Milestone Whisk(e)y Resource Page

Do you or the whisky enthusiast in your life have an upcoming ‘Milestone’ life event, such as a significant birthday (21, 30, 40, 50, etc.) or a baby on the way?  Consider skipping the normal routine and reach for a scotch or bourbon that can truly celebrate the occasion in an epic way.  Having just had a milestone birthday myself, there’s nothing like cracking a bottle that is as old as you are.



Say your usual plan is to buy a $40 bottle for someone’s 40th birthday – why not take the initiative and pool friends and family in advance to contribute forty bucks each to a big-time bottle?  Friends and family will be happy they don’t have to think about what to get the recipient.  The recipient will be ecstatic over their $400+ bottle from his or her benefactors.  And you’ll be the hero when everyone enjoys that Classic Cask 40-Year-Old Blended Whiskey!


Turning 21?

Mid-2000s 'Golden G' Bottling

At that age, I was mixing cheap rum or bourbon with coca cola, so it might be dicey gifting a 21-year-old a two hundred dollar bottle of Balvenie 21.  But if someone would have told me that I couldn’t open it until I was ready to appreciate a fine single malt, I may have stowed it away. Maybe.

If you’re after bourbon, Orphan Barrel’s Rhetoric 21 and Heaven Hill’s Elijah Craig 21 come to mind.  Unfortunately, both are out of production, and likely pricier than other options, like the aforementioned Balvenie Portwood. There’s always the ever-present Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Macallan –aka dull, boring, and expensive, respectively.  Redbreast 21 is my all-time favorite Irish Whiskey, but even that's now over $200. Plus, quite a few excellent options exist under that amount.  The best value in this (and almost every) category will be Glenfarclas.  But there’s also some great deals to be had from independent bottlers like Gordon And MacPhail, whose Linkwood 21 is around the same price point as the 'Farclas ($150).

30/40/50th Birthdays
No realistic bourbon or rye or Irish options at these milestones, so, scotch it is! Again, Glenfarclas or independents are the way to go.  In addition to G/M, quality indy bottlers include Alexander Murray, Douglas Laing, Duncan Taylor, and Signatory Vintage, among others.

50 Year Old Douglas Laing Bottling
From "Probably Speyside's Finest"
(i.e. Glenfarclas)

In the 30 Year Old category, the distillery bottling of Glenfarclas  is around $500, While that particular expression is unavailable in the USA, it can be easily ordered via online retailers in the UK.  In the $300 range, an excellent independent single malt can be had without much difficulty.  Plus single grains and blends are out there at half that number.

At 40 years, prices are going up, but not as crazy as you might think.  Glenfarclas 40 is around $1000, but Alexander Murray's Speyside Single Malt is in the $5-600 range. (In this case the distillery is an unnamed distillery in that region,  and not THE Speyside Distillery.)  Single Grains and Blends can be found in the $250-400 range even, like the aforementioned Classic Cask.

Once you get to 50, there's really no single malt below $1000. Single grains can still be had for well under $500, however.  If you really want a single malt for the occasion, though, another avenue is seeking out a bottle that was distilled in the recipient's birth year.  That's actually something to consider for any of the prior milestone birthdays as well.  For example, this is being written in 2019, and there are excellent vintages from 1969, 1979, and 1989 out there in the $200-800 range.  The individual bottle will just be aged less than 50, 40, and 30 years, respectively.

Exact Dates

G/M Mortlach Single Cask 5972

And then there's the hunt for a bottle of whisk(e)y that was either barreled or bottled on a specific birthday or anniversary.  One would have to get pretty lucky to find a match, especially since this information really only occurs on single casks/barrels.  It's a longshot, but it is possible.

Blanton's Original
Single Barrel Bourbon

The easiest path for this quest is Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon.  Blanton's has been around since 1984 and every bottle has a "dumped on" or bottling date in this format: 2-14-17.  So if your daughter was born on Valentine's Day 2017, or you got married that day, there's a Blanton's out there for you!  In fact, there appears to be hundreds of unique bottling dates per year between the original expression and their international editions (Gold, Black, Green, Straight From The Barrel).  Chances are good that you can actually find the date you're looking for, as long as you're comfortable making new friends on various social media outlets that cater to this sort of thing.

Close Up of Blanton's with 'Dumped On' Date