History.
Market situation
The value of whisky casks is also growing rapidly, which makes them one of the most profitable investments.
In mid-2014 at an auction in Hong Kong, the Macallan cask from 1991 was auctioned for over 1.9 million HK$. Whisky from the auctioned cask can be poured into 490 bottles, if of course the buyer decides to do so. In 2017, the 30-year-old Macallan cask was sold for around $375,000 at the Spink auction in Hong Kong. At the end of 2018, at another Hong Kong auction, a 22-year-old Macallan cask from 1996 hit the hammer. It was sold for over GBP342,000 - the price that exceeded expectations. Initially, the estimated price of the cask was to reach a maximum of 280,000.
One of the main reasons for such high prices at auctions are significant deficits of whisky casks aged over 12 years. As promised by key distilleries, we should expect to return to bottling whisky, as 12 and older editions, over the next 5-8 years, as soon as the current stocks of whisky maturate. The result will be a very significant increase in the price of 12-year-old and older whisky. We are already observing serious price movements on the example of older whisky, where limited editions in the last 2-3 years have gained in price in most cases by a minimum of several dozen percent. This trend will translate into the cask market with a delay of 5-7 years. At the same time, owners of 3-5-year-old casks treating their wallets as a long-term investment will benefit most.
Considering on the one hand the current macroeconomic situation and, on the other, a very optimistic long-term perspective for the whisky cask market, we strongly recommend investing in casks over a long time horizon. The shortage of the older whisky on the market and the huge demand from the Asian consumers mean that today, for every 12-year cask, you should pay the equivalent of 3 analogous casks from 0 to 3 years old. Very large spreads of cask prices in favor of older ones are particularly observed between few-year-old and several-year-old casks, ready for the production of expensive spirits. Therefore, we are currently focusing on purchasing casks up to 5 years old, i.e. filled after 2015, and at the same time we recommend our clients to invest in freshly filled casks with a time horizon of 10-12 years, which will allow to multiply profits from wallets. Of course, not every cask will bring the same rate of return. In this area it is necessary to have a lot of knowledge about whisky and factors affecting its quality. When choosing the right casks, we are supported by the Investment Committee consisting of the greatest authorities in the whisky industry. As a result, we can be sure that the product chosen for our customers is the best choice, guaranteeing the highest possible rate of return, while maintaining full security understood as ownership of assets.