Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Whiskey Wednesday: Mini Me

My recent review of Highland Park 40 got me thinking about one of my pet issues: miniature bottles. I could never have afforded a full bottle of Highland Park 40, which goes for around $2,000. The miniature version goes for about $125, and while it ain't cheap nor is it beyond the realm of affordability. Personally, I would nearly always rather buy a miniature than a full bottle. I'm a taster more than a drinker, and there are very few whiskeys of which I need more than 50 ml to satisfy my curiosity. Plus, my closets and drawers are already bulging with whiskey bottles.

Yet for some reason, especially in the U.S., miniatures are mostly reserved for bottom shelf and mass marketed whiskeys. I know that every new bottle size costs money for the bottlers who need different sized crates, boxes and shelves, but having more minis would be a huge boon for the curious consumer.

So, my plea to whiskey companies, make more minis!

4 comments:

David D said...

A.D. Rattray is thinking about doing 375ml bottles of their new expressions. They've been asking me if I think they will sell. Do you think that's a good idea?

sku said...

That's interesting David. I do think it's a good idea. I don't like them as much as minis, but I would likely buy bottles at 375 that I might hesitate at if they were only available at 750.

Price to volume ratio on 375s is usually pretty bad, so for the non-whiskey geek, looking at a 375 at more than half the price of a similar 750 might be a turn off.

What did you tell them?

David D said...

I said it wouldn't work for cask purchases because it will mean twice as many bottles to sell!

James said...

Why aren't there many 375s (or even 200 ml) in the whisky world? I would be more inclined to buy a 375 if, as Steve mentioned, the price weren't disproportionately much more than half of the 750.

Some of the Japanese whiskies (Nikka for example) offer their whiskies in a 500ml bottle. Do other countries have smaller bottles as well?