VinePair

Everyday. But it helps me worry less about climate change, nuclear war, the rise of facism, and the Yankees postseason chances.

In Copenhagen I remember miscalculating the exchange rate and accidentally buying a few $300+ USD bottles of rare Belgian lambic. They were tasty at least. In America I've gone overboard a few times in buying vintage spirits at places like Mordechai's in Chicago and The Office—but never much more than $100 a glass. I've *tried* extremely expensive bottles before—notably the million dollar+ Yamazaki 55 Year—but I can't recall spending much more than $500 for any single bottle. How bout you?

Great beer continues to be a great value and, if you can find it, just about everything is under $40. Russian River Pliny the Elder, Heady Topper, the wild ales of Jester King. Heck, a tankova pour of Pilsner Urquell was like 50 cents USD last time I was in Prague! You could have 79 of those and still meet your criteria. Spirits-wise, you're really going to have to look at rum to get under that $40 mark. I noticed just the other day that Appleton 12-Year-Old is only like 30 bucks. Try to find a 12 year old whiskey for that cheap these days.

You're going to cause a lot of publicists to yell at me if I answer this question. But the fact is, most of the most hyped bourbons these days are, in fact, good—but the secondary market has made them way overpriced for what they are.

The first one that comes to mind is that Buffalo Trace's Wheatley Vodka has the same mashbill as Pappy Van Winkle. I mentioned that as an aside in an article last year—but maybe I should have made a bigger point about that because no one seemed to notice or care. So maybe that's not that fun of fact...

Yes.

Wild Turkey 101, though its price has steadily been creeping up. Old Grand Dad Bonded is a great value too. In terms of "nicer" stuff, single malt remains a superior value to bourbon. Something like Glenfarclas 25 Year is still under $200!