family, a year shy. The rest is in this week's piece.
I handed a few Dewar's 12 drinkers a glass of Dewar's 15 the other night, just to see. They'd each pay about 87% of what their own bottle costs them for it. Not bad for a stranger's pour. Would you make the swap? The full story's in this week's piece on Dewar's 15.
Dewar's 15 is $80, around 22 standard drinks to the bottle, so a pour at home works out at about $3.62 a drink. A pint at the pub sits closer to $6.28 a standard drink. More on Dewar's 15 in this week's piece.
Dewar's 15 is $80 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $80, so this sits about where it always does. Vanilla, melon, a little orange, a whisper of wood. Around $3.62 a pour at home, under a pint at the pub. The full read is in this week's piece.
Like Dewar's 15? Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 gives a Dewar's 15 drinker about 97% of what it does, for 85% of the price. The price: $68. Soft smoke, banana, a little apple. More in this week's piece.
Like Dewar's 15? Pour a Dimple 12 — toffee, warm caramel, a slip of citrus. It gives a Dewar's 15 drinker about 97% of what the Dewar's 15 does, for 67% of the price, at $54. More on Dewar's 15 in this week's piece.
Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre $1.99, Label 5 Classic Black 1 litre $2.00, McAllister 1.5 litres $2.05, Johnnie Walker Red Label 1 litre $2.06 and 1 more below. The median of the 45 is $2.72.
What are you paying for in a bottle of Chivas Regal 12? Price its age, name, strength and style the way Dan Murphy's prices the rest of the whisky, and you land near $94. This week it's $60: about 36% under the going rate for its features.
A supermarket blend and one of Diageo's malt blends, rated near-identical by the choice engine. Label 5 Classic Black is the well-stocked grocery Scotch. Copper Dog is a Speyside blended malt, all malt and no grain. Fifth-closest pair on the whole shelf.
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.
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.
Here is the short version, and it stays true all the way down: the bottle nearest to Dewar's 15 for less money is its own younger sibling. Dewar's 12 is $69, and to a Dewar's 15 drinker it does about 97% of what the 15 does. Same house, same double ageing, a few dollars saved. If you came for a headline, that is it.
Label 5 is not a name anyone chases. It is the French-owned blend that turns up on the bottom shelf, built to be poured into a mixer and forgotten, and most weeks there is nothing to say about it. This week there is one small thing, and it runs against the grain of almost every other distillery on the shelf.
Most budget blends charge you for the label and hope you don't check. Label 5 mostly doesn't, and its 12-year-old is the surprise on this shelf.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Label 5 Classic Black Blended Scotch Whisky 1L | Speyside | $69.99 | observed | $48.99 | $48.58 | 0.8% | #1 of 79 | $2.00 | #2 of 75 | 4 |
| Label 5 Classic Black Blended Scotch Whisky 700mL | Speyside | $56.99 | observed | $53.99 | $53.29 | 1.3% | #5 of 79 | $2.58 | #3 of 75 | 1 |
| Label 5 Premium Reserve 12 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky | Speyside | $67.99 | observed | $67.99 | $66.92 | 1.6% | #8 of 79 | $2.81 | #13 of 75 | 18 |