Back in Series 1 Episode 5, Martin McAdam of Ardgowan Distillery joked that “the best thing you can do with whisky is put it in a cask, put it in a warehouse and never sell it because it’s increasing in value all the time.”
“The longer you can hold onto your whisky,” he told us, “the more valuable it becomes.”
On that premise you’d think that whisky is a sure-fire investment.
Well yes… and no…
As we’ve discussed on several occasions with our good friend Max McFarlane, former Master Blender at Edrington and now himself with Ardgowan, there are a lot of pitfalls when it comes to investing in whisky casks.
Primarily, Max says, because there are a lot of con-artists out there.
It’s an issue that’s been getting a lot of media attention over the last year or so. Most notably in the BBC’s TV documentary and podcast series Hunting the Whisky Bandits by Sam Poling.
Well a week ago, former Scotland and British & Irish Lions rugby international Ryan Grant, who now runs The Caledonian Cask Partnership, posted on LinkedIn that “the whisky cask world has a bit of a problem. It’s unregulated, and there’s a lot of misinformation”.
And he promised to share in coming posts what he’d learnt about:
We couldn’t wait for his posts.
So, John caught up with Ryan again. (You may remember Ryan and Max McFarlane were part of our oh so impartial Seven Nations Whisky judging panel in Series 1 Episode 21 ahead of the Lions tour to Australia.)
Ultimately, Ryan says, every cask has to end up in a glass.
“Ninety nine percent of people that buy whisky for an investment will need to sell it back to the trade to get their money back because there comes a point where it has to go into a bottle.”
It may sound obvious, but Ryan says: “I see some stuff from companies that email out and they’ll say this cask will be X price and then in 10 years it will be X price. And I find that that’s quite inflated a lot of the time.
“A basic rule of thumb is that if that whisky at 10 years old on the shelf retails for £50, but the value of your cask works out at £70 a bottle, then it’s not a good investment.”
So do your due diligence; do your sums: “If it doesn’t translate from wood to into glass pricewise then it’s not going to happen.”
If in doubt, ask, he says.
Speak to people in the trade: producers or bottlers, “as opposed to someone who’s in a whisky investment company”.
“The whisky industry is so welcoming and everyone’s very friendly,” Ryan continues. “No-one’s going to shy you away from asking a question, ‘Look I’m about to do this. Do you think it’s a good idea?’”
Tune in to this week’s episode find out what Ryan’s red flags are when it comes to investing in whisky casks; what he thinks of the state current state of the whisky industry; and why he finds whisky so alluring.
Slàinte!
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Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie
Creator & producer: David Holmes
Art work & design: Jess Robertson
Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)
Vocals: Andrea Cunningham
Guitars: John Beattie
Bass: Alasdair Vann
Drums: Alan Hamilton
Bagpipes: Calum McColl
Accordion: Gary Innes
Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie
Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland
Special thanks: The Piper Whisky Bar, 57 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, Scotland
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