If you have a cask of rare whisky that has come of age in a warehouse in Scotland, but bottling and distribution headaches have you over a barrel, Rare Whisky 101 can help.
The whisky analyst, broker and investment company has launched a new bespoke cask brokerage service to meet increased demand from global whisky enthusiasts seeking rare whisky still held in wood.
By launching this new service, the company aims to attract owners of casks of rare whisky that most likely are lying dormant in Scotland’s bonded warehouses and who may be looking to liquidate their stocks.
Founded by Andy Simpson and David Robertson, who both serve as directors of the service, Rare Whisky 101 takes the pressure off private owners.
Rare Whiskey 101’s Andy Simpson and David Robertson
Selling their whisky at a price close to its value can be overwhelming to owners because bottling and distribution costs severely can eat into their profit margin.
As the demand for Scotland’s rare liquid gold shows no signs of abating, many whisky brands have become very valuable.
Rare Whisky 101 already has brokered casks — barrels, hogsheads and butts — from iconic distilleries such as The Macallan, Highland Park Rosebank Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Springbank.
Prices have ranged from around $3,500 per cask to over $686,300, with an average cask price of about $181,181. By July 2017, the company had brokered more than 20,000 rare whisky bottles around the world within a 12-month period.
Simpson has his eye on this venerable bottle of Old Lagavulin, a 16-year-old Scotch whisky, that’ll soon be up for auction.
Now, leading whisky hunters are opening up the landscape to include dormant casks, which could be worth more than $13,725 each, based on average values brokered by Rare Whisky 101.
The company believes there may be some casks in existence that, if they came up for sale, could bring in well over £1 million each, or $1,372,210.
As a result, whisky investment expert and co-founder of Rare Whisky 101 David Robertson notes that they are particularly keen to hear from any cask owners who may have either inherited old casks, or acquired and then left them in storage.
And, while he believes the market for these casks will continue going from strength to strength, he warns owners of the dangers of holding on to casks for too long.
According to Robertson, owners should have their casks checked annually, whether or not they want to sell.
He explains that there is most definitely a finite time in which to sell a cask because they can leak and become overly woody.
He says that they recently saw a 50-year-old cask that had dropped below the legal minimum of 40 percent to 28 percent alcohol and subsequently was deemed worthless.
A cask that is stored properly is enough to drive a collector to drink in the potential of a very tidy profit.
