Uisge Beatha Whisky prices compared

PricesData study

Does cask type change the price of whisky?

Allowing for age, single malts naming a sherry cask were priced like any other single malt at the UK shops we check on 14 October 2026.

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78 price index of bourbon-cask single malts, against 100 for a typical single malt of the same age

Price of 70cl single malts by cask named, against single malts of the same age, 14 October 2026Median of each bottle's shelf price divided by the median for its age band, times 100. A vertical line marks 100.Other wine cask, 18 bottles: median index 148 against single malts of the same age band; median shelf price £103.50Other wine cask (18)8 named on the label: 104148Port cask, 7 bottles: median index 103 against single malts of the same age band; median shelf price £72.00Port cask (7)5 named on the label: 73103Sherry cask, 51 bottles: median index 100 against single malts of the same age band; median shelf price £83.99Sherry cask (51)100No cask named, 234 bottles: median index 100 against single malts of the same age band; median shelf price £74.99No cask named (234)100Bourbon cask, 21 bottles: median index 78 against single malts of the same age band; median shelf price £60.00Bourbon cask (21)tags from descriptions only78
Median shelf price of 70cl single malts by cask named, no age statement, 14 October 2026Median cheapest shelf price per cask group with at least 5 bottles in this age band.Other wine cask, no age statement: median shelf price £85.97 across 12 bottlesOther wine cask (12)£85.97Port cask, no age statement: median shelf price £72.00 across 5 bottlesPort cask (5)£72.00Sherry cask, no age statement: median shelf price £72.50 across 19 bottlesSherry cask (19)£72.50No cask named, no age statement: median shelf price £69.99 across 101 bottlesNo cask named (101)£69.99Bourbon cask, no age statement: median shelf price £51.99 across 9 bottlesBourbon cask (9)£51.99All in-stock 70cl single malts, no age statement: median £70.00All single malts (141)£70.00
Median shelf price of 70cl single malts by cask named, 10 to 14 years, 14 October 2026Median cheapest shelf price per cask group with at least 5 bottles in this age band.Sherry cask, 10 to 14 years: median shelf price £49.95 across 11 bottlesSherry cask (11)£49.95No cask named, 10 to 14 years: median shelf price £52.25 across 60 bottlesNo cask named (60)£52.25All in-stock 70cl single malts, 10 to 14 years: median £52.25All single malts (76)£52.25
Median shelf price of 70cl single malts by cask named, 15 to 19 years, 14 October 2026Median cheapest shelf price per cask group with at least 5 bottles in this age band.Sherry cask, 15 to 19 years: median shelf price £117.50 across 12 bottlesSherry cask (12)£117.50No cask named, 15 to 19 years: median shelf price £86.00 across 31 bottlesNo cask named (31)£86.00Bourbon cask, 15 to 19 years: median shelf price £87.49 across 6 bottlesBourbon cask (6)£87.49All in-stock 70cl single malts, 15 to 19 years: median £94.90All single malts (49)£94.90
Median shelf price of 70cl single malts by cask named, 20 years and over, 14 October 2026Median cheapest shelf price per cask group with at least 5 bottles in this age band.Sherry cask, 20 years and over: median shelf price £399.00 across 9 bottlesSherry cask (9)£399.00No cask named, 20 years and over: median shelf price £460.00 across 35 bottlesNo cask named (35)£460.00All in-stock 70cl single malts, 20 years and over: median £459.99All single malts (47)£459.99

Index 100 is the median price of all in-stock 70cl single malts of the same age band (14 October 2026). Number of bottles in brackets; groups under 5 bottles are left out.

Median price by cask and age band
Cask namedBottlesIndexIndex, name or title onlyNo age statementUnder 10 years10 to 14 years15 to 19 years20 years and over
Sherry cask51 (20 in name or title)100102£72.50–£49.95£117.50£399.00
Bourbon cask2178–£51.99––£87.49–
Port cask7 (5 in name or title)10373£72.00––––
Other wine cask18 (8 in name or title)148104£85.97––––
No cask named234100–£69.99£84.99£52.25£86.00£460.00
All single malts320100£70.00£84.99£52.25£94.90£459.99

Cells show the median cheapest shelf price on 14 October 2026; a dash means fewer than 5 bottles. Groups with fewer than 5 bottles (rum cask 2, mizunara oak 2, virgin oak 4) are left out.

Each bottle is compared with single malts of the same age, so 100 means a typical price for its age. Pick an age band to compare median prices directly. Distillery and limited editions aren’t controlled for: read this as a description of the shelf. See also age against price.

  1. Age moves the price far more than cask: the median 70cl single malt cost £52.25 at 10 to 14 years and £94.90 at 15 to 19.
  2. Bourbon-cask single malts (21) were cheaper than typical for their age, at index 78, but every one of those tags comes from retailer descriptions.
  3. Only 86 of 320 in-stock single malts name a cask at all, so the groups are small; other wine casks (18) look dearer, but not the 8 that name the cask on the label.

Source: Uisge Beatha: in-stock shelf prices at the UK retailers we check, 14 October 2026. Updated 23 October 2026. Free to reuse with a link to this page.

About this data: method, downloads and sources

How we did it

Bottles. Confirmed, in-stock 70cl single malts at the UK retailers we check on 14 October 2026: 320 bottles from 5 retailers with 4 owners (Loch Fyne Whiskies and The Whisky Shop share an owner). Fixing the size and style removes two big sources of price difference. The price is each bottle’s cheapest in-stock shelf price.

Cask groups. From our bottle tags, the same ones behind our cask pages. A tag is explicit when the cask is in the bottle name or a confirmed retailer’s listing title, and derived when it comes from the retailer’s description. No cask tag here is inferred from a distillery’s usual practice. Sherry includes oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, palo cortado and manzanilla; other wine includes Madeira. A bottle naming two casks counts in both groups (15 bottles do). A bottle with no cask named is not assumed to be bourbon cask; it stays in its own group.

Age control. Each bottle’s price is divided by the median price of all 320 single malts in its age band (no age statement, under 10, 10 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 years and over) and multiplied by 100. The group figure is the median of those indices. Groups or cells with fewer than 5 bottles are not reported.

Limits. Distillery, strength, independent bottlings and limited editions are not controlled for, and a cask group can be dominated by a few distilleries. Many bottles mention a cask only in the retailer’s description, and some name none at all, so the groups are incomplete. Read the figures as a description of what is on the shelf, not as the effect of a cask on its own.

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Sources

Prices are the shelf prices we recorded at UK retailers on the dates shown and change daily. Uisge Beatha compares prices; it does not sell whisky or give investment advice. Please enjoy whisky responsibly: drinkaware.co.uk.

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