Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
It's not just the time, they also lose a significant amount to evaporation when barrelled, known as "the angel's share". This is about 1.5-2% per year. It adds up, the longer you age it you get less product.
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The angel's share isn't the biggest determining factor of higher prices for aged scotch. Even with a 40yo scotch the volume is only being reduced by around half, which would justify a doubling of price over a 2yo scotch if it were really about the volume. In reality, you can see much more than just doubling of price over a 2yo whisky. Even from a 12yo to a 40yo you might see twenty times increase in price. That's certainly not justified by the angel's share.
The length of investment while still having operating costs for a distillery provide a disincentive to age for such long periods, which makes these more rare and makes the branding and extreme price points work out. It's fair to say that scarcity helps to drive the price, but that scarcity is much more a factor of the risk, length and cost of investment than it is of the angel's share.