What's a good price for the 1981 sherried Talisker 20 @ 62%

[Bloody Marvellous]

I've come across a store which still has 3 bottles of the 1981 fully sherried Talisker 20 (62% ABV) for € 299 each.

What's a reasonable price to pay for a bottle now? I know they were released 7 years ago, were a huge hit, and are pretty difficult to come by nowadays. Plus the legendary Lagavulin 21 is available at The Whisky Exchange for the ridiculous price of GBP 450.

I'm considering buying two of the three Tali 20 bottles.
I'm also considering a Lagavulin 25yo for € 280 (a bargain I think, TWE currently sells it for GBP 499, almost twice as much).

What are your thoughts? Go for it, or wait for a better deal?

[Willie JJ]

The Talisker was last seen on TWE at £450. It appears to have sold out at that price.

[Knolly]

Wow - that price on the Laga 21 is ridiculous... At this time last year, I had fifteen 750ml bottles of Laga 21 in my basement - I'm not kidding!

Six were bought for friends (who paid for them!) - and are hence gone...
A few have been drank by me and friends
A few were used in a tasting of 21yo whiskies for our whisky club (!)

Damn, which I had picked up some more - they were kicking around the USA for over a year until the 2008 Malt Maniacs awards came out. Those TWE price increases are insane...

Laga 25 is "OK" - It's very good of course, but I don't think it can justify its price and I'd take the regular 16yo or a good year of the 12CS over it. It's definitely not as good as the 30yo or the 21yo. So if you want the OB run of 21, 25 and 30yo to collect then certainly buy it, but if you're buying it to drink, there are better Lagavulins out there IMHO...

Sorry I can't add any useful info to your Talisker question...

Cheers!

[johan brugge]

I know of which shop you're talking about. I've also seen this bottle on this site:
http://www.oldwhisky.net/botella.php?cod=IS35&cat=
but then you pay 25 Euro shipping costs which would almost be the same. Another shop in the Netherlands has the same bottle at 319 Euro (shipping costs not included). So it seems like a bargain.
The Laga 25 at 280 Euro seems also OK but keep your eye on the following site:
http://www.spirituosen-superbillig.com
They used to have the Laga 25 at 249.95 but it's sold out at the moment. When I ordered my Laphroaig 30 I paid 16.50 Euro shippingcosts to Belgium.

[wolpertinger]

299 is no bargain - at Krugers Whiskyauction there is almost every time one or two of this kind and they never sell higher than 265 Euro - sometimes 230 and less.
Even with shipping and packing its cheaper to get it there.

[Bloody Marvellous]

What would be the purpose of specifically buy the Talisker 20/1981/62%?

Would it be because it is:
- the "last chance" to buy and taste it,
- one you just "have to" buy,
- a good investment,
- or something else.

This particular Talisker gets rave reviews from almost everyone who tried it. It's gonna be a "want to drink" it type of purchase, which is why I'm considering buying two bottles. That way I can keep one closed for the future.

I have two Laga 21s myself, for which I paid around the € 200 mark a couple of months ago. TWE's prices are outrages for some of these almost out of stock bottles, but since this Tali 20 is becoming increasingly hard to find, and this is about the cheapest I've come across in the past 6 months, I figured I might want to get these.

299 is no bargain - at Krugers Whiskyauction there is almost every time one or two of this kind and they never sell higher than 265 Euro - sometimes 230 and less.
Even with shipping and packing its cheaper to get it there.

I've never been to a whisky auction, as there aren't any really in Holland. I know € 299 per bottle is by no means cheap, believe me, I know... , especially since they originally sold for around GBP 100. But that was 7 years ago...

I'm gonna have another look around, but I doubt I'll find a cheaper option on short notice.

I know of which shop you're talking about. I've also seen this bottle on this site:
http://www.oldwhisky.net/botella.php?cod=IS35&cat=
but then you pay 25 Euro shipping costs which would almost be the same. Another shop in the Netherlands has the same bottle at 319 Euro (shipping costs not included). So it seems like a bargain.
The Laga 25 at 280 Euro seems also OK but keep your eye on the following site:
http://www.spirituosen-superbillig.com
They used to have the Laga 25 at 249.95 but it's sold out at the moment. When I ordered my Laphroaig 30 I paid 16.50 Euro shippingcosts to Belgium.

I'm familiar with both sites, but spiri-billig isn't likely to get their hands on another Laga 25. Especially not at that price.

[Willie JJ]

I know € 299 per bottle is by no means cheap, believe me, I know... , especially since they originally sold for around GBP 100. But that was 7 years ago...

Its really only been in the last year that the price of this one has gone mad. It was still possible to get it for about £100 until quite recently. Then suddenly everyone seemd to be buying it and the prices went mad. It is fabulous though. I wish I had more of it.

[Bloody Marvellous]

You would think, with the credit crunch and all, that nobody would be paying top dollar for whiskies anymore. But it seems as if there's a black hole in which whisky lovers are more than happy to toss their money.

Unfortunately, I'm no exception

[Willie JJ]

Oh there's no doubt there are other mind blowing whiskies out there and if you search you can often find them for a lot less than the cost of the Tali. Research, research, research, that's the answer.



Life is hard

[wolpertinger]

299 is no bargain - at Krugers Whiskyauction there is almost every time one or two of this kind and they never sell higher than 265 Euro - sometimes 230 and less.
Even with shipping and packing its cheaper to get it there.

I've never been to a whisky auction, as there aren't any really in Holland. I know € 299 per bottle is by no means cheap, believe me, I know... , especially since they originally sold for around GBP 100. But that was 7 years ago...

Kruger's is an online auction live on the internet. You can sit in Burkina Faso and have the bottle delivered to your door as long as you have an internet connection up and running.

[Ardbeg311]

To answer your question directly, it appears this seems to be the going price now and so you would be paying the current market value (though at no great savings).

What would be the purpose of specifically buy the Talisker 20/1981/62%?

Would it be because it is:
- the "last chance" to buy and taste it,
- one you just "have to" buy,
- a good investment,
- or something else.

Good observations. What makes a bottle a good price? Certainly a bottle at 25-30% off the current marketplace price would be one way to answer it. I'm extremely cautious of the 'last chance to buy it' reasoning after observing how many opportunities I have had to buy the Laphroaig 17yo Feis Ile bottle from 2004 (and there were only 250 bottles available). Investment is tricky but with this Talisker I have a hard time believing that any Maltmaniacs 'Whisky of the Year' won't be collectible in the future.

On a personal note regarding the Talisker 20 (62%): This remains the best Talisker I have had to date. I'm left now with only with the memory of the bottle I had as the current price is not a good price for me.

[Bloody Marvellous]

Well, nothing I can do about it now...

I pulled the trigger on these bottles, and they gave me a little discount.

Got the Tali 20s for EUR 284 each, and the Laga 25 for EUR 276.

There's another EUR 844 spent on whisky... I must be out of my mind.

[johan brugge]

That's a lot of money but I think it's worth it.

[johan brugge]

Research, research, research, that's the answer.

That is so very true. Nowadays I'll search for weeks, look through various online webshops for the best possible price. You would be surprised about the differences in price. It's sometimes cheaper for me to get two bottles delivered from The Netherlands then ordering them from a shop here in Belgium. And I'm not talking about a few but a lot of Euro's.

[wolpertinger]

Research, research, research, that's the answer.

That Talisker sold for 255 Euro at Kruger's auction tonight - a little above average for the last 5 auctions.

[Bloody Marvellous]

Yeah... I joined Kruger's 2 days ago.

Might not have been the smartest decision of my life though... I fear this is gonna cost me dearly...

(I have no selfcontrol).