Very happy for you, I say through my gnashing teeth. In addition to my father’s Cartier tank watches that he left to me but ended up in someone else’s pockets, my inheritance from my mother includes this birth year wine bottle with contents sadly not included. I actually had a chance to buy another bottle* from 1971 for about $200 recently and am still kicking myself for not doing so. I am doing inheritance all wrong somehow.
* Presumably with the wine still in it
Back in the 90’s, my ex and I would travel to Calgary for Christmas. The Province of Alberta privatized its liquor stores (the Premier loved his booze) and I used to buy Lagavulin, Oban, Bowmore, Macallan etc for anywhere from $38-$45 a bottle. Yes, Canadian dollars. Those were the days. Now things are back to normal. Here in BC, we pay the highest liquor taxes in North America. Lagavulin 8 year is a hundred bucks. 16 year is $155.
As you probably already know, once bottled, unlike wine, it doesn’t age. If the bottle is well sealed, it will last forever and you’ll have the perfect dram of Islay malt every time.
I have never really dived into the whisky hole, even though I like it, I am more a beer and wine guy. 16 years is a standard bottling, which sells for about $100. But older bottles of scotch can sell for a lot more. So you’d have to do some research.
This is one of the best threads on the theme, 'Can anyone tell me about what I found in my parent's house?"
From what I read the bottles from White Horse Distillers in Glasgow, which this is, do seem to be valued higher than non-white horse bottles.
"Valued" higher? You may have been reading too many articles about watch investing.
It's good Scotch, but Lagavulin 16 is a commodity, not an investment, regardless of where it is bottled. This is not some special one-off bottling. If you're not a Scotch drinker, it will make a nice gift.
"Valued" higher? You may have been reading too many articles about watch investing.
Oh well, small update from a whisky forum where I enquired. There is a difference between the White Horse and the contemporary 16 years old from Lagavulin apparently
Someone pointed me to a reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotch/comments/twabxb/review_103_104_lagavulin_16_diageo_vs_lagavulin/
All this has made my thirsty. Is it too early for a dram now?
Back in the 90’s, my ex and I would travel to Calgary for Christmas. The Province of Alberta privatized its liquor stores (the Premier loved his booze) and I used to buy Lagavulin, Oban, Bowmore, Macallan etc for anywhere from $38-$45 a bottle. Yes, Canadian dollars. Those were the days. Now things are back to normal. Here in BC, we pay the highest liquor taxes in North America. Lagavulin 8 year is a hundred bucks. 16 year is $155.
The 16 YO is $165 here in Ontario...
I could be wrong, but I don't think that Scotch ages in the bottle. I think the aging is all done in barrels before bottling. So it is still a 16-year Scotch.
