Single malts might have grabbed all the headlines in recent years, but there’s a growing feeling that there are two whisky categories that have been somewhat neglected but whose time will eventually come. And I’m starting to get the feeling that that time really isn’t that far away at all.

The first is grain whisky. Grain whisky is made in a totally different way to single malt whisky, on continuous stills which extract high strength alcohol by forcing grain beer against pressurised steam in large columns. It is the whisky which is mixed with single malts to make blended whisky, and it has had limited success on its own.

That’s partly because it has unfairly earned a reputation for being bland an uninteresting. But there are many examples where its sweet and vanillery components make for a delightfully refreshing alternative to single malt, and more than that, there are grain whiskies which are world class.

Indeed its biggest weakness can be its biggest strength. On the down side, grain whisky does not have as much flavour as single malt when it is first made.  – but the upside of this is that it is a blank canvas and if you put it in a high quality cask and leave it for long enough, all sorts of magic happens. Leave it for in excess of 30 years and it’s capable of developing the bourbony characteristics of the American oak bourbon cask but combining them with distinctly Scottish notes.

I’m fortunate enough to have tried a 50 year old grain whisky, and it is stunning example of what grain can be about.  Independent bottler Mahesh Patel is so convinced by grain that two aged grains from the 1960s form part of his four whisky Sirius range..

I think these sort of releases will become more common in the coming months as distillers look to new areas as they try to meet the huge demand for whisky worldwide and people discover the joys of aged grain. Grain also tends in general to be less expensive than single malt whisky, so it provides a great opportunity to taste genuinely old whisky.

The other category which is growing and set to stir the excitement is blended malt whiskies – and there’s an irony in this because blended malts are different to blended whisky because they don’t use grain. In the right hands they offer the opportunity to create something genuinely new taste-wise while moving away from traditional whisky imagery and packaging.

There are some real crackers around. Peat Monster and Spice Tree from Compass Box are blended malts, the Double Barrel range from Douglas Laing bring together malts from just two distilleries, and Clan Denny Islay and Speyside do exactly what they say on the tin, bringing together the best flavours for each region from a range of distilleries. And don’t forget The Big Peat, a surefire winner with Whisky Shop customers for nigh on two years now.

Exciting stuff – and absolute proof that  there’s always something new to excite the palate.

We put our experts on a budget and sent them shopping…

If I Had £100…

ANDY SIMPSON
Stay away from three or four bottles of volume-produced single malt. Two bottles of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix at £69.99 would have been a good start. If you can stretch the budget a little for any new single cask release from Ardbeg, at around £110-£125 a bottle these tend to double in value once sold out. This year’s ‘Earl Magnus’ release from Highland Park (Earl Haakon – an 18-year-old) should be another good option providing the retail price hasn’t gone through the roof. There’s also word that Dalmore may be releasing a single cask distillery exclusive
(or two!).

DARREN LEITCH
Try and find a limited edition bottle from a good distillery. The 200th anniversary bottle from Jura or the 175th anniversary Glenfarclas are good starting points.

MAHESH PATEL
One bottle from Glenfiddich, The Macallan, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Mortlach, Dalmore, Glenmorangie, Springbank, Glenfarclas Highland Park distilleries or a limited release such as the Dalmore Rivers collection.

DAVID ROBERTSON
Ardbeg, Port Ellen, Brora, Highland Park, Springbank – look out for single cask releases, very limited volumes, highly drinkable distilleries. Buy two – drink one and keep one and at least you will be doing your bit to take some supply out of the market; helping to push the price of your remaining bottle upwards!

If I Had £1,000…

ANDY SIMPSON
If you want to blow the budget on one bottle go for a bottle of Port Ellen first release if you can find one (it originally cost under £100 in 2001 so there’s already a hefty premium on top of the initial cost). Granted, this bottle has gone up a lot recently, but it shows no signs of stopping. If you want to spend this on a couple of fine examples try the new Macallan Albert Watson (Masters of Photography) for around £600 and go for whichever rare vintage is released from Glenfiddich this year for around £400 ish. Both should show good return in a few years. Be quick, though, as these bottles tend not to hang around for long.

DARREN LEITCH
I would go for history, preferably from a closed distillery. It means
a longer-term investment but something like a Rosebank, Port Ellen, Brora or St Magdalene from the Old Malt Cask or Provenance range would be excellent.

MAHESH PATEL
Multiple bottles of new releases from around £75 to £150 each. You may want to pick up some older releases, but you are buying them at peak. Port Ellen annual releases have shown to be very good investments at this price point.

DAVID ROBERTSON
Have a look at some silent stills; buy across Rosebank, Port Ellen, Brora, Glen Mhor and Glen Albyn, and consider some of the limited releases from Balvenie, Glenfiddich, Macallan, The Dalmore and Highland Park.

If I Had £10,000…

ANDY SIMPSON
Dalmore Candela would be a safe bet. Released in 2009 with only 77 bottles you can more
than likely still pick one up for near the initial release price of £7,500, leaving you some change for one or two other bottles.

DARREN LEITCH
Take a plunge and get the Highland Park 50-year-old because Highland Park has been coming up and is now up there with Bowmore and Springbank. It’s a good investment.

MAHESH PATEL
My preference would be to focus on a few higher-end bottles as these will appreciate faster due to the limited availability of the product. Go for the likes of the Gold Bowmore. Here you could also buy old releases that are no longer available from auctions or private collectors.

DAVID ROBERTSON
This gets a bit easier as we reach the rarefied air towards the apex of the malt category. The Dalmore Candela, which is available for £7,500 (77 bottles released), Vintage Macallan from its ‘Fine & Rare’ collection or some iconic cult classics from the past – Macallan Original 50-year-old, or buy a 1946 and a 1948 from Macallan for around £4-£5k each as a pair. It may well also be worth considering a selection of ‘antique bottles’. The team at Gordon & MacPhail had success with a Mortlach 70-year-old last year, has just released a Glenlivet 70-year-old and rumour has it that they have some more very old casks yet to be bottled for release – watch this space…

If I Had £100,000…

ANDY SIMPSON
The first bottle that springs to mind is Dalmore Trinitas. You could have picked one up for the princely sum of £100,000 last year… if you want the last of the three bottles released you’ll need to find an extra £20,000 to buy it from Harrods for £120,000. In reality, though, if you’re looking to start a collection with this type of money my advice would be to obtain a blended (pardon the pun) portfolio of different single malt bottles from different distilleries.
If you combine new releases with older bottles you could realistically expect to buy 100-200 classic investors’ bottles while also spreading your risk and minimising your exposure to one distillery. You could get some Springbank Local Barley (the 1966s in the wooden boxes sell for more than the 1965s in the card box), some decent Macallan vintages, some older bottles from silent distilleries and a cross section of Rare Malt Selection bottles (these are currently experiencing what’s known as ‘Rare Malt Madness’ with virtually every one of the 85 or so different bottles being sought after).

DARREN LEITCH
Bowmore 40-year-old, 55-year-old Macallan and about £12,000 on Ardbeg Double Barrel are all possibilities. Then I’d use some to get bottles from my birth year.

MAHESH PATEL
My personal investing method is to buy less but big as I have found this to yield the best bang for your money. Again my preference would be to concentrate on high-end bottles.
I would buy the following:
• Glenfiddich 50yo
• Bowmore 40yo
• G & M Glenlivet 70yo
• Dalmore Eos
• Highland Park 50yo
• Existing older releases from all the ‘premier cru’ distilleries, such as Black Bowmores, Macallan vintages, etc.

DAVID ROBERTSON
Only a very few bottles are available here – The Macallan 60-year-old – they released
some under the Peter Blake label, some by Valerio Adami and both would be worth around £100K today if you can prise them out of a collector or investor’s tight grip! The only other option is from The Dalmore – our recently released 64-year-old Trinitas – one of only three produced. Alternatively The Dalmore 62-year-old should now be worth £75k-plus. Should you be unsuccessful in tracking trophies like these down, then contact the distillery of your choice and ask to create a bespoke, one-of-a-kind expression, where you select the liquid, the packaging and
get a great experience thrown in too!

How do you go about making money from whisky? Rare whiskies and investment expert Andy Simpson of Whisky Highland explains…

Why is whisky an investment now? The Whisky Shop Chairman Ian Bankier explains…

Andy Simpson runs Whisky Highland and has the most advanced research in whisky trends. Dominic Roskrow spoke to him…

Meet Darren Leitch, manager of three branches of The Whisky Shop and encyclopaedic whisky specialist, and meet his advice on investing in whisky…

David Robertson is responsible for rare whiskies at Whyte & Mackay, whose malts include The Dalmore and Jura. Here he offers investment advice…

Investment: independent whisky bottlers vs official bottlers?

Three days late, but nevertheless, lots to like…

The Nth Show
Ask any of the High Rollers who paid extra for their tickets and who attended the ‘speed dating’ session where they got to try high end whiskies and talk to some of the people behnind making them, and they’d have told you that they would have gone home happy there and then – before the show proper had even started.

The next 24 hours were no disappointment, either – a fabulous collection of whisky, a great venue in the Wynn Encore Hotel, high class exhibitors and some excellent masterclasses on the Saturday.

Highlight for me was the Anchor masterclass, which featured a 40 year old Strathisla, BenRiach 21 Authenticus, GlenDronach 33 Year Old, and Hotlings American Whiskey. Beat that.
Next year Mahesh Patel is threatening to hire a fleet of helicopters to fly the high rollers to the glass bridge over the Grand canyon for as whisky tasting. don’t bet against it…

Irish whiskey
Suddenly The Whisky – or should that be Whiskey – Shop has lots of wonderful Irish whiskey. In addition to the Irish Distillers range including Redbreast and the new Jameson Select there’s an assortment of gems which includes Writer’s Tears, the Cooley range, and The Irishman.
And one thoroughly recommended addition is Irishman 70.
Made with a mix of single malt from Bushmill’s and pot still whiskey from Midleton it’s a delight

Tasting notes:
Fermenting apple pip, damp foprest, traces of white pepper and moulding crab apples on the nose, oily rich grain from the pot still, far less sweet and rounded than many Irish whiskeys, with intense spice giving way to more typical green fruit, unripe pear, melon and grape. Unusual for Irish whiskey. The finish is quite short but warming.

Japanese whisky
I have just finished the chapter on Japanese whisky for my Autumn book with Gavin Smith, the Whisky Opus. And as I was finiashing the entry on Nikka’s Yoichi, there was a knock on the door and I received a box with four Nikka whiskies in, including one from Yoichi
Oh go on then…

Nikka Pure Malt 43% 50cl bottle
Autumnal, forest floor and mince pie on the nose, big sherried red berry compote and plum on the palate, soft and rounded with some squidgy date, dark choocolate and a late dash of all spice.

Nikka From The Barrel 51.4%
Packaged in a cute square 50cl bottle and with a full, rich flavour, this is vintage Japanese whisky and something of a favourite. The nose is typically Japanese and oddball, with some fungal and stewed fruit notes. But the palate is Iron Maiden in a glass, powerful, intense, ageing and uncompromising, a five piece opnslaught of oranges and clementines, red and black berries, stewed plum, dark treacle and sweet spice. Heavy metal nectar.

Yoichi 10 year old 45%
Damp leaves, prickly spice, Autumn orchard, and pond lilies on the nose. The taste is superb, with an almost incense quality and sharp, clean apple and pear, an array of spices including cinnamon and nutmeg, and a pleasant complex, challenging, distinctive and utterly beguiling finish.

Nikka Pure Malt 17 Year Old 43%
A stunning nose, with clean fruits, spices and oak dipping in and out of the picture, and a distinctly Japanese fungal mysterio. A cool but dark pool on a summer’s day – you want to go in but you’re not sure what’s under the surface…and it’s fine! Great in fact. Rounded, rich, balanced and utterly magical, this has apricot, pineapple, dark chocolate, coffee, blood orange, liqueur cherry… just try!