whisky as an investment

[Trustmeimadoctor]

Talking a barrel not a bottle any ideas

[ZOLLAR]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Talking a barrel not a bottle any ideas

Interesting, I think I like my Whisky too much to not just drink it
I assume the barrel(s) would remain at the distillery?

[NRS]

I generally wouldn't - and I have a lot of whisky bottles myself.

Reasons:

• It takes a long time to realise the gains. The market could be very different in 10 years time.
• Will the gains be any better than say stocks in this time?
• Which distillery will you go for? Generally the "investor" type distilleries will not bother with selling barrels since they are firmly established and the extra effort to do your cask is not worth it. Plus it takes up space in the warehouse they can use for their own stuff.
• It is possible to buy in newer companies - but they come with a risk. If you see what happened to the PH casks they had issues with the distillery making things difficult as the distillery wanted to use the space, and so in the end the PH casks got moved to a warehouse storage company. Also if the company turns out to make bad/ ok whisky it might not come with much gains.

Lastly (and not see it mentioned elsewhere but it's a feeling I have) there seems to be a lot of new distilleries opening during current times. When they get established there could be a relatively big flood of whisky into the market that could lower prices. Or even if not then there could be a lot of competition between the smaller new distilleries and so if you get the wrong one it might not sell too well.

Not to mention the risk of you getting a bad cask/ you not getting the timing right (too short/ long in the cask) etc.

Whisky bottles is probably a better option, but as with a lot of physical assets these days the market is inflated due to low interest rates and so it will probably be painful if you get stuck with a lot of bottles you bought at the highs when things go down.

[Ozzie Osmond]

When whisky is in storage a small amount evaporates away through the porous wood of the cask. From time to time the distillery opens the casks and tops them up. How would you deal with this at home (or wherever)?

Whisky in bottle is sealed in and can usually be relied upon as "genuine". (Yes, I know there are counterfeits out there as well). If you have a cask, how would you convince a potential buyer that the contents have not been tampered with in some way?

[Trustmeimadoctor]

Well it would be stored in a bonded warehouse for a start. They dont top up barrels its the angels share its just lost so you start with 300 bottles and end up with less. Its a new distillery the barrel price seemed quite good

[ZOLLAR]

Ozzie Osmond said:

When whisky is in storage a small amount evaporates away through the porous wood of the cask. From time to time the distillery opens the casks and tops them up. How would you deal with this at home (or wherever)?

Whisky in bottle is sealed in and can usually be relied upon as "genuine". (Yes, I know there are counterfeits out there as well). If you have a cask, how would you convince a potential buyer that the contents have not been tampered with in some way?

As I guessed the Cask is kept with the distillery, similar to buying gold bars I imagine.
You buy title to the item but don't take stewardship of it?

http://www.strathearndistillery.com/cask-ownership...


EDIT,

Poster NRS makes some good points.

[NRS]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Well it would be stored in a bonded warehouse for a start. They dont top up barrels its the angels share its just lost so you start with 300 bottles and end up with less. Its a new distillery the barrel price seemed quite good

Which one is it? It is also worth checking if you are allowed to sell it or not - I think some of them have rules so they don't get lots of competition when they start selling their own whisky (not such a big problem with a big company but it could have an effect for a small new distillery).

[Ozzie Osmond]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Its a new distillery the barrel price seemed quite good

Interesting, might be worth a go! Bit of fun if nothing else.

With Scotch, at what point is Duty charged? I think it's when the bottled stuff actually leaves the producer's Bonded Warehouse.

[ZOLLAR]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Its a new distillery the barrel price seemed quite good

Interesting, might be worth a go! Bit of fun if nothing else.

With Scotch, at what point is Duty charged? I think it's when the bottled stuff actually leaves the producer's Bonded Warehouse.

To avoid duty couldn't we just arrange a piss up in a distillery..

[andy ted]

A friend bought 12 bottles of Snow Phoenix for £70 a bottle when it first came out so he has done alright based on a quick Google! but a) we keep drinking it and b) its not the most liquid of assets (excuse the pun!) its just stored in his house, not even sure if he would be able to sell it at all easily.

[NRS]

andy ted said:

A friend bought 12 bottles of Snow Phoenix for £70 a bottle when it first came out so he has done alright based on a quick Google! but a) we keep drinking it and b) its not the most liquid of assets (excuse the pun!) its just stored in his house, not even sure if he would be able to sell it at all easily.

It has done well, but depends on where you are looking as to how well. Amazon is generally nonsense in regards to pricing. Seems to be around £250-280 now. However there is a big difference to actual bottles and buying casks. Also a lot of bottles may also go down in value, so there is a risk there. You can sell it easily in the UK - put it in for online auction at say Scotchwhiskyauctions or whiskyauctioneer or another. Generally around 5-10% for the auction costs.