Name: Why Single Malt Whisky Is So Expensive | So Expensive
Uploaded: 2020-05-08T16:04:40.000Z
Duration: 6 min 22 s

So how does one bottle get to be so expensive?

Scottish single malt exports grew by 14.2% in 2017,

One of the main players in the single malt market

achieved a 1.2 billion pound turnover last year.

- [Ian] We are selling 1.2 million 9-liter cases

single malt, but also to promote it actively

the biggest push it's ever had in its life.

and a 50-year-old vintage, worth $30,000.

- [Ju] The 12-year-old whisky was certainly

but I was expecting the more expensive bottle

to taste out of this world to justify its price.

- [Ian] You can taste much more European oak in this one.

- [Ju] Yeah, the distinction between the flavors

I think is a lot smoother and lot oakier.

There seems to be truth that the longer the alcohol

so the more deserving of the expensive price.

Another reason is that making single malt

is an extremely difficult process to get right.

Barley is ground down and added to spring water.

Heated to 64 degrees Celsius, it turns to sugar,

dissolving into a fine sweet, tangy liquid called wort.

The wort is drained, cooled, and passed into washbacks.

This is heated and condensed in copper wash stills

The spirit trickles into the spirit safe,

and then it's batched in casks with spring water.

so that your unique spirit comes off exactly the same,

and you have a spirit quality team that are

actively looking at [that], and we also nose

This is because of something called 'angel's share,'

- [Ian] It's all about the equity of the brand

about how much they're prepared to pay for our brands.

I think, in general, younger people want quality.

- [Ju] And it's not just store-bought bottles.

of single malts is a booming collector's market.

A bottle of the Macallan 1926 60-year-old

recently sold for $1.5 million in auction,

marking the largest single sale ever for a bottle.

Christie's international director of wine,

- It was one of 40 bottles produced from a single cask

that was distilled in 1926 and then bottled in 1986.

so I think it does add a little to the desirability,

but it's the intrinsic quality of the whisky

inside the bottle that is driving the demand.

- [Ju] But scotch has some serious competitors.

- "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time."

- [Ju] You might have heard of 'Suntory time.'

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Why Single Malt Whisky Is So Expensive | So Expensive

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