From the front page · Thread · The whole shelf · 2026-08-13

The Jameson family stays fair until the premium bottles land

1/Six bottles from the Midleton family were priced live this week: the Jamesons, Powers Gold, Redbreast 12 and the Very Rare. Four of them sit within a few per cent of their own fair value. Two do not.

2/The everyday end is honest. Jameson's litre is almost dead on its own jury at $79. Powers Gold ($70), the Caskmates stout finish ($73) and Black Barrel ($71) all land within about four per cent of fair.

3/The pooled reviews taste the part — toffee, toasted malt, a stout-cask edge, approachable Irish whiskey priced like it at this end.

4/Then the tail. Redbreast 12 at $136 runs 19% over its own jury, and Midleton Very Rare at $434 tops the shelf at 26% over. That is age and scarcity, not a deal, and nobody is pretending otherwise.

5/So the Midleton shelf splits cleanly: four honest pours and two bottles you buy for the badge. For the everyday dram, the $70 Powers or the $73 Caskmates? (Dan Murphy's, this Thursday.)

Sources

generate_cycle.py replay payload, artefact 2026-08-13-replay/whole-shelf/midleton-region-4c8399, vintage 2026-08-13.r, pack region-midleton-aggregate.json. Gap basis: percentage.
Coverage: 6 of 6 members observed live in the 2026-08-13 harvest (100%); no carried prices. Price band $62.00–$433.99, median $73.97; CE 360° mean-avg about $110.52.
Hot (smallest premium over own CE 360° mean, all observed): Jameson Blended 1L $79 (1.67% over); Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition $73 (2.54%); Powers Gold Label $70 (2.69%); Jameson Black Barrel $71 (3.71%).
Cold (largest premium): Midleton Very Rare $434 (26.23% over); Redbreast 12 Year Old $136 (19.03%).
Words (Midleton region, parent-relative, 5 reviews pooled): stout, whiskey, jameson, toasted, toffee, golden.

Omissions

Full coverage: 6 of 6 members priced live, no carried prices to name.
The Sources cut is the aggregate's stored top/bottom movers, not the full six-bottle ranking (the sidecar does not store every member's gap).
Four members cluster between 1.67% and 3.71% over their own jury; only Redbreast 12 and Midleton Very Rare form the premium tail. Stated as a current cross-sectional read, not a claim about prices over time.

Notes for reviewer

'Hot'/'cold' are value-position labels only (premium over each bottle's own CE 360° mean); no hot member sits below its mean, so 'honest' means closest to fair value, not a discount.
Midleton Very Rare and Redbreast 12 are the only genuine premium members; the piece foregrounds them as the tail rather than presenting the whole shelf as dear.
Replay draft on rehearsal vintage 2026-08-13.r; may_publish: false and never flips in replay.

Format note

Whole Shelf, scope Midleton (region), vintage 2026-08-13.r (pack region-midleton-aggregate.json). Gap basis percentage (price range $62.00-$433.99, ratio >= 2). Coverage 6 of 6 members priced live in the 2026-08-13 harvest (100%); no carried prices. ce_gap_pct is each bottle's premium over its own CE 360 mean; 'hot' means closest to fair value, never a bargain, never sales velocity or trend. Sources holds the stored top/bottom cut, not every member.

Frontmatter as merged

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source file: drafts/2026-08-13-whole-shelf-midleton-honest-until-the-rare.md