Something to keep in mind is that this discussion seems to be mixing up two distinct forms of criticism.
There is the actual taste of the whiskey, which is what it is. It is unaffected by how much the whiskey's msrp is, how much you actually paid for it, or what your particular financial situation is. Individuals may have differing palettes, so one may prefer a certain flavor profile over another, but the whiskey tastes how it tastes.
There is also the value proposition. This is much more subjective than taste, as a lot more external factors go into it. How much money do you make? How many financial responsibilities do you have? How heavily do you weigh whiskey budget against other parts of your budget? How cheap are you?
When talking about PVW, and to some extent BTAC and other hard to find whiskeys, a lot of people fall into the "it’s not worth $X to me, therefore it doesn't taste good". It may very well not be a good value for your personal financial situation, but for others in different situations it is an extremely good value. Regardless, this doesn't affect how it tastes. Pretty much all of the whiskey reviewers agree that PVW and BTAC taste really good. Maybe you disagree with them, which is fine, but their scarcity and high price shouldn't be a factor in that review. If you are talking about good value whiskeys, then maybe they wouldn't be on everyone's list, but there are certainly people who consider $150 for PVW or BTAC a great value.
While I am far from an expert, I try to keep the value proposition out of my head when determining if I like a certain whiskey. I look at it like this - if I had access to a fully stocked whiskey cabinet that I could drink from for free, where would this whiskey rank? I know that there is an inherent bias in your brain toward things you spent more money on. I have read the studies that show your brain physically enjoys wine more if that wine was expensive. You can drink the same wine twice, and if the first time you are told it is a $15 bottle, and the second time you are told it is a $115 bottle, your brain will literally get more enjoyment out of the second glass. I try to be aware of that too, and not let it cloud my tasting.
I admit that currently, the #1 whiskey in my cabinet is also the most expensive one. However, the next 3 most expensive whiskeys are ranked closer to #10 in taste. And a bottle that costs about 20 times less than the #1 bottle is in my top 5. For the record, I have PVW15, VW12 Lot B, and PVW Rye in my cabinet. None of them are my #1, but the 15 is in the top 5.
Everyone has their own tastes and preferences; I’m just trying to point out that value and taste are two different things. To say that there is no whiskey worth $150 is ridiculous. Maybe there is no whiskey worth $150 to you, due to a combination of your financial situation and your taste preferences, but that is not the case for all people. Also, I’d bet that if you were offered a free bottle of PVW23 or a free bottle of whatever your favorite whiskey is, a very high percentage of people would choose the PVW23.
It is also fairly ridiculous to talk about PVW in terms of it costing $80. If you have bought it for that in the past few years, then you should also be buying lottery tickets, as you are incredibly lucky. It is near impossible to find it anywhere for sale. When you do, it is usually for a lot more than $80. I could actually order a bottle of PVW23 this morning and have it in my cabinet on Wednesday, but it would cost me $3,500. That isn’t a good value for me personally, so I didn’t order it. I still think PVW23 tastes really good though.
[This message has been edited by steve00 (edited 7/14/2014 9:48a).]
