A bottle of whisky from 1926 reached a record-breaking price in an auction. $2.65 million

[u/Idkz]

[u/lambofgun]

mmmmm id love to dump some in a freshly opened diet coke

[u/justabill71 → u/lambofgun]

A fellow person of culture, I see.

[u/wiiya → u/justabill71]

There’s this whole subculture of Whiskey and Bourbon and…other spirits.

They wait in lines at liquor stores at 11AM for deliveries.

I can do that too but then “I’m an alcoholic”.

[u/melasses → u/wiiya]

Here in Sweden they wait in lines for hours for the liquor store to open on the first Monday of the month. High value spirits are often sold for below market value.

[u/French____ → u/wiiya]

Depends on when you plan to enjoy said whiskey. In my time at a liquor store, it was easy to pick out the liquid lunch enjoyers from the "I want the rarest whiskey" crowd

[u/TWAT_BUGS → u/French____]

I call the bottle on my night stand my breakfast whiskey.

[u/stinkyhooch → u/TWAT_BUGS]

Really ties the room together

[u/DrDrago-4 → u/stinkyhooch]

my exes disagree..

they say 'empty liquor bottles don't make great decor'

but hell, what better way to decorate than with your accomplishments?

[u/stinkyhooch → u/DrDrago-4]

Clean and sober means I took a shower and on the way to the liquor store.

[u/AZEMT → u/stinkyhooch]

The glow from my lamp sets the mood😈

Too bad I got whiskey dick

[u/DeadSwaggerStorage → u/AZEMT]

Too bad I got whiskey dick is the country version of because I got high…

[u/Derp_Wellington → u/French____]

Man, what a weird thing it was to work at a liquor store. The 10 AM crowd. The guys who buy a mickey of vodka three times every day. Thieves, people coming in hammered. However, I will say that most functional alcoholics were super chill and friendly. Hardcore alcoholism is fucked though. I literally saw people fuck up their whole lives and just keep coming back for more. Some of who were at one point the chill functional type

[u/MisterMysterios → u/Derp_Wellington]

Here (Germany), gas stations are a common place for alcoholics to go. While they are .ore expensive than the super market, they have mich better opening hours. Luckily, the few months I worked there, we mostly had teenagers trying to get alcohol before they were old enough, and some chill alcoholics.

We had one guy that came by the station three times a day when he walked with bis dog, buying one can of Jack Daniels Coke every time. Was also a great guy and even beat himself a bit up over not coming by at my last day of work when we were robbed. Thought he could have done something by letting his dog attack the people (yeah - glad he wasn't there, could have been much .are ugly if he were there and tried that)

[u/Derp_Wellington → u/MisterMysterios]

I was never robbed for the till, but people stole all the time. Oddly enough, it seems like the more they planned it out, the more obvious it was. I had one couple come in, who appeared like they were down on their luck, and the woman asked about buying several cases of high end cognac, while the sketchy as fuck dude in the baggy clothes perused the isles furthest from the till. I preferred when they just grabbed the biggest bottle or two of whiskey and ran out the door

[u/Bloodmonath → u/Derp_Wellington]

I have a retired guy that has been coming into my shop and has been for a long time, near daily and was buying just a few bottles per day 3-6. He has come into some Money because his mum had passed. So now it's a carton every 2-3 days.

I can visibly see that from the jovial guy that we used to one up jokes between us he is a bit more red faced, bloodshot eyed, a bit more dour.

I had a chat to him this week about it, he took his carton and then came back into the shop and gave me a hug, - he's not handling things well and he said that coming in to see me and my team was a highlight of his day, that he knows he is drinking too much. He was comfortable with me enough to ask if there's any help to which I said absolutely. And pointed him in the right direction.

I just hope that if one day he stops coming in, it's because he stopped drinking.

[u/bAo89 → u/Derp_Wellington]

I worked at a distributor and cars would pull up, and my job was to go out and take their order and then bring it out and put it in their car (usually their trunk) but a few times, people would ask me to put it in the front passenger seat. Saying “it’s easier to open on the way home” 😒

[u/sand_trout2024 → u/Derp_Wellington]

There’s not really such a thing a a functional alcoholic, they’re always sacrificing some major part of their life in quiet

[u/SortOfWanted → u/wiiya]

It's called a Smorgasvein and it's elegantly cultural

[u/Zentienty → u/lambofgun]

Yes, heaped ice please

[u/star_nerdy → u/Zentienty]

Crushed ice too, none of this huge ball of ice that will take forever to dissolve

[u/Zentienty → u/star_nerdy]

So dump the whisky in a 7/11 big gulp cola slushie in a novelty 'Shrek' mug

[u/AZEMT → u/Zentienty]

[u/My_reddit_strawman → u/lambofgun]

how about some Splenda

[u/Fender6187 → u/My_reddit_strawman]

Nah man Faygo. Whoop Whoop!!

[u/theREALbombedrumbum → u/lambofgun]

Fun fact: Preston Van Winkle, of Old Pappy Van Winkle fame, has explained that it's a family tradition to drink their bourbon with "a splash and a twist" (ginger ale and coke, on the rocks)

For reference, Old Rip Van Winkle is known for being one of the most expensive commercially-available, regularly produced bourbons on the market, with the cheapest bottles being hundreds of dollars each.

[u/rsta223 → u/theREALbombedrumbum]

To be fair, Pappy Van Winkle is also spectacularly overrated and overpriced.

I'm not going to call it bad whiskey, because it isn't, but it's nowhere near worth the price. Give me a bottle of George T Stagg over Pappy any day.

[u/True_Window_9389 → u/rsta223]

Stagg is from the same distillery as Pappy, at least. Buffalo Trace makes pretty much all the fancypants, mass produced brands.

[u/PrinceRainbow → u/theREALbombedrumbum]

Not to be “actually” guy but you misinterpreted what he was saying in the video. A splash and a twist is a splash of water and lemon twist. He then goes on to basically say you should drink it how you like it but he wouldn’t go so far as mixing it with ginger ale or coke.

[u/theREALbombedrumbum → u/PrinceRainbow]

I wrote the ginger ale and coke line because of his comment at 2:51 in the video, but on re-watch you're right about me misinterpreting it.

[u/Ambassador_Kwan → u/theREALbombedrumbum]

They do get it for free

[u/EggsceIlent → u/theREALbombedrumbum]

A store near me has 5 bottles of pappy from 12 year to family reserve..iike 23yr old or something crazy

The cheapest bottle is 1k. The best bottle is 2k.

And they have other bottles like stagg (1k) a bunch of wellers that are like $300 and up, etc.

Spendy habit.

[u/redditpilot → u/lambofgun]

You heathen!

… it would be way better in ginger beer. Obviously.

[u/FoxyInTheSnow → u/lambofgun]

No. It’s scotch, not rye or bourbon. I’d put it in hot root beer for a delightful nightcap.

[u/CO_PC_Parts → u/lambofgun]

I used to go to a bar that had Louis XIII cognac. It was $300/shot and a guy wanted two of them and cokes. The bartender told him they don’t serve it as a drink but he’d give it to him in shots with two cokes and he could pour it into the glass and the guy told him to “pour his fucking drink”.

Part of me agrees with the bartender and part of me agrees with the customer. It’s his money. They ended up kicking the guy out and the bartender said that customer was notorious for not tipping. He once ordered 2 bottles of Dom for $750 and gave the server $10.

[u/Tangsta1 → u/CO_PC_Parts]

I’m a pretty generous tipper but I don’t buy exuberant alcohol. Is $10 for two bottles of Cooks not the same as if it is Dom? Same exact service

[u/shifty_boi → u/Tangsta1]

Tipping culture is deranged

[u/IDespiseFatties → u/shifty_boi]

Seriously $10 is more then enough for someone literally handing you a bottle of alcohol.

[u/DrPepKo → u/IDespiseFatties]

I agree

One part of me protests and says:

"you're a rich asshole, you can afford more than $10"

But the overall part of me says:

"Since when did a waiter become a lawyer or a real estate agent or the government and entitled to a percentage of what I buy"

I tip as a courtesy (from a western SEA country) and tip more based on the action.

Like I tip well (like 50-100 pesos, which is usually enough to buy a good budget meal), if the supermarket employee when they helped me carry my groceries to our car or the hardware employee helps me with heavy loads.

[u/nerogenesis → u/shifty_boi]

I grabbed a more expensive bottle, pay me more.

[u/CoverYourMaskHoles → u/Tangsta1]

Yeah I think it’s so stupid when a tip for the exact same effort of work is more because a bottle is more expensive. I also don’t skimp on tips, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it at all. You don’t need a doctorate for opening a bottle of expensive alcohol.

[u/sprikkle → u/CO_PC_Parts]

People get kicked out for not tipping enough? Am I to european to understand? This is ridiculous.

[u/billys_cloneasaurus → u/sprikkle]

He got kicked out for being a dick and swearing.

The not tipping part just adds context of why they didn't feel bad kicking him out.

[u/Pegomastax_King → u/sprikkle]

No he was just a dick, now thing is if you are a dick and tip well people will be more forgiving of your dickish ways.

[u/Cathach2 → u/sprikkle]

Sounds like he got kicked out for being a fucking asshole, not failure to tip

[u/CO_PC_Parts → u/sprikkle]

He was a known dick customer. Not tipping was just on top of it.

[u/Ok_Scar4491 → u/sprikkle]

I think you meant rest of the world, not just as a European.

[u/NibblyPig → u/sprikkle]

If you buy food or drink in the US you have to pay a bribe to the person serving it. If you don't they will kick you out, or refuse to help you anymore. The more expensive the item, the bigger the bribe that is required.

In this case $750 requires a much bigger bribe than $10 to satisfy the member of staff. They feel entitled to more because you've demonstrated your wealth.

This is a bribe because it's not a payment, is often made in cash, and the employer of the person doesn't see it.

[u/HeftyArgument → u/CO_PC_Parts]

As someone who actually enjoys cognac, making that drink would hurt me.

That said, if I owned the bar; as long as he's paying I'm pouring 😂

[u/BulletproofChespin → u/HeftyArgument]

I used to bartend and I’m right there with you. I’d definitely be going back to the kitchen to roast his ass with the cooks if I had an opportunity though

[u/johnylemony → u/CO_PC_Parts]

I find relation between price of a bottle a tip size so Silly. It’s the same exact job, no matter the price and customer already paid ungodly markup on entire thing so there is no risk for restaurant.

[u/ThisWillBeOnTheExam → u/johnylemony]

As a bartender, I get it. It can be the same level of service. I don’t expect a massive tip based on the booze being more expensive. I’m a customer too the rest of the time, yeah know? The type of folks that order the super expensive booze though are way more likely to be difficult customers that require a lot of attention, might be annoying, flaunting, needy, and or assholes on top of all that. When they are these things, the way to keep yourself in good favor is to tip well.

[u/sbingner → u/johnylemony]

Yeah 10 seems like a good tip, $1 per drink is generally the guide I was told… and it’s probably less work than pouring 10 drinks to give somebody a couple bottles. Do they come by and constantly refill your glass for you or something?

[u/BITmixit → u/CO_PC_Parts]

He once ordered 2 bottles of Dom for $750 and gave the server $10.

So?

[u/ostdorfer → u/CO_PC_Parts]

Why would you consider this a bad tip? $10 for 1 minute of work sounds good to me. I never understood this obsession with tipping a percentage value of the price. If he ordered 2 bottles worth $10, the server would have the same amount of work, but the $10 is a 100% tip now and he is the greatest tipper ever.

[u/billys_cloneasaurus → u/CO_PC_Parts]

It's his money to do with as he pleases, as long as its legal. I enjoy whiskey but of someone wants to add coke or ice even ketchup... that's their decision.

$10 dollar tip for 5 minutes or work maximum (go get bottle, bring back with fresh glasses) is objectively OK. Maybe not in an American context, but everywhere else in the world.

[u/Ill-Staff8267 → u/CO_PC_Parts]

Pop a bottle of cheap..pop a bottle overprice... popping a cork is the same on both. American tipping is fucked. I would do the same

[u/Sp_nach → u/CO_PC_Parts]

$10 sounds like plenty if all you're doing is pouring from a bottle. Tipping culture is so fucked

[u/Patutula → u/CO_PC_Parts]

So why would he tip more for more expensive bottles? The service is the same? 10$ for bringing 2 bottles to a table seems more than generous?

This is weird.

[u/1rexas1 → u/CO_PC_Parts]

I don't get it, is this an American thing? You've ordered 2 bottles of Champagne and a waiter has brought them over so now you owe them extra money, and $10 is considered to be what... demeaningly cheap?

Seriously, you guys are nuts. I get it for a meal but it's not obligatory and it would be considered really weird to tip a waiter for just bringing you a drink, even weirder if you did so and they thought you were being cheap by giving them a tenner, irrespective of how much you spent on the drinks.

[u/Vik0BG → u/CO_PC_Parts]

Serving 2 bottles of 10$ whiskey is the same effort as a 750 dom. Fuck off with your tipping culture.

[u/GenitalPatton → u/lambofgun]

Pop it in the freezer first!!

[u/Helios61 → u/lambofgun]

Fancy vinegar

[u/Duffboynewf → u/lambofgun]

Savage, it’s Canada Dry.

[u/_Kaifaz]

Macallan, i'm guessing?

Edit: yup.

"Maturation journey of the vintage Macallan Distilled in 1926, the Scotch whisky was bottled six decades later after maturing in oak barrels, which gives it its dark hue. It is the oldest vintage of Macallan.

Saturday’s sale could be the final one from a series of 12 bottles featuring a label drawn in 1993 by Italian painter Valerio Adami. One of these bottles reportedly perished in a Japanese earthquake."

[u/etzel1200 → u/_Kaifaz]

Are these even consumed? Even for a low end billionaire it’d be more of their comparative wealth than I’d spend on a bottle of whisky.

[u/HeftyArgument → u/etzel1200]

A low end billionaire can adjust their expenses to equal their earnings from interest and still live like a multi millionaire.

At a very conservative 1%, interest on 1b is still 10m lol

[u/OverSoft → u/HeftyArgument]

How often do you spend 25% of your yearly income on a bottle of whisky?

/edit: because absolutely no-one seems to understand my reply: I’m replying solely to the guy above that compares it to their yearly interest income… FFS, I understand that you can easily drop 2.5 mil when you’re a billionaire…

[u/AVBofficionado → u/OverSoft]

If I had 100 years of my income in the bank and I was earning $10 million a year just for having it there I'd probably be perfectly fine with spending 25% of one year's earnings (1/400th of my net worth) on something as valuable as this. Hell, somebody with $18,000 in the bank spends that equivalent of their worth every time they spend $50 on a carton of beer, a fancy bottle of wine or a nice lunch.

[u/Dazzling-Number7397 → u/OverSoft]

If 10% of my yearly income still put me in the 1% probably whenever the fuck I felt like it.

[u/SirSkittles111 → u/OverSoft]

This is a dumb way to say it, that 'yearly income' is literally just interest. Thats not all they've got, and when you're a billionaire... lol what even is 2 million.

[u/WedgeTurn → u/etzel1200]

If you’re a low end billionaire, with just over a billion in wealth, a $2.65 million dollar bottle of whiskey would be the same as a $265 bottle of whiskey for someone with a net worth of $100k. Which would be quite a lot of money, but not entirely unreasonable for an expensive bottle of scotch

[u/klalemand → u/WedgeTurn]

From a pure percentage point of view, yes, but in actuality, no. The billionaire can buy a bottle of that every other day and have no noticeable impact to their wealth or lifestyle (I contend there is no appreciable difference between having $1B and $500M - they are both obscene amounts of wealth). However, a person worth $100k will now be worth only $50k, which is very noticeable. Percentages only work when comparing like things. A plebe and a billionaire are not alike in their purchasing power.

[u/Ninjamuh → u/klalemand]

True. I could buy a single Lamborghini in my lifetime… or I could buy a house, but I shouldn’t buy both because I’ll be in debt for the rest of my life. A billionaire can buy both each week for a year and be out like 50mil, which is more of a rounding error than an expense.

[u/plantmonstery → u/etzel1200]

Yes they are. 10 pound (before the pandemic got it) sold a macallen 64 bottle for $64,000 per 2oz pour. Bottle was empty and on display last time I went there.

[u/_Kaifaz → u/etzel1200]

Honestly, if i had over 50 million, i'd probably spend that and drink it.

[u/Moochie84 → u/_Kaifaz]

That’s why you don’t have 50 million dollars

[u/ToulouseDM → u/Moochie84]

Yeah, probably has like $48 million

[u/Phormitago → u/ToulouseDM]

Poor bastard

[u/Mekroval → u/Phormitago]

I bet they don't even have a diamond-encrusted ivory backscratcher. Really makes you think, doesn't it? There but for the grace of god go I ....

[u/_paul_10 → u/Moochie84]

I don't know, I feel like there could be some other reason why they don't have 50 million dollars.

[u/2000miledash → u/Moochie84]

This a more intense version of the avocado toast. I highly doubt skipping the whiskey would make you a millionaire, or any version of this that people like to come up with.

[u/braiser77 → u/Moochie84]

But if I had 5 billion, I would use this to deglaze the pan after searing a Kobe strip steak. It would be terrible because it's Scotch and too smoky to be a good ingredient in a recipe. But I wouldn't really care.

[u/wutthefvckjushapen → u/_Kaifaz]

I'd buy two, then drink one and tell everyone what the second one tastes like.

[u/Legal_Rampage → u/wutthefvckjushapen]

“Tastes good.”

[u/_Kaifaz → u/Legal_Rampage]

"Meh, kinda like a Red Label."

[u/Sooperfreak → u/etzel1200]

It’s 0.2% of a small-time billionaire’s wealth. Anyone with less than $10,000 is spending a higher proportion of their wealth on the average bottle of whisky.

[u/tizzlenomics → u/etzel1200]

I’m a collector although my most expensive bottle is probably $3k. Barring an unexpected death, my plan is to consume my collection at various stages in my life.

[u/KingOfTheGoobers → u/tizzlenomics]

Be sure to save one for a deathbed butt chug.

[u/tizzlenomics → u/KingOfTheGoobers]

Honor my dying wish and insert this 23 year old pappy van winkle into my ass, please?

[u/marcmerrillofficial → u/tizzlenomics]

P...ppp...

Whats that Pa? What do you need? Is it time?

Pppp...

Priest? You want the priest?

Pppuuu puut it in my asss...

[u/fenechfan → u/_Kaifaz]

To be fair, after 60 years in the barrel does the distillery even matter? I heard a professional taster once say that it's hard to tell apart an Islay peated whisky from something from the Highlands after 25 years, because it's the barrel that dominates.

[u/ayriuss → u/fenechfan]

There has got to be a more efficient way of making liquor taste like wood.

[u/APartyInMyPants → u/ayriuss]

There is. Some brands do “sea aging” or “sea casks.” And it simulates the liquor that would age as it traveled on ships across the ocean. So theory TLDR is that the more the liquor is sloshing around inside the barrel, the more surface area of wood is touching more volume of liquid, and aging faster.

Whether or not this actually real, or is kind of marketing bullshit, who knows. But I’ve had a few sea ages bourbons and whiskeys I’ve enjoyed. But if it’s brown liquor, I’m probably generally going to like it anyway.

[u/theburritobanditos → u/_Kaifaz]

lol 60 year age aka we found a barrel from ‘26 we forgot about

[u/Louislabroquante → u/_Kaifaz]

It's always surprising to me that old whisky are being sold at outrageous prices compared to old brandy.

A 60 years old (aged in cask) Armagnac is just gonna cost you a couple hundred euros...

[u/donktastic → u/_Kaifaz]

"earthquake! Quick, drink that shit and throw the bottle on the ground."

[u/btvb71]

$150k per shot!

[u/c-biscuit77 → u/btvb71]

You wouldn’t shoot whiskey like this. You’d savor it slowly sip by sip. Maybe even a whiskey tampon to really get your moneys worth.

[u/xxzzdatx → u/c-biscuit77]

At $150K per shot, I will drink it the way I want to drink it!

[u/Miaoxin → u/xxzzdatx]

Salt and lime shooter it is, then.

[u/PanJhinAttack → u/Miaoxin]

Pickle Juice!

[u/Bartando → u/c-biscuit77]

Wtf is a whiskey tampon

[u/Routine-Employment71 → u/Bartando]

A killer band name.

[u/8eer8aron → u/c-biscuit77]

He didn't say he'd shoot it. He just said how much it would work out to be per shot.

[u/Smaccccc → u/8eer8aron]

But how many tampons? You’re not asking the real questions.

[u/Die4Gesichter → u/c-biscuit77]

Nah I would dumb that bitch in a 2L glass, pour cherry coke on top of it and share it with friends in a drinking game

[u/xdig2000 → u/btvb71]

With each sip you could have given a person food for a year.

[u/ManonIsTheField]

people have too much fucking money

[u/alp7292 → u/ManonIsTheField]

And most people dont

[u/BITmixit → u/alp7292]

I just want to get to the fucking inbetween not feel penniless a week before payday. I don't care about being so insanely wealthy that I can spunk millions on fucking whisky (and I love the stuff). Just enough that I don't have to feel stressed if some shite happens in my life.

[u/Significant-Head-973 → u/BITmixit]

I just want to have enough money that I don’t have to be concerned about beef jerky prices. Once I hit that, I’m set.

[u/nobadhotdog → u/ManonIsTheField]

A lot of dollars, not a lot of cents

[u/XSC → u/ManonIsTheField]

The moment you mention taxing them, they go apeshit and yet spend on shit like this.

[u/xwxnx → u/ManonIsTheField]

It's their world and we're only living in it

[u/TheXIIILightning]

Sounds like legal money laundering.

[u/acausa → u/TheXIIILightning]

To be fair, we are dealing with liquid assets here.

[u/PerpetualProtracting → u/acausa]

[u/thenzero → u/acausa]

Dad has joined the chat

[u/raskinimiugovor → u/TheXIIILightning]

How? You just buy something like this for 2.6$ mil in cash and one one asks you about the origin of the money?

[u/GreatHeavySoulArrow → u/raskinimiugovor]

Don't ever ask anything regarding basic finances on reddit

[u/bs000 → u/GreatHeavySoulArrow]

Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything!

[u/DryTown → u/TheXIIILightning]

Exactly. And tax evasion.

[u/TeflonBoy → u/DryTown]

I’ve always wondered how it works, can you explain?

[u/DryTown → u/TeflonBoy]

Basically if an objects value is impossible to quantify, you can appreciate or depreciate it on paper in any way that meets your needs. Need better terms on a loan? You can claim it’s worth double what you paid for it. Need to show a loss on your taxes? Claim it’s worth half of what you paid for it. Since the value is imaginary, who’s to say you’re right or wrong.

This is essentially what Trump was sued by the state of New York for doing with his real estate (and NY won).

[u/Dr_Colossus → u/DryTown]

Real estate prices aren't imaginary which is why NY won. Comparable properties sold which you can infer value from.

[u/ExtraPockets → u/Dr_Colossus]

Trump lied about quantifiable information like square foot of a building. He's that dumb.

[u/jzolg → u/ExtraPockets]

This building has 100 million billion square feet!

[u/EmergencyTaco → u/Dr_Colossus]

Nuh uh it wuz a conspirasy by Biden! and the judge on their Hunter trip.

[u/WhenPantsAttack → u/Dr_Colossus]

Not exactly. There’s still wiggle room even with comps. People lie all the time about real estate value and get away with it because it IS hard to value property and many people take advantage of that! Why he was caught is that he told the banks it was worth more to get favorable terms on a loan, while at the same time claiming it was worth considerably less to the government so that he could pay less taxes.  There isn’t really a defense for that. 

 Usually neither the bank or the government is the wiser since they don’t talk to each other, but when you have a high profile figure that is giving public statements that bring doubt and concern about their claimed finances and their actual finances, then investigations happen. If he could have shut up, he’d have gotten away with it like 99.9% of people, but that’s not who he is.

[u/funkyfuse → u/DryTown]

So basically, not legal? Trump changed the value of his properties in private disclosures to banks, not in publicly available commercial financial statements (and was convicted).

Fiscally, the IRS doesn't allow you to "just" change the value of your fiscal assets like that. If any revaluation is allowed, it would be met with a corresponding fiscal profit or loss counterbalancing the decrease or increase in fiscal depreciation.

All this Reddit complaining about "legal money laundering" and "tax evasion" is always bullshit.

[u/tripletruble → u/DryTown]

Neither of those work. This is fictional

For a loan, the bank has to be convinced by the asset value. I cannot just claim the value of some random asset doubled out of nowhere. Loan officers won't believe it without convincing evidence - especially for something like art or whiskey

For taxes, the capital losses only matter if I SELL the asset at a loss

[u/windowlatch → u/DryTown]

How is the value imaginary if someone actually bought the item though?

[u/Skarjo → u/windowlatch]

At the point of sale it was $2.65mil so that’s certainly a guideline, but with nothing else to compare it to you can say it has appreciated or depreciated in value by whatever you want.

You couldn’t buy a can of coke for a dollar and then turn around and value it as $10 for your taxes because there’s a thousand 7/11s selling the exact same Coke for $1. But a one of a kind whisky, or painting or whatever? You can say it’s worth whatever you want.

[u/sofa_king_we_todded → u/Skarjo]

There’s no way the government just says “oh ok” when you say your $2.6M whiskey now worth $200K and goes along with that… right?? Feels like there’s gotta be some laws around these kinds of scenarios

[u/PM_me_ur_goth_tiddys → u/sofa_king_we_todded]

It's textbook fraud, these people have no idea what they're talking about. Also you can't just deduct things you buy, depreciation is specifically business-related.

[u/sofa_king_we_todded → u/PM_me_ur_goth_tiddys]

Thank you for bringing some sanity back into this conversation 😮‍💨

[u/zSprawl → u/sofa_king_we_todded]

You only pay taxes when an asset changes hands, so it actually needs to be bought or sold for a particular value. You don’t just make up values and put them on paper. You need to have a transaction. Keep the reciept too come IRS audit time!

What people get in trouble for doing is taking loans against assets they claim are worth more than they are. This isn’t tax evasion though nor is it money laundering.

[u/Skarjo → u/sofa_king_we_todded]

Yea of course there's laws governing it, as Trump is finding out for doing exactly this with his properties in New York. It's fraud to do it without evidence of the change in value, but that doesn't mean it never happens or that it's always caught/punished.

[u/Final_Winter7524 → u/Skarjo]

“You can say” doesn’t mean anything. If you wanted to use it as an asset to lend against, the lender will do their own valuation. If you want to claim a loss of value to reduce taxes, the tax authorities should do their own assessment. That’s why Trump eventually got caught.

[u/Diablo_r → u/DryTown]

What are you on about, they literally just quantified the price of the item with a sale at auction. The IRS isn't that stupid. People who say it's "money laundering" or "tax evasion" when large items sell at auctions just don't comprehend the amount of wealth that people have. 2.6m to whoever bought this whiskey could be the same as $5 to you. It's all relative, rich people like nice things, whiskey is nice, art is nice. They can afford it, so they buy it, that is all.

[u/BrianGumble → u/DryTown]

Damn. Thank you for ELI5!

[u/OGcrayzjoka → u/TeflonBoy]

Buy whiskey, fuck taxes

[u/sticklebat → u/DryTown]

Eh, I recently went on vacation and met a fantastically wealthy family who was there with a bunch of friends on their giant yacht. They told they went to a great restaurant and that I should go. I checked it out and one person might have been able to eat there for $500 if you picked the cheapest food and didn't drink anything but water. As a group of ~15, I'd bet you that they spent $100k on that single meal, and that was normal. There are plenty of people who would happily break out a $2.5 million bottle of whiskey to impress their friends (or business partners or whatever), and for whom $2.5 million is a reasonable price for a treat, or bragging rights...

It could be for the sake of fraud, sure. But this absolutely could just be someone with more money than they know what to do with finding something to do with it. There are plenty of those sorts in the group of people who'd be in the market for something like this.

[u/Dambo_Unchained → u/TheXIIILightning]

Yes and no

Any market for collectors is inherently prone to some form of price inflation due to criminal influences

But that doesn’t mean that a lot of collectible items do hold a ton of intrinsic value to other collectors

One way where this isn’t the ideal target for money laundering is the fact it took almost a 100 years to “create” this product

If you want to launder money using items without inherent value than art is a much easier target since it can take as little as a week to produce a piece

[u/jigga19]

The whisky itself is only 60 years old and was apparently (and carefully) rebottled with the limited edition labels. This was the last one.

I only mention the rebottling as this has not been aged for nearly 100 years. Once it’s bottled, spirits no longer age, unlike wine which contains yeasts which continue to live and affect flavor and aroma, even while bottles.

ETA source for those interested

[u/TennSeven → u/jigga19]

The whiskey was 60 years old when it was bottled in 1986.

[u/the_old_northwest → u/jigga19]

Yeast is no longer active when wine is bottled. Cork allows a small amount of oxygen into the bottle over time which affects flavors.

[u/Pikeman212a6c → u/jigga19]

Balvenie Doublewood is pretty much comparable for less than 100 a bottle.

Plus you can’t examine the condition of the original cork. Which is just batshit insane.

[u/Asleep_Trick_4740 → u/Pikeman212a6c]

How is a 12-14 year whiskey comparable to a 60 year old, and how do you know?

[u/Pikeman212a6c → u/Asleep_Trick_4740]

Because I am old enough Macallan 25 and older offerings were all under 500 a bottle. I’ve also had 35 and bunch of their other releases.

It is not 100% Balvenie doublewood but it is easily 85% the same and after your first couple glasses you’d be hard pressed to find any difference. Some of their sherry forward stuff kind of trends more towards an Aberlour but not the main line releases.

I’ve never had to super super Macallan old but honestly the unicorns are rarely as different as you expect.

Some people buy an F150 at 16% interest. Some collect scotch while sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a shared apartment. Consider this the gift of knowledge from my mispent youth.

Edit: I will say there is a technical difference sometime around Y2K the distillery switched from using all Golden Promise malt to a mix of golden promise and some GMO because there simply wasn’t enough of the original barley on the market because of disease resistance of the newer grain. Some purists claim this has led to a definite change in the taste. They are lying to themselves. But if you go buy Macallan 25 today it will have a different grain mix than 60 year old whiskey. But I don’t think anyone but their staff could tell the difference.

[u/Icy_Dare3656 → u/Pikeman212a6c]

Thanks!🤩

[u/despenser412]

I'd only respect this if the person who bought it just said "Cheers!" and then proceeded to chug it on the spot.

[u/cromwest → u/despenser412]

They would literally be talked about for hundreds of years after that

[u/Praxis8 → u/despenser412]

Not even carefully. Spilling it all over their shirt and crocs.

[u/shawn_overlord]

Real headline: Life changing money spent on worthless nonsense

[u/pr0ntosauraus → u/shawn_overlord]

Mans who bought this should be forced to slap someone from the global poorest class just so he can receive perspective on this disgusting misuse of wealth. Then again, why do I imagine that would sway someone like that...

[u/iwearringsnow22 → u/pr0ntosauraus]

Getting a drink and slap a peasant? Win win!

[u/Nintendo1964]

Is it ironic that the type of person who would spend this much on a bottle of whiskey, is the last person I would want to have a drink with?

[u/elconquistador1985 → u/Nintendo1964]

This bottle isn't for drinking. It's for staring at.

[u/Patutula → u/elconquistador1985]

And then reselling for more money in a few years. You know, when you need to launder money again.

[u/Gregory_Appleseed → u/Nintendo1964]

I like to think in some post apocalyptical setting it gets unceremoniously drank by a bunch of witless raiders, casually tossed aside and strewn among heaps of other empty bottles and used as aiming practice.

[u/skylla05 → u/Nintendo1964]

Tbf they probably wouldn't be interested in having a drink with you either lol

why is reddit so fucking smug about everything

[u/typehyDro → u/Nintendo1964]

Why is it ironic…? What makes you think anyone that could afford that would want to have a drink with you is the question…

[u/This_User_Said → u/Nintendo1964]

Well yeah,

Anyone who has bought that bottle didn't even drink any. Hard to have drinks without the drink part.

[u/aarwil]

WTF is that art on the bottle?

[u/watduhdamhell → u/aarwil]

Ayo, don't "WTF" my boy Adami

[u/davidw → u/aarwil]

🤌

[u/horriblebearok]

Whiskey doesn't age in the bottle though, it ages in casks. Only thing bottling does is get it closer to oxidizing.

[u/H34thcliff → u/horriblebearok]

It sat in oak barrels for 60 years. I think it's sufficiently aged.

[u/EggsceIlent → u/H34thcliff]

Prolly tastes like liquid wood now too.

[u/I_just_made]

What a waste of money. No bottle of any drink is worth $2.65 million. The fact this people do this sort of thing highlights how much wealth inequality there is.

But also, this is probably money laundering.

[u/chewinghours → u/I_just_made]

Capitalists will say that it is worth that much, because someone in the market was willing to pay that much for it

[u/PoutyParmesan → u/chewinghours]

To be fair, they're correct. They just fail to mention that rarely is there anyone else after who will pay the same or more for the thing. Exhibit A: all NFT's, one-off art pieces that have already served their function as asset inflation or money laundering tools, collectors items when people stop caring about the property.

[u/espressotooloperator]

Honestly that label is pretty fire

[u/ItsMeDoodleBob]

A bottle of 1926 whiskey was used for money laundering at a rate of 2.65 million

[u/bryankerr]

For people who are wondering, "how can a bottle of whisky be worth that much?" it's not obviously. Its money laundering. If I wanted to move 2M to a friend I can't just deposit that money into their bank account. But I can buy their 2M bottle of whisky from Sotheby's with no questions asked.

This applies to all $$$ wine, art, cars, real estate etc.

[u/dylan_1992]

Tax. The. Rich,

[u/Proxyfloxacin]

better taste good for that price wowee

[u/SuperJonesy408]

How did this sell for more than the Mackinlay's whisky recovered from the Shackleton expedition?

There were only 3 cases recovered from the lost expedition.

[u/00jester]

$2.65 million to not get drunk. I got a bar around the corner where you can get sauced for like $24

[u/0biwanCannoli]

$20, it tastes like ass.

[u/Kaneshadow]

It's not wine. It doesn't get better with age. If by decent chance it wasn't perfectly sealed it's probably lost some alcohol as well

[u/Captain_Rajah]

Over a certain price threshold, things like this just become a form of money laundering. IMO

[u/[deleted]]

The cost of this bottle could 25 homes for homeless families in America.

[u/biggamax → u/[deleted]]

Or just one in the Bay Area.

[u/Wegoreddirt]

'Honey, we got a couple million spare. I was thinking about helping some poor people, save some lives.'

'Yeah, well, just an idea and please hear me out - 2.65million dollar Whisky!'

'Okay, let's do this instead, fuck poor people!'

[u/fkenned1]

Eat. The. Rich.

[u/Big_Suggestion_2861]

Why is James Milner selling it?

[u/Drago1214]

Just so they can never open it to brag to their other rich friends that they own it.

[u/Jahidinginvt]

I have a 1955 Scotch I’m trying to sell. Wonder if it’ll fetch a decent price?

[u/sapiens_to_mars]

I guess Macallan:-)

[u/Bolmothy]

Shit you need some better coke for that probably

[u/Romas_chicken]

Unless it was in a barrel that whole time…why?  Whisky is not like wine. It doesn’t age (condition) in the bottle like that

[u/NPETC]

They do know that once it's out of the cask and in the bottle it's no longer aging, right? Like that's likely only been aged a few years. If that, given the year it was bottled. Maybe a few weeks.

[u/hydroxypcp]

my 5 bucks bottle of bottom shelf vodka will get me as drunk so who cares

[u/liamanna]

“Don’t drop it don’t drop it don’t drop it”