From the front page · Thread · The whole shelf · 2026-10-15

158 single malts as one shelf: one distillery owns the value end

mergedflaggedmay_publish truequality passsite_publish trueprices: 10 price claim(s) verified live

1/Measured across 158 single malts from six countries, the plainest, youngest bottles sit nearest fair. Every one priced live at Dan Murphy's, spanning Scotland, Australia, India and Japan. One distillery takes the value end. The costly end is Australian craft and Japanese age.

2/Compared with the 1 October single malt read, 90 of the 158 have either changed their shelf price or jumped to a new zone against their own panel. That is 57 percent of the shelf shifting. So treat this as a new snapshot, not an echo of a fortnight ago.

3/Here is how the sort works. I set each bottle's ticket beside the fair figure its own ten-member panel assigns, then measure how far above that figure it sits. Every bottle here prices above its own consensus. "Nearest" therefore means thinnest premium, not a deal.

4/The near end is a Glen Moray clean sweep. The Classic litre at $90 is barely over fair, under one percent. The 700 at $71, then the Peated, the Port Cask and the Sherry Cask all at $72, each inside one percent of its own mean. Note the first is a full litre, not the standard 700.

5/Pool every review for the style and the recurring descriptors are sherry, chocolate, a thread of peat, fruit, casks and age. That is how the whole shelf reads across 130 reviews, not a verdict on any bottle above. I dropped empty tokens like "expression", "malt", "year".

6/Craft and age hold the dear end. Limeburners Infinity Solera $177, near 59 percent over mean. IronHouse Tasman Port Cask $230, Lark Cask Strength (500 mL) $259, Amrut Fusion $114, Hakushu 12 $378, all near 40 percent over. The $71 Glen Moray reads fairest. What would you pour?

Sources

Coverage: 158 of 158 members priced live in the 2026-10-15 harvest (100%) — grounding.coverage (n_observed/n_members).
Price band $67.90–$989.99, median $126.49; scope-average CE 360° mean ≈ $148.29 — grounding.price_band, grounding.ce_360_mean_avg.
Shelf character words (style-level, parent-relative, pooled over 130 reviews): sherry, chocolate, peat, fruity, casks, old/matured — grounding.words (filler tokens "expression", "malt", "year" set aside as self-referential or non-descriptive). No per-bottle tasting notes are asserted; the words describe the shelf, not any one bottle.
Cool-down (decision 15): Single Malt (whisky_style): led 2026-10-01-whole-shelf-single-malt.md 14 day(s) earlier — CHANGED, may lead again; the piece must say what changed: 90 of 158 bottles changed price or 360° zone (57%; the bar is 10%) (2026-10-01.1 to 2026-10-15.1). The "90 of 158" count is the cool-down change figure, not a claims entry; it is a count of how many bottles differ from the earlier build, stated as a plain observation, never a trend or repricing claim.

End	Item	Price	Gap %	Priced
Hot 1	Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L	$90	+0.64%	observed 2026-10-15
Hot 2	Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL	$71	+0.83%	observed 2026-10-15
Hot 3	Glen Moray Peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL	$72	+0.85%	observed 2026-10-15
(hot)	Glen Moray Classic Port Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL	$72	+0.85%	observed 2026-10-15
(hot)	Glen Moray Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL	$72	+0.85%	observed 2026-10-15
Cold 1	Limeburners Infinity Solera Cask Single Malt Whisky 700mL	$177	+58.53%	observed 2026-10-15
Cold 2	IronHouse Distillery Tasman Whisky - Port Cask - Tasmanian Single Malt	$230	+40.43%	observed 2026-10-15
Cold 3	Lark Cask Strength Single Malt Australian Whisky 500mL	$259	+40.34%	observed 2026-10-15
(cold)	Amrut Fusion Indian Whisky 700mL	$114	+39.60%	observed 2026-10-15
(cold)	Hakushu 12 Year Old Whisky 700mL	$378	+38.51%	observed 2026-10-15

Omissions

None recorded.

Notes for reviewer

Flagged: repeat scope. Single Malt last led a thread on 2026-10-01, which clears the 4-week cool-down only because its finding changed (90 of 158 bottles moved price or 360° zone since, 57%). The post states that change as a dated count, not as a trend or a market move; please confirm post 2 does not read as "prices are rising/falling".
This is the by-STYLE shelf (158 single malts across all countries), distinct from any single region roundup; the Glen Moray value cluster recurs here because those bottles are both Speyside members and single malts, but the scope and the 158-member denominator are the style's own.
"Hot"/"cold" are value labels only (premium over each bottle's own jury), never sales velocity or a trend; no bottle sits under its own mean, so nothing here is a discount.
Non-700 mL headlined sizes are named in-post and in Omissions (Glen Moray Classic 1L; Lark Cask Strength 500 mL) so the tickets are not read as like-for-like against the 700s; the IronHouse Tasman listing carries no size.

Format note

Whole Shelf, scope Single Malt (whisky_style), vintage 2026-10-15.1, pack whisky_style-single-malt-aggregate.json. Gap basis PERCENTAGE; ce_gap_pct=(price−CE 360° mean)/price×100, each bottle's premium over its own CE 360° consensus; 'hot'=smallest premium (least over fair value), 'cold'=largest. No bottle sits below its own mean, so 'hot' is not a bargain or a discount. 'Hot'/'cold' are value labels only, never velocity or trend. This is the by-STYLE shelf: 158 single malts across all countries, not one region. Coverage 158 of 158 priced live in the 2026-10-15 harvest (100%). Repeat scope: last led 2026-10-01-whole-shelf-single-malt.md 14 days earlier — CHANGED (90 of 158 bottles moved price or 360° zone, 57%, bar 10%), so it may lead again and the post states what changed. Sources holds the stored top/bottom notable-mover cut, not the full 158-bottle ranking.

Frontmatter as merged

{
 "date": "2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z",
 "title": "158 single malts as one shelf: one distillery owns the value end",
 "angle": "whole-shelf",
 "position": "n/a",
 "status": "draft",
 "derives_from": "none — standalone whole-shelf roundup; no long-form article backs it this cycle",
 "grounded_on": "2026-10-15.1",
 "may_publish": true,
 "review_priority": "flagged",
 "artefact_id": "2026-10-15-cycle/whole-shelf/single-malt-whisky-style-7f9623",
 "format_note": "Whole Shelf, scope Single Malt (whisky_style), vintage 2026-10-15.1, pack whisky_style-single-malt-aggregate.json. Gap basis PERCENTAGE; ce_gap_pct=(price−CE 360° mean)/price×100, each bottle's premium over its own CE 360° consensus; 'hot'=smallest premium (least over fair value), 'cold'=largest. No bottle sits below its own mean, so 'hot' is not a bargain or a discount. 'Hot'/'cold' are value labels only, never velocity or trend. This is the by-STYLE shelf: 158 single malts across all countries, not one region. Coverage 158 of 158 priced live in the 2026-10-15 harvest (100%). Repeat scope: last led 2026-10-01-whole-shelf-single-malt.md 14 days earlier — CHANGED (90 of 158 bottles moved price or 360° zone, 57%, bar 10%), so it may lead again and the post states what changed. Sources holds the stored top/bottom notable-mover cut, not the full 158-bottle ranking.",
 "claims": [
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 90
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 0.64
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 71
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 0.83
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 72
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 0.85
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Port Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 72
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Classic Port Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 0.85
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 72
  },
  {
   "item": "Glen Moray Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 0.85
  },
  {
   "item": "Limeburners Infinity Solera Cask Single Malt Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 177
  },
  {
   "item": "Limeburners Infinity Solera Cask Single Malt Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 58.53
  },
  {
   "item": "IronHouse Distillery Tasman Whisky - Port Cask - Tasmanian Single Malt",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 230
  },
  {
   "item": "IronHouse Distillery Tasman Whisky - Port Cask - Tasmanian Single Malt",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 40.43
  },
  {
   "item": "Lark Cask Strength Single Malt Australian Whisky 500mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 259
  },
  {
   "item": "Lark Cask Strength Single Malt Australian Whisky 500mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 40.34
  },
  {
   "item": "Amrut Fusion Indian Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 114
  },
  {
   "item": "Amrut Fusion Indian Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 39.6
  },
  {
   "item": "Hakushu 12 Year Old Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "price",
   "value": 378
  },
  {
   "item": "Hakushu 12 Year Old Whisky 700mL",
   "kind": "value",
   "value": 38.51
  }
 ],
 "subjects": [
  "Single Malt (whisky_style)"
 ],
 "verified_at": "2026-10-15T10:50:47.000Z",
 "verified_by": "etl/price_verify.py",
 "verified_prices": {
  "70437": 89.99,
  "102095": 229.99,
  "419437": 176.99,
  "585971": 71.99,
  "749095": 113.99,
  "769652": 258.99,
  "784473": 378,
  "852390": 71.99,
  "903515": 70.99,
  "928466": 71.99
 },
 "verification_note": "10 price claim(s) verified live",
 "quality_gate": "pass",
 "gated_at": "2026-10-15T10:50:47.000Z",
 "site_publish": true,
 "quality_notes": "soft cooldown: 1 repeat(s) inside the 4-week cool-down, each with a changed finding; the piece must say w"
}

source file: drafts/2026-10-15-whole-shelf-single-malt.md