Why Casks?
Whisky By Time provide a comprehensive guide to collecting Whisky. With extraordinary returns (between 12-20 percent) in recent years, a better question could be, “Why not Whisky Casks?
IS WHISKY COLLECTING FOR YOU?
If you’re on the fence about adding whisky to your collection, the primary reasons for doing so are similar to those for collecting good wine. To begin with, demand outstrips supply, just like it does with great wine. Whisky that is collectable is in high demand among customers, therefore a significant amount of any limited edition bottling will quickly become much more limited as it is eaten by devoted whisky enthusiasts. After a time of ageing in oak barrels, whisky is bottled. Legally, this must be at least three years, although most whiskies are aged for at least eight years in order to develop their flavour.
A ‘house style,’ like as Glenmorangie’s famous 10 year old, is generally represented by a mass-produced bottling of a relatively young malt. Older whiskies will be ageing at the distillery, and they will be able to bottle older whiskies like as a 15 or 21 year old. They may also bottle the contents of a specific cask of vintage whisky, or they may offer different expressions of the whisky, such as a ‘port wood finish’ or a’sherry wood finish,’ which means that the whisky has been ‘finished’ with a period of additional ageing in a port or sherry barrel, which can impart different flavours, in addition to being aged in traditional Bourbon barrels. These varied expressions of whisky and older malts are of interest to investors since supply is restricted, and collectors and consumers alike appreciate them. Some distilleries’ whiskies are much more collectable than others, so when it comes time to sell your whiskies, do your research on what will be popular in the marketplace in a few years.
Balvenie Tun
Launched
2010
at a price of £150
Today it’s worth
£4,400
2,833% Increase
Macallan
Launched
2011
at a price of £150
Today it’s worth
£3,000
1,900% Increase
Lagavulin 30 YO
Launched
2006
at a price of £210
Today it’s worth
£2,650
1,162% Increase
Bowmore Devil Cask
Launched
2013
at a price of £50
Today it’s worth
£270
440% Increase
Brora 1972
Launched
2014
at a price of £6,995
Today it’s worth
£19,000
170% Increase
STORAGE OF WHISKY
ALL casks of whisky, purchased by prospective collectors, are sold on an ‘ In Bond’ basis. This means that the whisky has been purchased without any duties or value added taxes being added.
In order to do this, all of the casks that we offer are held in storage at HMRC registered ‘Bonded’ facilities. These will include the distillery of origin or an independent facility. This enables the movement (physically) of casks between the distilleries (who in the main have very limited storage capacity) and these registered storage warehouses. On other occasions it will involve simply making a change of ownership to the title of the cask where it lies in situ. This all takes place without being subjected to added duties and taxes.. Whilst some of these storage facilities will allow a new account to be opened (for rental and insurance purposes), others will not. Therefore, where a new collector is not able to open a personal account at the place of current storage, the cask will be moved to one that does (fully insured transportation – again undertaken only by specialist parties who are also registered with HMRC to move the casks without added duties and taxes being incurred).
All collectors will be given full details of each cask upon invoice, to include the origin/distillery, date of distillation, volume of alcohol (OLA – original litres of alcohol, or RLA – regauge litres of alcohol), cask number and location of the cask. Copies of instruction to change of ownership will be included/made available upon completion of purchase with new storage accounts being opened to include online access to these new accounts. Storage costs will be charged directly to the collector upon transfer of ownership/receipt of cask at the ‘Bond’ storage warehouse.
Good returns come to those who wait.
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