‘Fantastic time to be a whisky drinker’ as Hedonism launches own-label range

Mayfair drinks boutique Hedonism Wines may be best-known for its well-heeled clientele and high-priced bottles, but the retailer’s new own-label whiskies aim to combine exclusivity with affordability – aided, ironically enough, by difficult trading conditions in the whisky market. Richard Woodard reports.

The recent downturn in the rare whisky category has been difficult to ignore, consumers voting with their wallets as prices reached unsustainable levels, exacerbated by deteriorating macroeconomic conditions. But now there are signs of a recalibration in the sector and, as pricing softens, might people be drawn back into the market?

It can be hard to measure this kind of shift but, even at the very top of the market, launches appear to have been priced more realistically this year. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/05/quality-over-quantity-for-todays-rare-whisky-releases/ Now upscale London drinks retailer Hedonism Wines has unveiled its first own-label single malt whiskies, and the chatter surrounding the launch centres more on affordability than luxury.

The first Hedonism whiskies are a pair of single-cask, cask-strength single malts: a 20-year-old Laphroaig (52.3% ABV) at £195 a bottle, and a 15-year-old Bunnahabhain (50.5% ABV) at £115. The Laphroaig was filled into a refill ex-Bourbon cask on 21 September 2005 and bottled in April; the Bunna’ was distilled on 11 November 2010, matured in a first-fill ex-Sherry hogshead and bottled in February.

The Laphroaig is said to show its trademark “maritime, medicinal and heavily peated” character, while the Bunnahabhain displays “rich, nutty Sherry notes” and the distillery’s “signature oily texture and coastal character”. In both cases, the quantities are small: only 128 bottles and 59 bottles respectively – and the casks are now empty.

According to David Mellor, Hedonism’s head of spirits, the move into own-label independent bottling was a logical next step, given that the retailer has been collaborating with distilleries on exclusive products for more than a decade. He adds: “Whisky pricing has broadly moved down since the post-pandemic peak, and this has also affected casks. As bottlers and distilleries look to reduce their inventories, there’s an opportunity to acquire some very special casks.

“More importantly, it’s about what our customers are asking for. What a certain type of client increasingly wants is the thing an independent bottling can offer that an official release often can’t: full transparency on cask type, distillation date, outturn and the specific reasoning why this cask was chosen.”

Two single malts and fewer than 200 bottles constitutes a relatively low-key start to Hedonism’s own-label programme, but there’s more to come, including a “heavily Sherried” 19-year-old Glen Garioch, a 15-year-old Bowmore and a “highly limited” 50-year-old Scotch slated for release later this year.

Beyond that, the liquid will have the final say. “We’re not putting pressure on ourselves to meet a release schedule or commit to a minimum number of bottlings per year – if we find something incredible, we’ll bottle it; if we don’t, we’ll keep searching,” Mellor explains.

For now, Scotch is the sole focus, but he admits that single-barrel Bourbon would be “the logical next step”, adding: “We’ve secured some very interesting rum casks, which may make an appearance in 2027, but nothing concrete at this stage.”

The overriding emphasis of the range, Hedonism says, is on “flavour, individuality and value, rather than collectability” – a signal, perhaps, of how the market has shifted after the fervour of the late 2010s and early 2020s.

The thinking that underpins the choice of the whiskies, Mellor explains, is “a triangulation between distillery reputation, liquid quality and price point. We’re looking to bring great whiskies from well-loved distilleries to clients at a price that makes sense in the current market”. He cites the Laphroaig 20-year-old as a “prime example” of this philosophy.

No doubt the central ethos is, at least in part, a response to changing market conditions – but those same conditions enable retailers like Hedonism to source quality casks with good age and provenance at more competitive prices in the first place.

“There’s no denying that the market has fallen significantly from the heights of the post-pandemic boom, and it’s very much a buyer’s market in some respects – it’s part of a cycle we’ve seen repeated over the decades,” says Mellor.

“We believe this is a fantastic time to be a whisky drinker … and a good time to be a bottler. Lots of fantastic casks are now looking for new homes as investors, blenders and distilleries rationalise their inventories. I expect we’ll see more delicious whiskies at wallet-friendly prices in the near future.”

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