[Drinking] Long term investment in Malt Whiskey

[Colonel Mustard]

In Whisky, yes but nothing specific for goodness sake. Invest in whatever you want, just saying it’s a good investment.

Sorry to nitpick but you said your advice was to invest in whisky. My response was that this advice was too simplistic. There are a stack of caveats, some of which I mentioned.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Whisky doesn’t improve or change once’s it’s bottled until the bottle is open, so no need for temperature controlled storage, the cupboard under the stairs is perfectly adequate.

The only caveat to this is ensuring that the bottle and labels are kept as pristine as possible. It made a difference when we sold off a load of old booze accumulated by my father in law. They were sold through a specialised auction house in London. Bonkers prices, even for old Johnnie Walker.

 

[Superphil]

Interesting item. I'm sure that this would be sought after, though possibly more as a historical artefact than as a whisky.

To be fair, the people who buy one-off/special whiskies have no intention of ever drinking them.

 

[Superphil]

The only caveat to this is ensuring that the bottle and labels are kept as pristine as possible. It made a difference when we sold off a load of old booze accumulated by my father in law. They were sold through a specialised auction house in London. Bonkers prices, even for old Johnnie Walker.

Totally agree. My wife sells these at the auction house she works at and the collectors prefer the pristine bottles for sure. But if it’s rare, or properly unusual, they’ll pay

 

[heathgate]

I’ve a friend who follows whiskey and whisky forums, blogs, websites etc and looks out for special and limited edition bottlings from distillers, he’ll generally buy two bottles, drink one and keep the other. They do appreciate (in value) with age and even some he’s only had for a few years he’s been able to realise a decent return on. Also keeps an eye out on auction sites, not eBay, actual auction companies.
I found a bottle of QEII blended whisky, in a flagon, in an auction, not a particularly decent whisky at all, but he bought if for under £100, on the whisky sites people are paying over double For it.
Weirdest one I’ve seen is a special bottling that Al Fayad had done to serve on his yacht, I picked it up for a song it's still full and unopened and it looks like I may have struck gold with it. Sakara was the name of his yacht
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That'll be worth a bob or two,.... I would make you an offer if it is genuinely still sesled... but a specialist auction is the way to go with that....... I'll take it off your hands for £150 if you fancy it.

 

[Superphil]

That'll be worth a bob or two,.... I would make you an offer if it is genuinely still sesled... but a specialist auction is the way to go with that....... I'll take it off your hands for £150 if you fancy it.

As you say, it’s a bit of a novelty, it’s 100% sealed and original. The wife knows the market pretty well and it’s gone to a collector friend already so sadly it’s spoken for.

 

[Superphil]

And tonight I’m enjoying this, which I didn’t buy as an investment, but would probably increase in value year on year

 

[Doonhamer7]

I have both bottle and cask investment whisky. see it as a bit of a hobby and a growing market, the head of Chivas Regal said that once trade deal done with India he expects a supply demand issue as loss of duty could see doubling of demand. Also if you see the size of the new expansions at Glenfiddich and Macallan there is serious investment. There are also so many new craft distilleries starting.

Cask investment - I did a lot of research on the broker (you can go direct to some distilleries but most are closed to private buyers) before I paid my money. I’m looking at 8-10% yield per year on a brand new distilled alcohol (won’t be whisky for 3 years) (8% yield was the lowest the broker had made in past decade) and it’s free of capital gains tax as the angels share means it is deemed a depreciating asset. the 8-10% is based on 5 year sell, I’m holding for 12+. I bought two casks of Annandale whisky, stored at the distillery. Pernod Richard have offered over £300m to buy the distillery and was rejected so I’m taking that as a good sign. Most cask purchases are from newer distilleries as it helps their cash flow (You’ll not find many casks for sale from the likes of MacAllan, The Glenlivet or Glenfiddich as they can buy bonds based on their assets in store so don't need to sell their whisky early). After I bought casks got sent free samples of whisky (both Man of Swords and Man of Words), since been invited to evening session with other investors and given a sales pitch and free whisky. i Was also going to buy direct from Arran distillery but cask went up from £3750 to £5000 Per cask. I did see that Uil biest distillery (which is <3yrs old so no whisky yet) will sell a cask at £7500 for 250litres. I wouldn’t touch whiskey (American or other) as an investment as not the same stringent control

Bottles Investment. I have a few, started with Diageo’s game of thrones set, currently up about £700 on this, 3 or 4 first bottlings from new distilleries (just bought one from the Isle of Harris (Hearach) and one 35year old (up From £500 to £750 in first year). To do bottles I think you need a lot more research time. A friend mine bought two bottles of Clynlesh 35year old for £5000 about 10 years ago, price is now £5000 a bottle, so he has started drinking one as he says it’s now free

Mark Littler does a good set of videos on YouTube on cask investment (pros and cons) so worth watching.

 

[Doonhamer7]

Just received 3x50ml bottles from my whisky broker today as a wee Xmas present.