The Malt Cask

Today I thought I would give you a quick update on investment. In my last investment post, I took a couple of examples of bottles which were going both ways: up in value as well as down in value. In this post, I am going to give you an example of a bottle which is rather unpredictable: the Kilchoman 10th anniversary release.  I bought my bottle at the Kilchoman distillery at Easter whilst on Islay, and managed to have it signed by Anthony Wills, the founder of the Kilchoman distillery. I am not sure whether the signature affects the value massively but I am going to do a quick study of the price evolution for a standard bottle, without the signature. But first, why did I buy this bottle? Well I bought it for several reasons: 1. I was there, at one of the rare independently-owned distillery, and wanted to get something.  2. They didn't have a distillery-only bottling so that was the closest (Machir Bay, Loch Gorm, 100% Islay were available but you can...

As I have mentioned in a previous post, despite the fact that I mainly buy whisky to drink it, I have also bought some bottles to keep for a while and see how prices evolve over time. If they end up rocketing up and I need the cash, I will sell them, if not, I will open them and enjoy them.  I have now been following auction results for the bottles I own since August 2015, mainly through the Scotch Whisky Auction (SWA) website and app and decided that after 7 different auctions, it was time for an update.  What I have witnessed so far is relatively close to what I had anticipated, in other words I have noticed different trends depending on different types of bottles. 1. Some of the "hype" bottles such as the Ardbeg Perpetuum (Standard release) or the Laphroaig 15 (200th anniversary release) went up in price just after their release before dropping after a few auctions. I would think the reason for this price change is that at first everybody wants to get hold of a bo...

I know many people will say that whisky has been made to be enjoyed and you should therefore drink it rather than store it for years at the bottom of a cupboard with a view of making a few extra pounds/dollars/euros... In my opinion, you can do both.  The best way to know more about whisky is to try as many different releases as you can (always with moderation!). This will allow you to determine flavours you like and some you don't like. I started 2 years ago with the Bowmore Small Batch release, which I picked up on offer in my local supermarket and really enjoyed the taste of peat. From there, I decided to research other distilleries which offered peaty whiskies and bought my second bottle: Caol Ila 12 (still one of my favourite today for its oily mouth feel and peaty/salty taste). I then looked into the other Islay powerhouses and tried different Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bruichladdish... in bars or at the Whisky Shop. I realised through tasting sessions that there were o...