"Oh what the hell".
So I went in and I noticed a high shelf behind the counter. It had 2 Glenfiddich whiskies with the following signs:
Glenfiddich Solera Reserve..............$63
Glenfiddich 18yrs Ancient Reserve....$100
I looked at the sign for the Solera Reserve and was gobsmacked!
Why? Because at the Dan Murphy's where I usually buy from, it's $82. So I ask the guy to have a look at the bottle and as it turns out, the sign was wrong. In fact, it was the Glenfiddich 12yrs.So, the 12yrs at this small local independant store was $62 whilst at my usual store it's $50. This is typical of this local store, hence why I go elsewhere.
So, I ask the guy to have a look at the supposedly 18yrs Ancient Reserve. And sure enough, it is indeed the 18yrs Ancient Reserve. I started to become intrigued-really intrigued. Because I was positive that this whisky at my usual Dan Murphy's sells for $130! But I wasn't sure.
So I go home and check out prices online. And yup, everywhere the Glenfiddich 18yrs Ancient Reserve was $130 and yet at this small independant bottle shop it's $30 cheaper! Incredible as everything else is more expensive than my usual place of purchase, and in many cases, significantly more expensive (like the GF 12yrs-more than 20% dearer).
I told this to my wife and she insisted that I get a bottle and take advantage of the price. I mulled over it for a while and a thought suddenly hit me. You could almost see the cogs turning over in my head.
I thought firstly, that as the GF 12yrs was incorrectly advertised as the GF 15yrs Solera Reserve, then perhaps the 18yrs Ancient Reserve was incorrectly priced at the 15yrs Solera Reserve. Which to me makes perfect sense. Everything at this small independant store is between 10-25% more expensive than at Dan Murphy's. It makes no sense that Dan Murphy's then sells the 18yrs Ancient Reserve at $130 whilst this small local store sells it at $100.
It makes perfect sense however if the 18yrs Ancient Reserve is being incorrectly sold as the 15yrs Solera Reserve. The 15yrs at Dan Murphy's is $82. So, if everything at this small local store is between 10-25% dearer, then it would be selling the 15yrs Solera Reserve for $100. And when you consider that the GF 12yrs was incorrectly labelled, it all makes logical sense to me.
So, later that night, my wife and I go out for a coffee and she insists I buy the 18yrs Ancient Reserve for that price. Anyway, we're driving along to the bottle shop and I keep telling my wife:
"I'm sure that it's a mistake-they're selling the 18yrs Ancient Reserve incorrectly as the 15yrs Solera Reserve. Look at the mistake of the 12yrs".
And then my wife blurts out:
"DON'T TELL THE GUY AT THE COUNTER THAT IT'S A MISTAKE!!! YOU'RE THINKING OF IT, AREN'T YOU?"
I was gobsmacked. Yes, in fact I was going to discuss this with the man at the counter. I just thought I'd let him know. My wife sternly says:
"Just go in, keep your mouth shut and buy the whisky. Okay?"
And I said:
"Yes dear".
I go in and buy the whisky and do as my wife tells me. In fact, the three of us had a nice long chat about whiskies, bourbons and liquors. The man suggested for eg, instead of mixing whisky with coke, mixing whisky with Schweppes lemonade. But he insisted it must be Schweppes, not Sprite.
Oh, and he also told a funny story about a guy that came in week after week after week buy JW Green for nothing more than mixing with coke!!
The bottle shop operator said he couldn't stand to see the poor dumb guy doing this anymore and told him plainly that he's wasting his money. He told the guy to try the JWG neat and he came back the next week and said that he loved it.And to top off all of this. After a long chat between my wife, myself and the bottle shop operator, he gives me a free miniature Chombard liqueor! And it was delicous, a lovely sweet black raspberry flavour. Very much like a delicious cough syrup.
So, in the end I buy a GF 18yrs Ancient Reserve for a whopping $30 cheaper than everywhere else, and I get a free miniature liqueor. And to top it all off, my wife took the tiniest sip of the liqueor and didn't care for it all. So I had it all for myself.
I had a good day today.....
