Whisky Forum - Investing in Whisky

kris1985 · Guest

Hi, does anyone else here invest in Whisky? I don't have much experience as i usually invest in property but this is something i would like to get into. I have been looking at The Whisky Market and i am interested in buying Casks. Can anyone please provide any advice?

opelfruit · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 8:57 pm Post subject:

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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

Quaich1 · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:03 pm Post subject: Re: Investing in Whisky

Mark · Master Of Malts Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 1663

If you buy casks as an investment you will need to consider where you will sell all those bottles once the whisky has matured as you will have a lot of bottles to sell. You also have to look beyond the cost of the casks, there will also be storage costs, taxes and duty,bottling costs transportation costs. Frankly I would advise against it as a way for an individual to make money.

I would say as an individual investing in whisky, it is best to stick to whisky which has already been bottled, but the trick is knowing which releases will make money. If you read through old posts on here and hang around here long enough the forum should point you at a few good investments. You really have to know the whisky brands and what whisky drinkers think of the brands to be able to spot a good whisky investment.

opelfruit · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:16 pm Post subject:

Or just leave whisky to people who want to buy it to drink? I know, I know, crazy right?
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

Diademo · Master Of Malts Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 1255

You are bit too late for cask investing.

Genuine Risk · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 9:48 am Post subject:

I think Diademo is right the price of buying a cask has shot up over the past couple of years.

In fact since your last post in January about buying a cask I have noticed some prices have jumped over 10%

Anyone know which distillery has a guaranteed return on buying a cask, one was launched a couple of months ago. Will post it when it pops into my head.

I still think money could be made buying a cask and maturing for 20 plus years, but not enough as justify the risk.
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Genuine Risk · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 9:56 am Post subject:

Strathearn distillery
We are offering a unique opportunity to anyone who would like to invest in "Probably Scotland's Smallest Distillery"?

Our 2015 cask buy back offer is straight forward and allows you to receive a guaranteed return. We are offering the opportunity to buy a 100 litre cask of our whisky and lay it down with us for four years. At the end of the four year period we guarantee to buy back the cask off you for Â£2650 and we will gift you the first six bottles of cask strength malt from that cask.

Your cask will be held by Strathearn Distillery in our bond for the duration of the buy back scheme. For full terms and conditions please email investor@strathearndistillery.com

Cask Buy Back Offer is Â£2015.00 per 100 litre cask.
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Putting the func in dysfunctional.

sorren · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:59 pm Post subject:

Mr g risk, are you part of strath earn distillery ?

TheWM · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:36 pm Post subject:

Seems like a great deal on the face of it. Better than money in the bank and you get some whisky too. Trying to think of ways that you would lose out on this and barring some biblical type of disaster seems a pretty straight forward deal for the company (increased liquidity up front) and the customer benefits too.

Anyone know what the whisky from this distillery is like?

sorren · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:05 pm Post subject:

It's a lot of money though for a 100 ltr cask,

Genuine Risk · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:31 pm Post subject:

opelfruit · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:31 pm Post subject:

Not really. It's not costing you anything. You get a guaranteed Â£650 back after 4 years plus 6 bottles of whisky from your cask. They're doing it to get some cash flow, they're basically getting Â£2015 from you and it's costing them 7% compound interest a year. They do that for 100 people and they are getting Â£200K loan over 4 years for 7% - probably a lot better than a business loan.

....it's also a lot better than you'll get in the bank at the moment......hmmm, maybe I should take my money out of my ISA...

...no, no, can't do it. Whisky investment is the work of Satan.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

MikeEdi · Single Malt Member Joined: 13 Sep 2014 Posts: 36

It's interesting to compare the Annandale & Strathearn distillery's offers...
After you normalize for the same 10 years duration of maturation, Strathearn is asking about the same money as Annandale - just north of 2000-2100 pounds, but for twice as little whisky: Strathearn (per 100 ltr), Annandale (per 200 ltr).
Anyone has any ideas why Strathearn are effectively twice as expensive?

opelfruit · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 8:37 pm Post subject:

You're not buying the cask with Strathearn, per se, you're giving them a loan secured against the cask of new make spirit. They buy it back from you at the end of the term and pay you interest and give you some whisky. As I've not read the terms and conditions though it's all a bit of assumption Wink

Don't forget, if you buy a cask of new make (whatever the size) you are not going to get the whole lot back. If you buy 200 liters of new make then after 10 years you will be getting less back due to evaporation. The amount lost will depend on many factors so you may get more or less than someone else who buys a similar cask.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."