As the decade comes to a close, wanted to pause and look both backwards and forwards. We were wrapping up our first year in 2009, with just under 40 reviews posted (although reviews weren’t the primary focus that they are today; today we’re sitting at about 750 reviews with over 100 published in 2019). Somethings haven’t changed at all. Thanks to newspaper archives, we can look back at ads showing that a bottle of Maker’s Mark would run you $20 and change at the turn of the decade (same as today), and if you caught it on sale, you could pick up Johnnie Walker Blue Label in Chicago for $158 (only a buck or two less than if you catch it on sale today!) Some whiskies have definitely gone up, like Macallan 12 yr which would run you $40 in early 2010 compared to $55-$65 today. Others have gotten ridiculous like Macallan 18 yr, which could be had for $120 and now runs 2.5x that. Then again, you can find that on shelves (where Weller 12 yr was easily found for $22, and today . . . well, good luck with that!)
As we already took a stroll down memory lane earlier this year on our 10th anniversary, I didn’t want to rehash all of that (you’re welcome to review that if you missed it). But what about the next decade?
Looking into my crystal ball (or rather globe decanter) at 10 years into the future, here is where I hope we’ll be in late 2029:
Looking back at the 20s as a decade where the ‘bourbon bubble’ never exactly burst, but defied all economic expectations and had a deflation and soft return to normalcy. Production growth stalled and leveled off. Limited editions never got better (suggested retail in fact kept crawling up, where BTAC is now $300 and is still being bought/flipped at multiples) but we saw some favorites like Elmer T. Lee returning to shelves where they could be bought easily enough (although at $60).
Scotch whisky experienced some of the biggest changes they’ve seen as they began to embrace innovation thanks to John Glasser and others knocking some sense into the Scotch Whisky Association (and as they said, not everyone put spirit in stupid containers, leaving plenty of ‘traditional scotch whisky’ available for consumers while offering some new and exciting options!)
Irish whiskey continued to gain market share. After Waterford Distillery proved beyond all reasonable doubt that terroir really does impact whiskey, we’ve started to see more and more ‘vintages’ being produced and chased (sorta like those crazy single barrels/casks – which are still a thing – but now with a wider net cast).
Indian whisky saw a surge before climate change started creating production challenges and slowing down the growth (which only led to prices soaring, because what was coming out in the late 20s was some amazing stuff!)
Japanese whisky lost market share to others, not because of any slip in quality (as their quality continues to be top notch) but because they just couldn’t keep up production thanks to the on-going spat between the United States and China that screwed up Pacific shipping lanes and trade.
Autonomous cars are the norm (although sales are down thanks to self-driving Ubers making it cheaper to commute everywhere rather than buying a car and paying for insurance). Sorry, still no jet-packs.
Whisk(e)y blogs like this are a dinosaur, eschewing the trend of live-casting video reviews and sticking with archaic communication means like the ‘written word’ (gasp!) But, while old-fashioned, we’re still going and looking back at how horribly wrong these predictions were 🙂
Here’s to welcoming the 20’s and there being no shortage of good whisk(e)y!
Cheers!
Gary