What's the most outrageous retail markup?

Just looking at The LCBO website and I see they jacked up the price of Ardbeg Corryvreckan to $205. I got it for $75 US a few years ago online, back when the Canadian dollar was over $0.80 US.

And of course Uigeadail is $176, more than double what it costs in Calgary.

Talisker 10 is now $106 in BC. Laphroaig 10, which I recently got for $50 in Calgary, is now $95.45 here. These are atrocious prices for ten year olds.

@BlueNote BC is trying to out-do Ontario eh? Laphroaig 10 is a bargain here at $87, and Talisker 10 is ONLY $99.95. Laphroaig Quarter Cask is $85.20, which is ridiculous. I like the QC, but it is fairly simple compared to the 10. Young juice, so they sell it at a higher octane, like 48% or so, but it doesn't have the depth the Ten has.

Also, Laphroaig 15 is $185 here, and my buddy picked up a bottle in the states not too long ago (New Hampshire, I think) for about $80 USD (about $100 CAD). Thanks Obama, er, I mean Ontario !!!

@OdysseusUnbound The QC is definitely not what it was a few years ago when all the big reviewers were scoring it in the 90s. I'd give it 85 tops these days. I'm with you; the ten is far more complex at 43%. I just wish I could get my hands on some CS.

@BlueNote You and me both. I daydream about a day when Laph 10 CS is available at a fair price....or available at all.

@OdysseusUnbound I've heard of the QC under $50 in Calgary. If I find it so I will get one. If someone wants a bottle to keep it company on the trip here, I can manage that.

@OdysseusUnbound You'll definitely get a taste or take home sample of Laphroaig CS batch 0005 when you come to pick up your Uigeadail...

@OdysseusUnbound A friend who is a novice Scotch drinker and will not even consider anything with the merest hint of peat, gave me an almost full bottle of Bowmore 12. I didn't know what to do with it because I really dislike Bowmore 12. The other day I poured a small one just to reassure myself that it is disgusting. Then I poured another one half and half with some Laph QC, and damned if it wasn't pretty good. The QC tunes up the Bowmore and the Bowmore takes the edge off the QC. I might not pour the Bowmore 12 down the sink after all.

@BlueNote Don't throw out the Bowmore. I'll take it off your hands. It's decent juice, as far as I'm concerned. Not life-changing, but I don't mind it.

@Nozinan I can hardly wait. If only I could get there sooner....

@OdysseusUnbound Hope for a snow day?

@BlueNote , that's my mutual cure for both Laphroaig QC and Lagavulin 8. The QC is too sweet & woody; the Lag is too sharp & immature. Together, they're pretty good.

@OdysseusUnbound I agree, the Bowmore 12 is considerably better than it was a few years ago.

@MadSingleMalt I'll try that. I still have one bottle of the Lag 8 that I have yet to open. I thought the first one I had was pretty decent for a youngster and probably had some older stuff in the mix.

@BlueNote: "pretty decent for a youngster." I agree with that. I guess I mostly just think I didn't need the second bottle I bought for myself after I drank through bottle #1 with my club last fall. It's a solid little whisky, but good as just a one-time spin.

So, I guess that makes it perfect for a one-off release, actually. Bravo, Diageo!

@Nozinan I think that $50 Laph 10 came from either the Real Canadian Liquor Store or Co-op Liquors in Calgary. I should have got a couple more.

@BlueNote it was RCLS - but my sources haven't been looking carefully since...

That's some nasty prices.

I saw an Elijah Craig Barrel proof for $300

Beautiful whiskey, but that price...

@Nozinan totally agree on Oogie and Corry. Went to Binny's last month and got two Corry's ($70 US) and an Oogie ($60 US) for less than half the equivalent cost at the LCBO...after all taxes and exchange rate was factored in.

13 months ago in Albuquerque, @Benancio, @paddockjudge, and I spotted two unexpectedly unsold bottle of Booker's Rye at a liquor store. The reason? The price tag was $ 499.99 each. The whiskey had a suggested retail price of $ 299.99. We let them go, but not only are we sure that they sold, but that there was a good chance that someone could have flipped them for hundreds more.

I have occasionally seen bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 15 yo, 12 yo, and even 10 yo bourbon at liquor stores with sticker prices of $ 1,200. These are just scalpers' prices, of course. 7 years ago, if you got one, it would likely cost $ 60 to 90, plus tax, for the 15 yo, maybe $ 40 to 60 for the 12 yo, and yes, under $ 30 to $ 45 for the 10 yo. .

@Victor That's an interesting commentary on three things:

1. ridiculous markups

2. the ridiculous inflation in the prices of premium whiskies.

3. the combination of 1 and 2.

@Nozinan Also the degree to which speculation is putting these whisk(e)ys way beyond the reach of us regular drinkers. I have yet to understand what elevates a $100 whisk(e)y to $1000 investment. I doubt it is suddenly 10 times better than it was.

@BlueNote, I don't understand it either, not at all. Someone must be willing to pay those big bucks to keep the secondary market prices high. It is impossible otherwise. My sense of the liquid secondary market is that prices for something like Pappy Van Winkle are probably about half what the secondary market asking prices are. Even half the secondary market asking prices yields maybe 500% the dealer suggested retail price.

@BlueNote How did it happen that my late whisky mentor was able to buy for $100 in the 90s what is now worth $15000 a bottle? And why did I miss out on that jackpot?

@Nozinan He probably didn't see it as anything but a good whisky that he bought to drink. I doubt that he saw it as a major investment. And that is the quandary for people who just love to drink good whisk(e)y. If you buy it for $100 because you like to drink it, do you not drink it if it triples in value?

I see the industry as complicit in this craziness by their policies of putting out limited editions, withholding product long enough to generate excitement, and a general attitude of "we've got what you want and you can't get it anywhere else." It is a complete disregard and disrespect of the regular run of the mill drinker who is still the backbone of their consumer base. It's the whisk(e)y equivalent of let them eat cake, or more correctly, let them drink JW Red.

@BlueNote, I like that, "Let them drink JW Red."

@BlueNote Well, my mentor bought 9 Black Bowmore in the 1990s, and when I asked him how it tasted, he said he'd never tried it. Went to his grave that way. A shame.

@Nozinan I'm guessing you were not in the will for the 9 Black Bowmores.

@BlueNote There's a long story behind that.... without spoiling it suffice it to say nothing was bequeathed to me upon his death...