1/A pairing that makes no shelf sense: Blanton's Straight From The Barrel, a Kentucky bourbon at $304, and Nikka From The Barrel, a Japanese blend at $99. The engine calls them its second-closest match in the whole set.

2/The names rhyme and so does the make-up the model reads: cask-strength weight, a dense oaky core. Two whisky nations that never share a shelf, ranked as near-twins. That is flavour geometry, remember, not a taste test.

3/The value read lands squarely on the Japanese one. Nikka sits below the floor of its own peer group and at the bottom of its own recent range, both reads cheap and neither leaning on the other. $99 the bottle, $88 to members.

4/Blanton's runs the opposite way. It is over the ceiling of its own peer group even while its recent tickets sit low, so the two reads pull apart and it lands as the expensive end of the pair. $304 on the shelf, $280 with a membership.