Prized whisky bottles – The latest bar adornments
Opening a bottle of that prized Scotch whisky, purchased at the duty-free retail during the last international trip has been a ritual in India over time, especially when an attractive ‘gift’ of a suitcase or a travel bag makes the deal irresistible.
Published by Hospitality World
‘Pop the bubbly’ is a phrase that may have a lower prevalence in India, where celebrations usually lean towards distilled spirits. Today, Gin is clearly a rage, and the beverage has all the right circumstances to record growth trends for a while. Such has been the impact of this spirit that we now have reputed distilleries, whose prime focus was brown spirits, venturing down this path. But has it taken the status of a celebratory drink? Opinions are divided but when it comes to the golden glow of whisky, nodding heads of approval seems conclusive.
Opening a bottle of that prized Scotch whisky, purchased at the duty-free retail during the last international trip has been a ritual in India over time, especially when an attractive ‘gift’ of a suitcase or a travel bag makes the deal irresistible.
A well-stocked bar is no longer an uncommon sight in the homes of urban middle-class families. Back in the 70s and 80s, I recollect my father retrieving these bottles from his cupboard on special occasions, which would otherwise be hidden from the evil eye of the neighbours. This transition is to be noted as these whiskies are now out in the open and are, in fact, adornments. A lineup of the choicest whiskies from different regions of Scotland, Japan, and Ireland is joined by their Indian counterparts. The innate pleasure of the visual appeal created by such a collection as a backdrop in your selfies is perhaps as enjoyable as the whiskies themselves! I have indulged in this appeasement and can relate to it; friends’ ridicule of the closed bottles is of no consequence!
So the question is, do these bottles ever get opened? In most cases, they do. The reason is quite simple: the present collection of whisky bottles at these man caves are usually mass-produced ones that come with attractive packaging, and sometimes are endorsed with the statement of ‘Limited Edition: Over a period, the enthusiast in the selfie either gives into temptation and cossets with these whiskies, or their enthusiasm turns into malt indulgence where the true stature of the whiskies is understood & generally reduces the perceived value of the prized possession. This is not a phenomenon limited to India; quite a few Asian countries have trodden this path in correlation to the nation’s development or the influence of association with the west. Home bars of Vietnam, Philippines substantiate this with quite a few of them featuring blends of the 80s from Japan and various standard variants of Scotch whiskies from the era. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that limited edition created with a popular TV soap as a theme is not really ‘limited, nor are the blockbuster drams where Johnny is walking or the ones where regality is supreme.
Enthusiast or the new age connoisseur, every true whisky fanatic from the community has toyed with the latest Whisky Investment trend. Strange as it may sound, but whisky as an investment has been touting significant returns over the last 5-6 years, and don’t raise your brow yet because the strange part of this statistic is that the best returns were clocked during the covid years. Is the liquid gold being true to its character? Or is it a bubble like a few alternate investment options that come by every now and then?
When you see a whisky brand producing a ‘Limited edition of over 100,000 bottles and indulging in premiumisation, you wonder if the bubble is true. Flip over to whisky auctions (no, its not yet the time to look surprised, whisky auctions are a thing and have been around for more than 10-15 years), and the very same ‘limited edition is being flipped for three times over in a matter of days of the launch.
Now put a price of 200$ on that bottle at retail, and that’s when you raise your brow and tend to lean towards a bubble, but the believers point me towards numbers and the growth trends of developing nations and China. Regulations aside, even if a minuscule number of whisky aficionados in these countries’ invest’ in whisky, the growth curve for this alternate investment would be high. The next couple of years should be a good indication if these interests will play on the minds of consumers and retain the seal on the whisky bottles, or like Covid, will India be largely resilient to such an implausible concept.
But how long will these bottles fetch the mind-boggling figures on the secondary market? Is there something fundamental that we are missing? I believe so. In the past, the demand which has fueled the frenzy has been the glowing reviews of whisky pandits who have opened these bottles and shared their views. In today’s context, these reviewers have multiplied in number and have evolved to the form of ‘influencers’ who have superlative photographic skills and social media tools at their disposal. Whisky manufacturers support this further by creating samples specifically for this community which in unison scorch the media platforms as soon as a new whisky expression is launched. That indicates that the bottles are still not being opened! Again, a fundamental change. This approach has become a market strategy driving the demand for the bottles to be hoarded rather than being opened and validating the opinion. Yes, of course, there are more than a few old-school whisky critics who believe the spirit is to be consumed and not to be a mantelpiece. They continue to share their views only to be excluded in the next round of sample sharing; God forbid their opinion was unfavourable! So, while the lineup on bars increases multifold, the reason for not indulging largely remains an expectation in the increase of value; open bottles do not stand such a chance.
Whisky tasting is quite subjective and being able to dissect the liquid in a manner that is consistent is an art & after tasting over 2000 whisky expressions, I still learn with every single dram and notice the tricks the palate plays on my mind. Reviews which manage to dissect the liquid with laser accuracy and flavours that are not native to the culture and food habits of the country is something that I struggle to comprehend. It’s pretty much like Bitcoins that most did not understand, but hell, let’s throw in a few bucks considering the returns, and the worst outcome might be where you have whisky to drink! That sounds reasonable until you entertain the thought of drinking a 70-year-old Macallan costing north of a million dollars.
While India is warming up to such sentiments and audacious opportunities, the dissemination levels in other developed Asian countries, such as Taiwan, Singapore & Hong Kong, are far higher. The fundamental difference is that the enthusiast for the lack of benchmarking, collecting every whisky they can lay their hands on, and lack of credible reviews. I have been requested multiple times to assess the value of a few bottles from the ’70s or ’80s which have been discovered in the very cupboards we spoke about. These have usually been the standard run-of-the-mill blended whiskies which, while they taste far better than those bottled today, may never fetch the value of a single malt whisky from that time.
How does a whisky amateur like myself decide how much I am ready to splurge on a bottle of whisky unless I have tasted it or have a reliable source that matches my palate preference? How does the value increase if the bottles are opened and appreciated? The fun element of finding an old bottle lying on shelves of old bars or retail stores recedes with every whisky auction; dusty hunting has now become a profession where individuals scrounge the stores.
Next time you are contemplating opening the whisky bottle you have been saving for a special occasion, remember the only way that it will ‘appreciate’ is if some generous souls such as yourself open the bottle and share the verdict unbiasedly!
Written by Hemanth Rao
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