Weekly Whisky Auction Watch

Andy Simpson

02.10.2012

After a veritable melee of bottles last week, the last seven days have been a far more sedate affair.

The first bottle I’m going to mention is a slight anomaly. Anomalous in that you can still buy the product cheaper through the retail market than it’s selling for at auction.

This always confuses me. It may be a buyer who resides in a country where the original retail source won’t/can’t send bottles. It could just be a lack of research.

Abhainn Deargs first release of proper whisky: 2,011 bottles of three year old whisky were released last year. This still retails for £150, so why the final bid for £160? I remain confused.

Over to Islay, a bottle of Bowmore Maltmen’s Selection sold for £200 last week. 100% above its original retail price.

Moving across to Ardbeg, we saw one of just 93 bottles yielded from single cask number 4985 (a 1974 vintage) sell for just short of £1,500. That’s more than double its previous UK record. Very rare, very desirable and now very expensive!

My final bottle this week is Glenmorangie Cellar 13. I won’t admit to how many of these I’ve drunk over the years (certainly not to my wife!). Truly great whisky which used to have a retail price of just £30 for a one litre bottle….. aah, those were the days. Last week saw a new record of £90. Glenmorangie values have taken a tumble recently, however, I suspect the bottom’s been reached and the trend may be reversing.

Slightly separately but feeding the auction pipeline; pre-order sales at The Whisky Shop have already seen the Brora, Lagavulin 21 year old and Port Ellen (who’d have guessed!!) sell out. I’m expecting a similar picture nationwide. After some broad based criticism of the Port Ellen pricing it’ll be interesting to see what happens to secondary market values. I’m sure it won’t be long until the first bottles find their way to various auctions. I shall certainly be watching with interest.

Andy Simpson gives us the very latest news on whisky investment…

Last Saturday saw a packed auction house at Taylors of Montrose. The south Aberdeenshire auctioneers hosted one of their regular wine and whisky auctions with over 500 lots moving swiftly under the hammer. A myriad of rare whisky culminated with both the 55 and the 57 year old Macallan Lalique decanters. The 55 year old sold for £7,800 and the 57 year old sold for £9,000.

There looked to be a collection of similar aged bottles from a variety of distilleries. Bottles of mid to late 1970’s whisky from Oban, Dalwhinnie, Talisker and Blair Athol (to name a few) sold for fair market value. The reason I’m mentioning this is they all had a very similar, quite poor, fill level at ‘High Shoulder’. It just highlighted the need to look after any bottles carefully if you want to keep them for a long period of time.

In order to preserve a bottles fill level and the overall condition of the labels, store bottles –

-          At room temperature (or as constant a temperature as possible)

-          Out of direct sunlight to prevent bleaching

-          Away from sources of damp

-          Standing upright rather than laying down (the strength of the alcohol in Whisky can corrode cork stoppers)

There were also some very rarely seen bargains with a brace of Macallan 1979 Gran Reserva bottles selling for less than £300. These have been achieving £400 – £450 recently so anything sub £300 is a great price for the buyer. It’ll be interesting to see if this was just a downwards spike or an indicator these bottles may start to see values easing.

Looking to this week, the main event is McTears whisky auction which sees an impressive array of old Cadenheads bottles up for auction. These old, discontinued bottles have been a major contributing factor to the recent surge in values for independent bottles. I’m looking forward to seeing if this trend continues, as usual, time will tell!

Andy Simpson gives us his weekly update on whisky investment…

I’m starting to think whisky price records are akin to busses! You don’t get one for ages and then they all come at once. It’s been a bit like that for Highland Park values recently. They seem to have been slowly slipping; however, last week saw some great results which halted the slide.

I find this first one a bit bizarre as the bottle in question is still widely available through various retail channels. That said, a bottle of Highland Park Saint Magnus sold for £220…..very odd indeed!

Staying with Highland Park, a bottle of Hjarta sold for £200 which comfortably exceeded the previous record.

On a final HP note, whilst not a record, it was good to see a bottle of the limited ‘Lunar’ release sell for £200. These have been changing hands for around £140 recently (still not bad if you bought it at its original retail price of £70).

Broadly speaking, Springbank values have been stable/level over the past few years. It came as a nice change to see some of the ‘Wood Expression’ releases starting to increase in value.

A bottle of Longrow Gaja Barolo sold for a new record of £89 and a Springbank 12 year old Bourbon Wood sold for £80. That’s pretty much a doubling in values over retail prices for both these bottles.

Sadly, there were no notable bargains last week so my final whisky is the USA release ‘Cask of Dreams’ by Glenfiddich. Last week saw the first bottle appear at auction in the UK which sold for just short of £190. If you’re reading this from the States then snap them up if any are left, especially with a retail price of $100. At 3,500 bottles, it’s a nicely limited release that should perform well at auction.

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

As with any investment – and this article is on investing – the oft written phrase ‘caveat emptor’ is fundamental.

Only invest what you can afford to lose. Investments will go down as well as up – though few will go down as well as a glass of our liquid gold from Scotland!

I have five sectors that are worth considering – and you may want to take a balanced – dare I say, blended – view to starting to build any portfolio.
• The contemporary icons
• The silent stills
• The hidden gems
• The trophy bottles
• The antiques

Icons
These are rare, limited edition releases from well known, well established, credible and
well regarded ‘premier cru’ distillers – Macallan, Springbank, Bowmore, The Dalmore, Highland Park, Balvenie.

The key here is to identify the special limited edition releases where most will
be consumed as they are single casks, small runs, interesting ages, vintages, cask finishes, etc. Bottles under £500 have a much higher chance of being consumed and thus removes bottles from circulation and with simple economics will ensure those left will rise
in value.

Some brands – The Macallan and The Dalmore in particular already sit at the
very top of the price pyramid and some may think that they offer less potential value appreciation – the statistics show otherwise and confirm prices continue to rise!

Silent stills
Much has been made in the market recently with releases both from brand owners and independent bottlers on cult classics such as Brora, Port Ellen, Rosebank and the like. I believe that these will continue to offer solid returns.

Hidden gems
This is where it gets a might more tricky! More of a speculative punt where the savvy investor may gamble on a distillery that is less obvious but has some stunning liquid credentials and may over time become re-branded, re-positioned in the hope of becoming more famous.

Recent examples that have enjoyed a renewed focus from their parent companies include Balblair, Glenmorangie, Glenrothes, Scapa, Fettercairn, Glenfarclas and, without bias – The Dalmore.
Past performance may not give an immediate insight but diligent research may help you mine and then polish a hidden gem!

Trophy bottles
Everyone loves to have something precious, special, unique and with talkability. Very rare whisky is no shrinking violet in this case. The best exponents of this in recent times have been The Macallan, Bowmore, Glenfiddich, Balvenie and The Dalmore. A single purchase here for vintage whisky of around 40 years of age can exceed £1,000 and those whiskies reaching half a century or more can run to the many 10s of 1,000s. The hottest example is The Dalmore 64-year-old Trinitas where Harrods in London have the last of the three bottles available for £120,000!

Antiques
This section for me centres around bottles released pre-1960 and as far back as the late 1800s. As with any high value piece – and antiques in particular – fakes may be a risk. Should you wish to acquire this type of liquid investment, provenance is key and you must seek to prove beyond reasonable doubt the integrity of your acquisition.

Great examples here include Macallan distilled in the late 1930s and bottled
by Gordon & MacPhail. G&M also bottled some wonderful stocks from Strathisla, Glenlivet, Talisker, Linkwood etc that can still be found at auction today and from very specialist retailers.

The Whisky Wishlist – Our Experts’ Choices. We put our experts on a budget and sent them shopping…

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…

Investment: independent whisky bottlers vs official bottlers?

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

What are the trends affecting whisky prices in 2012, and is this good for collectors?
What I’m seeing at the moment is a broad increase in values across all ‘collectable’ single malt Scotch. There is, however, an interesting polarisation emerging. The most sought-after bottles from the most desirable distilleries are increasing rapidly, while the less desirable bottles are further decreasing in value; a sort of rich get richer and poor get poorer effect. This is largely brought about by an increase in the number of investors entering the market. New investors are – and rightly so – sticking to well-known rarities from the best performing distilleries. We’re seeing rapid increases in value for the likes of Macallan, Dalmore, Brora, Port Ellen, Glenfiddich and Balvenie. On the flip-side of the coin, some examples of decreasing values are being seen, and many lower-value bottles from the likes of Imperial and Lochside. Given time, I’d expect to see the value of these bottles reach a natural floor then start to gradually increase. I’m also seeing increases in value for what I term defensive bottles; iconic relatively high-value bottles where prices have remained broadly constant and the risk of losses are minimal. This includes bottles such as the Black Bowmores and the 1965/66 Springbank Local Barley. The main risk this year is if distillers start to charge what is perceived as too much in the market for their bottles. Successful bottlings such as the annual Port Ellen releases will always leave some ‘value add’ for the collector/investor. If this year’s Port Ellen release were to be released (in similar quantities as last year’s) at £500-£600 it would have a serious effect on increases in the secondary (auction) market.

How important is taste to a collectable whisky? Could a whisky package really become collectable if the bottle was full of cold tea?
The quality of the spirit is critical to the success of the bottle as an investment. There’s a reason why the best-performing distilleries remain highly sought after – they produce some of the best-quality spirit. There are exceptions to every rule and this is no different. Loch Dhu Black Whisky originally retailed for around £18 a bottle and now sells for £90 – £140 at auction. It is the only bottle of whisky I have ever poured down the sink! Rarity also plays a part; even the worst-tasting bottles from Port Ellen will ultimately increase in value. From a personal perspective, I never buy anything unless I’d love to drink it. Today’s investment for someone could well be opened and consumed in five to 10 or 20 years.

What are the trends to look for in the future? I’m thinking styles, regions, countries, ages…
Heavily peated whisky from the icons of Islay will always be sought after. There are an ever growing number of ‘peat heads’ (I’m one too!) who ensure demand is always high for good releases from the likes of Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Bowmore and Ardbeg (although some Ardbeg values have re-traced over the last three to six months). As ex-sherry casks have become increasingly expensive stocks are in high demand. A good example is Macallan. Their ‘Fine Oak’ series is broadly not desirable from an investors perspective, however the wholly sherry matured spirit is in even greater demand than ever. From a perspective of the regions, it’s more about choosing the right distillery than saying bottles from, say, Speyside are worth more than bottles from, say, Campbeltown. There are iconic distilleries in each of the whisky regions. I pay no heed whatsoever to them – it’s all about the right bottle from the right distillery. I’m also keeping a watchful eye on certain Japanese whiskies. There seems to be some early indication of good gains, particularly with single cask releases from Karuizawa.

Do you think Diamond Jubilee bottles will dominate?
Simply, no. The Diageo special bottling released for £100,000 doesn’t represent an investment, nor is it meant to. It’s a great idea to raise money for charity. In my opinion we won’t see any increases in value for that particular bottle. While I’m not seeing a huge inflow of limited bottles released for the Diamond Jubilee, I’m sure if Macallan released something similar to their Royal Marriage bottle of last year it would perform well.

What do you tell people who ask you whether whisky’s a good investment?
It’s like any investment. Unless you understand the market, the risk for disaster is as real as with stocks and shares. My rules for investing in Scotch are: 1: Love whisky! If the market crashes at least you’ll enjoy what you have. 2: Patience is key. I always advise a period of investment from 10 – 20 years. When I buy bottles I always look to its potential in 20 years’ time. Short-term gains should be viewed as a bonus. Short-term traders are almost akin to ‘day traders’ in the equities markets. Big risks, potentially big gains… and losses! 3: Never invest what you can’t afford to lose. This is the key for any investment.

Any pitfalls or potential dogs on the horizon?
The new issues are exclusivity and forgery. Some whiskies may seem to be good investments,
but might be better off opened and enjoyed. I’m expecting to see an increase in the volume of fake and forged bottles as whisky becomes more popular and values increase. If you’re at all suspicious of a bottle, check its provenance, speak to an expert or a collector who has a genuine bottle and if still in doubt, simply stay away.

As whisky investment grows, how quickly will the small investor be squeezed out or the market mature to the point that it becomes difficult to find bargains – weeks, months, years?
Very interesting question. I genuinely believe there’ll be constant opportunities. What I do think will happen is that very old whisky (for both new releases and previous bottlings) will see rapid price increases over the next five years. This may well place certain bottles out of the financial reach of many. In terms of the opportunities available, take the new Balvenie Warehouse 24 release ‘The Cooper’. This was a tiny initial release of 300 bottles at a cost
of £65. It will be one of this year’s investment gems. The impending Macallan Easter Elchies release will be an essential bottle for many. If I were a betting man I’d also put odds on seeing another Dalmore distillery exclusive, following the sellout success of their 2011 release. If we look to the medium/long term, when you consider how many distilleries have their bicentenaries in the 2020s (thanks to the 1823 excise act), there’s plenty of scope for releases to keep investors happy well into the future. I already have my name down on a list for a bi-centennial bottling from a distillery established in 1819!

Finally, what would you say to claims that whisky is not an investment opportunity, or that it has peaked, or the bubble is about to burst?
Firstly, I don’t see whisky as a ‘bubble’. Whisky only really started to become a ‘collectable’ in the early 1990s. The timeframe for it being an ‘investment’ is even shorter. It’s by no means a mature market, so it still has plenty of legs. Price volatility is far less of a risk than some other investments, although it can and does happen. Do I see the bubble bursting? No.
Whisky is driven by supply and demand. A catastrophic crash can be likened to the share price of HMV: a 2009 high of £1.50p has now come down to under 0.05p per share. If I put that into perspective with whisky, it would mean you could pick up a Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix from its £125 high for just £4.20, an Ardbeg Kildalton for £12.60 and a Dalmore Aurora for £93.00.

Will that happen?
Not a chance! Not unless there’s a far more fundamental breakdown of the economy
and society in general. Demand for investment-grade whisky is increasing every year. This will continue to drive whisky as an investment. There will be price fluctuations (certainly for some distilleries) and some bottles will outperform others… Just like any other investment, alternative or otherwise.

The Whisky Wishlist – Our Experts’ Choices. We put our experts on a budget and sent them shopping…

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…

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?

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

Wine and ports have for a very long time been an established investment class. It is often said that more than 80 per cent of Chateau Lafitte is laid down by collectors and investors and never drunk.

This class of investment is highly attractive to the new and growing number of very rich people in the emerging nations such as Russia, China and India and this has fuelled the market in recent years in the same way as they have done with gold and other valuable commodities. Yet a recognised market for rare and collectable whiskies hardly exists and is only now starting to grow. Why is that?

Part of the reason is that whiskies perform in a different way from wines. Wine lends itself to investment, at least in the short term, as there is an advantage to be gained by purchasing wine ‘en cru’; that is from the vineyard in the year of harvest before it has been bottled and taxed. Consequently, the wine industry has been accustomed to having its drinkers invest in the year of make and it would seem to have been a natural step for wine to become an investment class.

For many reasons, whisky has not lent itself to purchase or investment at the equivalent stage. Attempts to create that sort of opportunity have been unsound and often tainted by fraud.
In the past there have been numerous ‘investment’ schemes involving the purchase of casks of newly filled Scotch whisky by private individuals who have laid them down for consumption in the future. These schemes have been fundamentally flawed for the following reasons:
- The promoters have unscrupulously taken too much money up front leaving no investment uplift.
- The promoters have masked the real practical difficulties of purchasing whisky
in this format.
- There is a big customs duty payment to be made upon releasing the cask from bond, which is rarely factored in to the equation.
- Very few distillers will handle the emptying and processing of an isolated single cask.
- Many of the casks offered have been unexceptional – the really good ones are rarely available.

Fundamentally, a single cask of malt whisky when disgorged results in far too much whisky of the same make and age. The normal consumer wants more variety.

But the fact remains that the market dynamics for rare and collectable whiskies are very positive. There are regular whisky auctions with a recognised following. Certain sought after makes are no longer available due to distillery closures.

Unlike wine, whisky will never go off, so collectors have found it an attractive long term prospect. Whisky in general is in short supply and commodities such as sherry wood are extremely short. Retail prices of whisky have increased sharply in the past two years because of duty increases and shortages, most recently in March.

And now the mainstream media has picked up on the potential. They’re realising that there’s an untapped market in whisky offering much better returns than the finance markets, where returns to savers through traditional means are currently very meagre because of low interest rates.
So the opportunity is there, but exactly how can you take advantage? Read on…

The Whisky Wishlist – Our Experts’ Choices. We put our experts on a budget and sent them shopping…

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

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

Most people know that you can invest in art, gold, oil and fine wine, and that there is the potential to make more money from such assets than from the financial markets.

So, is there also a market for investing in Scotch? Put simply, yes… In 2008, had you invested £100,000 in the top 250 performing bottles of single malt Scotch whisky it would now be worth £190,530 (a gain of 90.53 per cent). If you’d done the same with the top 100 bottles you’d have £237,540 (a gain of 137.54 per cent). And if you’d chosen really well and invested in the top 10 bottles you’d now have whisky worth £400,370 (a staggering gain of 300.37 per cent).

There’s a global, rapidly growing investment market in the guise of single malt Scotch Whisky. The market for investment grade Scotch (IGS) emerged in the late 80s and early 90s with a small number of bottles appearing alongside established wine auctions. The market for collectable whisky is now unrecognisable from those early days and has been transformed to quarterly whisky auctions at Bonhams (Edinburgh) and McTears (Glasgow) plus thriving online marketplaces where whisky can be both bought and sold.

As with any such investments, the aim is to maximise capital appreciation (after all, bottles of whisky can’t pay you an annual dividend!) and minimise the associated risks. The stock-market is largely driven by company fundamentals, supply and demand, sentiment and most of all for small cap companies news releases on company success or otherwise.

Whilst the IGS market is clearly not news driven, the broad rules of investing still apply. Imagine company fundamentals to be the distillery you choose to buy from; some perform a lot better than others and choosing the ‘right’ distillery is crucial. Supply and demand is the real force behind IGS; demand is at an all time high with more collectors/investors than ever before attending whisky auctions and bidding online. Supply for certain whiskies is rapidly dwindling, take Port Ellen, Brora, Glenugie, Rosebank and Glen Albyn as good examples where new bottles will eventually, sadly, no longer be released… This increase in demand and short supply is applying serious upwards pressure on prices for certain bottles from certain distilleries. Couple the above with the fact that people quite frequently drink these rare bottles and the prospect for significant gains looks rosy.

Dos and don’ts of investing in whisky

Firstly it’s good to have a passion for whisky, it’s also good to enjoy drinking whisky (if the market ever collapses at least then you’ll be able to commiserate in style!). For the
vast majority of bottles a good degree of patience is also required.

There are simply too many other hints, tips and best practices to list in this one short article, however, to take it back to the analogy with the stock market; the key is to do your own research, take your time and know your subject matter inside out.

As single malt Scotch broadens its global reach and more people discover this water of life, the future looks decidedly golden for Scotch as an investment. The single biggest risk I face though is simply not drinking the stuff!

Go for limited editions
To give yourself a fighting chance of good gains, a bottle should ideally be a limited edition (the fewer bottles the better), ideally cask strength, ideally single cask and have a vintage. Discontinued bottles (such as Cellar 13 by Glenmorangie) can also show good gains over time.

Buy upon retail release
This a good strategy for certain bottles, take the Ardbeg Lord Robertson released early July last year. By 1pm on release day all 222 bottles had sold for £220 each. This bottle is now selling for upwards of £500 which represents a 127 per cent increase in value in under 12 months. Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix is also a great example, costing £50 initially, it now sells for around £80 – that’s a 60 per cent increase in value since last October.

Go for independents
The question of distillery or independent bottles gets asked frequently. Write off independently bottled whisky at your peril. Granted, few independent bottles rocket in value within weeks of being released. However, if you want to obtain bottles from some rarer distilleries, indie bottles are the best and frequently only option. Take Kinclaith, Killyloch and Glen Flagler; without independent bottlings these would be virtually impossible to acquire. Most companies have bottles that will perform exceptionally well if you have one from an iconic distillery. The Whisky Shop’s Brorageddon and Ardbeggedon are good examples.

Pick the ‘right’ distillery.
Get this wrong and bottles have gone down in value by some 70 per cent over the
last three years. Stick to the well-known brands which already cater for the collectors and investors market. Some good examples of distilleries where rare bottles have seen rising values are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Dalmore, Balvenie, Highland Park, Springbank, Ardbeg and Lagavulin. Virtually any silent distillery is going to be a good choice – one day supply will cease and prices will rocket.

Pick the right bottle.
Please don’t rush off to your nearest supermarket
and buy every bottle of Macallan 10-year-old under the premise of making a million… it simply won’t… not just yet anyway! There are two main ways to buy into IGS; these are to buy new bottles immediately upon release or to buy older previously released bottles.

Go for old measures
Bottles measured in fluid ounces rather than centilitres are sought by collectors and investors. In 1980 fluid ounces changed to centilitres and any single malt bottled in the 70s or earlier is quite frankly hens-teeth.

Buy past releases
This is also a great way to get hold of IGS. There are a number of whisky retailers worldwide where you can buy previous releases. You’ll often have to pay many times more than the original price (as the investment value is becoming inherent in the bottle) so you need to be sure what you’re buying. The benefit of paying a premium to a reputable whisky retailer is the likelihood of buying a fake is greatly reduced as these guys are experts.

Don’t buy cases of standard bottles
The rapid growth of single malt and high number of bottles means you’ll be waiting a long time to see even the smallest gains.

Don’t panic buy…
…just because you haven’t seen something before. A good example would be the free miniature given with the recent Macallan Easter Elchies Cask release (you have to go to the distillery to buy one). The first bottle on ebay sold for £311, the price is now slightly less silly at around £80 (still not bad for a free miniature).

The Whisky Wishlist – Our Experts’ Choices. We put our experts on a budget and sent them shopping…

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?

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?

Do independent bottlers offer you more potential to make money than official bottlers? Yes and no, says Fred Laing. Dominic Roskrow reports…

Find a single cask bottling of a cask strength malt bottled from an independent source, and you’d be forgiven for assuming that its rarity would make it a great investment prospect. And, says Fred Laing of independent bottlers Douglas Laing, that may well be the case – but that’s not the only factor that comes in to play. To really get the benefit from a whisky, you need to have some emotional attachment to it.

“I have to be honest and say to you that I read all this investment stuff but feel that if you are collecting whisky you should be doing so with a view to eventually drinking it,” he says. “I think if you just come in with excess money and buy whisky, that’s not enough. You need an emotional attachment to that distillery.

“The whole nature of the independent bottler is that it is offering a whisky that is a snapshot, a moment in time. If you go for a whisky from a closed distillery which is 28 or 30 years old you are buying a piece of history, and you may choose to keep that piece of history and that might have a value down the line. But the best thing about that piece of history being collected and kept is that it leaves the opportunity for you to share that history with someone in the future.”

The whole idea of whisky investment sits a little uneasily with Fred Laing because one of the fundamental philosophies of Douglas Laing is to provide great whisky for people to taste, experience and share. The compromise is to provide whisky which may be kept and stored for investment but at prices at which people can open a bottle and enjoy it. “We understand the issue of packaging because we were one of the first people to do it, but we try and make sure that the whisky is what matters,” he says.

“We have recently released a North British grain whisky aged 50 years for £350. That is a fantastic whisky in the bottle but we also understand the symbolism of the 50 year old thing. With our Old and Rare range, we want the whisky to look good, but it’s more important that people realise that the whisky in the bottle is the very finest.”

“I think you know what I’m going to say about favourite investable whiskies,” he says.
“We had a lot of casks of Port Ellen because it was my father’s favourite whisky and he bought casks for that reason. It has tremendous value now but that’s because people like drinking it as well as keeping it.

“We have to slow down supply now because each cask we bottle goes up in value because it’s a finite resource. But we like to think that people who can afford it buy two – one to open, one
to save. and that it’s valuable because it tastes great. But for me it’s a special whisky because it reminds me of my father, the distinctive peaty smell, which reminds me of him, about a whole atmosphere.”