1/Two American whiskeys the engine's profile model keeps shelving together: Jack Daniel's Old No.7 and Buffalo Trace. On make-up it reads them as close kin, a cosine of 0.94. Both sit at or near their own floor this week — the Jack a litre at $73, the Buffalo Trace a 700 at $56.

2/Check the measure before the money. The Jack is a full litre; the Buffalo Trace a standard 700. Per litre that's $73 against roughly $80. So the Kentucky bourbon is the dearer pour by volume, even with the lower ticket. The shelf price flatters it.

3/Where they part is worth. On value-for-money the model doesn't rate the pairing at all — it scores near zero. A Tennessee whiskey and a Kentucky bourbon that drink in the same register, then, not one filling in for the other. Shared character, different answers.

4/Both near their own floor, and together they come to $129, a shade under their recent average. Two everyday American pours at keen tickets. Which earns the daily shelf spot for you — the $73 Jack by the litre, or the $56 Buffalo Trace? Tell me what yours rings up.