Cheers! I imagine excise is factored into the price of the...

Cheers! I imagine excise is factored into the price of the bottle. Their two standard rotation offerings around 43% are classic cask (43%) and symphony (42%). They are between $150 and $180 a bottle (500ml). I think the $260 checks out (assuming the tax on a 700ml bottle of spirits at 40% is around $20). Seems their estimate is conservative.

Then dark lark is like $250 for 500mls at 41%.

My original comment was more 'thinking out loud'. wondering if this is a positive or negative.

on the positive side they can sell water for a premium price!

On the negative side, I believe that Larks future is a premium brand (ie not 'affordable' 40% ish). much of the whisky officionado community demand a minimum 46% and have a huge tendency towards cask strength (generally 50% to 65%). Larks higher ABV releases aren't that much more expensive (special releases excluded) than the lower ABV bottles but are subject to more tax. I wonder if the net cost across the ABVs is similar? Which means that if cask strength becomes the preference then the 2.1million litres cannot be used in valuations.

The upside is that if the proverbial hit the fan and they had to fire sale. they could blend it all together at 40% and sell a blended version which they could charge a decent amount for and would have more than 2.1million litres!