Every month there’s something new and exciting popping up in the bourbon world, and in some ways, there’s never been a better time in history to be a bourbon lover with so many options at hand.  Of course, at one time you could just go buy some pappy on the shelf, so maybe we don’t have it THAT good.  That said, when a new, limited-edition bottle is released or a special unicorny-unicorn hits the market, collectors, enthusiasts and even that awkward cousin Larry who you haven’t seen leave his house in three years rush to acquire said bottle.  Driven by these bottles’ overall scarcity, the prestige of having them, and in some cases just the thrill of the hunt, the demand side of the equation drives pricing up, at times, reaching multiples that far exceed the actual retail value.

Many times, the pricing in no way, shape or form reflects the quality of the pour, with some bottles being nowhere near as good as something you might have picked up on the second from the bottom shelf at your local liquor store.  The demand pull for rare bourbon, or even purportedly rare bourbon elicits an emotional response that drives consumer psychology…I don’t want this…I NEED THIS.  In the current market, bourbon valuation is a somewhat fluid concept – no pun intended – shaped by the stories, dreams and aspirations that acquiring a special bottle represents.  Just like gravity however, pricing too as it goes up, must come down.  This phenomenon, we refer to as the “Bourbon Hype Pricing Curve” and below we discuss a couple great recent examples.

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Russell’s Reserve 15 Year

Russell’s Reserve has had quite the run the past number of years, and Wild Turkey as a whole has done a great job (in large part thanks to this brand) in moving beyond the 101 market share as a bourbon best enjoyed in one’s youth at a party when the quality of the pour meant nothing and the price and buzz meant everything to a lineup that includes fine sipping bourbons that command an appropriate glass and lots of discussion about things like “the mouth feel.”  Building off the past five releases of Russell’s Reserve 13, this bourbon is simply a more mature version having spent two more years in the wood.  The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for this bottle is $250, and of course absent seeing it on the shelf, which is a rare bird, you’re never going to find it for a price anywhere near that.  From its first appearance on the secondary the price has nearly halved, now trading hands for $430 as you’ll see below in a chart depicting average pricing for this bottle from the past thirteen updates of the Bourbon Blue Book®. As the hype train leaves the station, it starts to lose steam and eventually finds its way to a more normalized trading range.

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Booker’s “The Reserves”

Just showing up on the market in the last week and a smidge, we wrote last week about Booker’s newest release, “The Reserves” which is set to be the first of a new annual limited release from the brand.  With an MSRP of $130, this quickly hit the market with a bang, commanding just over three times that price before beginning to cool down and in a weeks’ time has now shaved $140 off the opening bid on the secondary.  The hype train is still running, so expect to see some cooling on this bottle in the weeks ahead and as people realize that this is just a fancied-up Booker's small batch release.

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Where to Find Accurate Bourbon Pricing?

Data matters and having up-to-date and reliable information to make informed decisions about buying, selling or trading coveted bottles of brownwater is critical.  Although there’s a number of apps out there that provide pricing, it often times is only the MSRP or provides a range of values that doesn’t reflect the reality of the market, which, by the way, is changing on the daily.  As we highlighted in a recent post contrasting the data quality between multiple apps is quite revealing and underscores the value of what Bourboneur® provides.  In the past week we pushed updates to the Bourbon Blue Book® five of the seven days, as we saw aggressive changes in pricing across numerous releases, including Parker’s Heritage’s recent release, Old Forester’s 2024 Birthday Bourbon, Booker’s two new releases, Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition, etc.  The secondary market doesn’t stand still and neither do we in cataloguing and providing the web's most accurate, reliable and up-to-date pricing around.

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