If you’re looking for a Christmas or birthday present for me, you could do worse than picking out a barrel of whisky.
Neophyte whisky distillery The English Whisky Co. (they’re the first authorized whisky distillery in England in over a century) has been around only long enough to offer three-year-old and 18-month-old whiskies.
But that’s okay, because they’re making up for it by offering some of those whiskies by the barrel. You want it aged? You age it.
I love this idea.
So far, they’re only offering a 30-litre cask, but they plan to offer a 50-litre cask soon. It’s £1,200 for 30 litres, or £1,800 for 50 litres, so I think it makes sense to wait for the 50L. (It works out to be a little less than $3,000, which includes delivery, if you’re in mainland England).
From the press release:
We have a limited number of 30 & 50 litre casks for sale, filled with our 3 year old single malt whisky. These will be sold at cask strength and will be both un-chillfiltered and have no artificial colouring. The price for the 30ltr cask will be £1200 and the 50ltr cask will be £1800, this works out to be less than £20 per bottle @46% and you get to keep the barrel. On a first come, first served basis, customers will have the option of these casks containing peated or unpeated whisky. These prices include the cask, contents, all taxes paid and delivery to mainland England which means these are exceedingly good value.
…
We strongly recommend that you collect your cask, whilst we are very cautious choosing the couriers we use - you will definitely take more care on the journey home than even the best courier.
If you convert the prices and do the math, 50 litres for $3,000 works out to be $60 a litre, or about $45 for a regular sized 750 mL bottle. That’s not bad for single malt, single barrel, undiluted whisky. And, since you’ll be getting north of 66 full bottles out of that cask, you’ll be drinking it for a while — imagine, around the year 2025, drinking 18-year-old whisky that you’ve watched mature in your own basement, sampling it as you go, and thinking to yourself, “I only paid $45 a bottle for this.”
Sublime.
