I knew things were getting bad with respect to prices creeping upwards, but I really had no idea how bad they were getting.

Let’s first note that in the last four years alone, the average cost of anything in the United States has risen by about 18%. I mention this as being particularly significant, because I would reason that a lot of us (myself included) had our proverbial mental clock stopped in 2020, as one day blended into another. At least for me, 2019 is about the last year I can consistently say, “I was here at this time” and have the data feel trustworthy.

In real talk, that would mean that if I walked into the store expecting to buy a bottle of GlenWhatever 12 when it used to cost $45 a bottle, it’d now be $55, assuming the store was rounding up to nice, even numbers. Again, that kind of head-shaking, cartoon Hominahomina sticker shock is just due to inflation alone.

However, as others have noted, the pandemic basically gave people a lot of time, with many find new hobbies and rabbit holes to jump into. (Along with some neat stimulus money to fund those nascent passions.) Demand for spirits went up, naturally. People who’d jumped onto the whiskey bandwagon shortly before the pandemic had already caused the rise of “Non Age Stated” products (NAS), as there just wasn’t enough aged whiskey to go around for long-established malts. However, in the last three years, those trends that were already in place have accelerated.

I wrote about being priced out of Japanese Whisky, for the most part. (And remember, the “affordable” Japanese whisky you’re seeing at the liquor store is very likely fake as shit; if it’s under $40, it’s as Japanese as a Persian rug.) What astounded me earlier today is how crazy the bourbon world has become.

By some accounts, I can raise my hand in a court of law and swear I have tasted a $600 bourbon. Of course, it didn’t cost me near that much at the time. I think a friend and I split the bottle for a total of $60 each. It was delicious, and while I normally think that anything past 8 years of aging in virgin oak casks is way too much, the Barterhouse’s astounding 20 years of aging had the opposite effect, and the spirit was mellow and delicious.

That’s a sixfold price increase in ten years, people. That’s better than investing in Los Angeles or New York real estate.

All that said, color me surprised this is happening with brands like Blanton’s. This used to be, charitably, a $60 whiskey. It’s simply a fancier grade of Buffalo Trace. (Yes, as is the vaunted Pappy Van Winkle brand, but so is E.H. Taylor or George T. Stagg, which still seem on some level to be “gettable.”) Since last I checked, a bottle of Blanton’s now has a street price of $170. In order to get it through Total Wine, one of the larger booze retailers in America, one needs to sign up for what they’re calling their “Grand Reserve” program for “Priority Access.”

I did the math. Total Wine wants you to spend $2500 with them before they’ll add you to the list. Barf. And again, this isn’t Pappy we’re talking about, this is Blanton’s.

You guys probably know I’m passionate about spirits. But I’ll tell you right now: I haven’t had anything so good that I’ve been willing to jump through these kinds of hoops, and these prices are exorbitant. Any time a market is being driven by people who are saying, “Cost is no object!” , don’t be surprised when the cost of something no longer has any bearing on its inherent quality.

There’s a lot of good stuff on store shelves. The day I can’t get something, or can’t get something at a price I consider reasonable, the better it is for me to erase it from the mental list of things I care about. That’s not to say you won’t ever see me review Blanton’s or W.L. Weller (or a similar bourbon), but the stars would have to align in order for me, with my own money, to buy and review a bottle I think is totally out of whack with the pricing.