← The Gauge / May 2026 edition
The May 2026 Reading
at a glanceSecondary floors weakened 4.1 points in May 2026, from 34.6% average erosion to 38.7%. It rests on 6 bottles measured in both months. The movement was not uniform: 3 of the 6 matched bottles weakened, 3 moved the other way. The largest single change was Eagle Rare 17 2025, whose floor erosion weakened 29.8 points, from 11.0% to 40.8%.
60 of 544 reconciled claims remain contested and are excluded from every figure above. These measurements say what moved, not why, and nothing here forecasts whether the move holds — that argument belongs to The Wantage.
Secondary Floors
matched basket · 6 bottlesEach comparison uses only bottles measured in both months, so it reports movement rather than a change of sample. A negative figure means floors firmed.
| Period | Bottles matched | From | To | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 → May 2026 | 6 | 34.6% | 38.7% | +4.1 | weakened |
Floor erosion is the fall from a bottle's peak observed secondary price to its current floor, as a percentage. The basket currently holds 6 bottles appearing in two or more months. Vintage and age statement are part of a bottle's identity — Stagg 2024 and Stagg 2025, Pappy 15 and Pappy 23, are tracked separately.
Sample Composition
published, not hiddenFor transparency, the raw monthly spread below is not a trend measure — it reflects which bottles each month's issues featured, and its month-to-month swings are largely composition. It is published so the matched comparison above can be checked against the underlying sample.
| Month | Days measured | Floor erosion (mean) | Floor erosion (median) | Realized as % of peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 partial | 18 | 29.3% | 28.1% | 72.8% |
| May 2026 | 23 | 40.8% | 42.8% | 60.7% |
Industry Activity
confirmed and reconciledEach is a discrete action by a named company or agency — a label approval, a production decision, a leadership change, a corporate move, a distribution change.
Method
how the figures are madeEvery figure is derived from the daily brief’s own records. Four rules govern what appears here.
Months with fewer than 20 measured days are marked partial and are excluded from trend statements.
Corrections are welcomed and published — see corrections. If you hold better data on a contested figure, tell us and it will be reflected.
Cite as: The Gauge, Vol. 1 No. 1 (May 2026), Drunken Unicorn Productions.
Revisions
first published 2026-07-29The figures below moved after publication because the sample deepened, not because the market did. The measurement is restated rather than quietly replaced.
On 2026-07-30 the parser was corrected to read every bottle the daily brief audits rather than the first one on the page. The brief had been recording three readings a day since April and two of every three were being discarded. Nothing about the market changed; the instrument did.