How much is too much?

I went to a London restaurant last week that had a substantial whisky collection but despite the great choice I couldn't bring myself to pay, what I considered to be, the exorbitant prices.

In a restaurant or bar you expect to pay double the amount for a bottle of wine that you could buy yourself. If you buy it it by the glass it is likely to work out a slightly higher than double if you drink the equivalent of a bottle. So why then are whiskies so expensive?

My friend was being introduced to a peaty whisky, not rare but not widely available, for £100 per glass. I bought a whole bottle for £100 about 18 months ago! And several others that we looked at were equally ridiculous prices.

I'm not sure who they serving. Any whisky lover will know what the relative value is and unless they have very deep pockets, will probably wait to get home for their dram or go elsewhere. Anyone who is new to whisky is going to be put off. I can only imagine that their market is tourists.


At a time when I've been reading from WhiskyInvestor http://thecuttingspirit.com/author/whiskyinvestor/ that prices for all but the big established brands appear to be going down, it seems prices at trendy bars are going up.

Not so the Coylet Inn at Loch Eck near Dunoon where I had dinner last night. I had a couple of Fyne Ales but the locals told me that the extensive range of single malts were all very reasonably priced, hence most bottles showing signs of being used. So it can be done.