Let’s just clarify something upfront. There’s the whisky’s age and then there is how long you have had it tucked away. For example, a Bowmore 25 year old is – and always will be – a 25 year old. The age statement defines how long the whisky has matured in casks before being bottled. Once it is in the bottle, the aging stops (as per the Scotch Whisky Association regulations).So if you inherited the Bowmore 25 year old from your father, who bought it in 1994 (just an example), then it is a 25 year old whisky which you’ve had for 20 years. Not a 45 year old whisky as I’ve heard from far too many people before.
Another thing I’ve seen is people reading the date the distillery was established which is shown prominently on some brands – like The Glenlivet which proudly shows “Est 1824” on the bottle – and saying that the whisky is almost 200 years old! It’s not.
Now that I’ve got that out the way, yes – age matters a lot. As a general rule, the older (the age on the bottle) the whisky the more its worth.