silkywhisky
Balblair / Highland

BALBLAIR 18 Years Old

0.69× hidden gem 18yo rating 4.6/5 · n=5
cheapest
€141.50
topdrinks
intrinsic
€208.05
N
2

Is it worth the price?

BALBLAIR 18 Years Old is a Highland single malt Scotch from the Balblair distillery, bottled at 18 years old. Tasters score it 4.6 out of 5 across 5 reviews. It is tracked at 2 retailers, ranging from €141.50 to €145.27, while the valuation model estimates a fair price of around €208.05. That is 0.69× the model estimate — well below what its age, strength and house predict, and one of the clearer value picks in the data. The estimate is fitted on age, bottling strength and the distillery's other prices; community ratings add no measurable signal to it, so this is not a quality judgement. Typical error is around ±65%, so read the verdict as indicative and trust it most at the extremes. It is one of 4 Balblair bottlings priced here; the others are compared below.

Retailers tracked

Retailer Price
topdrinks €141.50
thewhiskyshop €145.27

How we got this number

The valuation model predicts a price from this bottling's inputs. The multiple is the actual market price divided by that prediction.

Inputs
Rating
4.60 / 5
Age
18yo
Region
Highland
Distillery tier
Premium Label only — set from the distillery’s median price, not used by the model.
Result
Predicted price
€208.05
Actual price (median)
€143.39
Multiple
0.69×
Verdict band
hidden gem (≤ 0.80×)

See the regression's coefficients →

Methodology estimate

The deterministic model from methodology.md: production cost per litre × bottle size, plus maturation cost per year, plus a cask premium, times an ABV factor — then multiplied by a quality grade summed across six 0–3 axes.

Cost floor
Production (€0.18/cl × 70 cl)
€12.60
Maturation (18 × €1.20/year)
€41.35
Cask premium (undeclared)
+€0.00
× ABV factor
×1.15
Cost floor
€62.04
Quality grade (six 0–3 axes)
  • Process distinctness
    no declared distinctive practices
    2 / 3
  • Cask provenance
    cask type not declared on bottle
    0 / 3
  • Bottling integrity
    46.0% ABV; non-chill-filtered inferred from ABV; E150a caramel colouring not disclosed
    2 / 3
  • Ownership
    Inver House Distillers (Thai Beverage) — independent or smaller group
    2 / 3
  • Heritage
    founded 1790 (236 years of operation)
    3 / 3
  • Reputation
    4.6/5 across 5 reviews
    1 / 3
Quality score
10 / 18
Quality multiplier
×1.83
Intrinsic and multiple
Intrinsic value
€113.75
Actual price (median)
€143.39
Multiple
1.26×
Verdict band
mild premium

Maturation context

Highland · rolling 12 months: 759 mm at Milton of Evelix TBR (8 km). Scotland N rolling 12-month rainfall2,298 mm, +33.30% vs 1995-2024 median.

Other bottlings from Balblair