Hors d'Age at $46! An omen of impending rumflation?

I swung by the local liquor superstore yesterday, and was shocked to see that the price for a bottle of St. James Hors d'Age had jumped from $35 to $46 in just one week. I couldn't believe it. Luckily, my small neighborhood liquor store had one bottle left at $33, which I promptly snatched up.

Can we expect similar spikes in pricing for other premium rums?

It's all about oil.

Back in the 70s the US made a decision to stop tapping certain US oil reserves and cut back on others. Ever since then the reliance on foreign oil has caused a continuous reverse roller coaster ride to the cost of doing business, and thus, cost of living. The direction is one of ever rising. We have now arrived at a point where the US economy is heading down the tubes because of it. Petroleum goes into lots of stuff besides transportation. You can attribute the rise in cost of just about everything mainly to oil. Of course, in the matter of rum, should the sugar cane crops that supply the rum industry be adversely affected that would have a dramatic effect. But for the most part it's all about the oil.

Anyway, I'd say we can expect to see rumflation across the board eventually. Stock up when you can.

Freakin spelling

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2008-04-28 06:29 ]

When vodka and whiskey went upscale, making more was just a matter of building a new distillery and buying all the corn, rye or whatever you needed to ferment and make booze. Rum comes from sugar cane, which is mostly grown on tropical islands, meaning limited land area and water resources. Brazil grows a lot of cane too, but they mostly use it for fuel production. Unless there's a glut of molasses (and there may well be - I don't know) it seems like it may be harder to ramp up production of quality rums than it was for other spirits (especially vodka). And if there's limited quantity and greater demand, the price goes up.

So, another local chain still has an ample supply of Hors d'Age priced at $32. I wonder how long that will last.

Has anyone else witnessed a similar spike in rum prices in other parts of the country/world?