Pricing and measuring a whiskey pour for a charity event

[Fat Guy]

So I'm helping figure out bar stuff for a charity event. 5 bottles of Whistlepig rye have been donated. How do we sell it? In 1.5-ounce pours? More? Price at $15? More?

[patrickamory]

If it's less than 2-oz pours it feel stingy, I think. Can't comment on price.

[gfweb]

Charge a lot and pour fairly. So for charity in NYC, I'd say $15-20 and 2 oz.

[Alex]

Hmm. I wasn't familiar with this brand at all. A Google search prices it at between $62 and $75 for a 750 ml bottle.

96 points Wine Enthusiast: "First, a warning: this is only for those who like their rye big and brawny. It starts off innocuously with a maple-syrup color, and a pretty, complex and subtle scent: honey, vanilla, a slight medicinal tinge and faint clover notes. It feels silky on the tongue and at first, the flavors reflect caramel, burnt orange and a whisper of smoke, but then a mouth-warming wave of tannic bite sweeps over all and lingers for a good long time. Straight up or on the rocks."

[gfweb]

Its NYC. A drink at Bemelmans is about ten bucks for 1.5oz.

Its for charity. Twenty bucks is nothing to give to charity and you are getting a drink too. Make it $30.

You just have to present the proposition properly.

[rotuts]

2/20 sounds about right to me.

but the real issue is just because its a charity does not mean there will be an overflow of $$$$ going your way.

it depends on how much $$$$$$ your group has. not everyone in NYC sucks the juice out of Goldman/Sacks.

I think its key that the people that come feel respected. Being generous to them helps them to also be generous to the charity.

unless they group is a collection of billion-airs. then soak them. its very unlikely that they actually earned that first or second billion.

also some people might just be curious and ask for a 'taste' id be. i pretty much hate rye, but Id give it a try for a very small amount. for that amount the price is 'a donation'

Edited December 20, 2011 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

BTW, after the event, id like to hear what your strategy was and how the rye moved.

[slkinsey]

Let's say Whistlepig is $60 a bottle from the distributor. That's about $2.40 per ounce. A typical costing formula might be based on a 20% ingredient cost. That works out to a charge of $12 per ounce. Meaning that it might sell at $18 for a 1.5 ounce pour or $24 for a 2 ounce pour.

There are a several ways you could play this...

On the one hand, you could decide to be generous since the booze was donated, split the difference and charge $20 for a 2 ounce pour.

On the other hand, you could decide that it's for charity and charge even more than $12 per ounce. So you could charge $20 for the 1.5 ounce pour, for example, or even $25. People aren't there buying drams of rye because it's cheap.

Or, on the other other hand, you could decide that people at a function like this aren't likely to tell the difference between a 1.5 ounce pour and a 2 ounce pour, and charge the full $18 for the 1.5 ounce pour. That will seem to most people like a better value than $20 for the 2 ounce pour, and the charity gets to make more money.