All in all, 2022 has been another great year for single malt whisky casks.
"One of the most attractive aspects of whisky cask investment is it's not correlated to equity, property, or any other financial markets. In fact, it's one of the few asset classes that is still going up, whilst everything else is going down or sideways."
- James Whale, Senior Whisky Specialist, Cask Master
Earlier in the news this year, another whisky cask record was smashed for a £16M rare Ardbeg cask, which was sold to a Hong Kong lady. Combining this with a low Sterling shows a supply-demand disconnect that cannot be rectified for at least the next 20 years.
At CaskMaster this year, we not only sold a few Macallan casks, but there has been huge demand with our clients for the following brands: Glenrothes, Royal Brackla, Bunnahabhain, Bladnoch, Tullibardine and Craigellachie.
Peated whisky as a whole has become much more popular here in Asia as opposed to two years ago when it was centered on heavily sherried profiles.
We have also found post-lockdown that whisky in Hong Kong has never been as popular an investment. Many of our new prospects are already well informed on the whisky cask market and have specific brands in mind to purchase.
Overall, as Hong Kong recovers, the market has become more budget conscious. But as with tangible alternative investments, we are seeing a rise in demand following stock and crypto crashes.
WHAT DO WE RECOMMEND?
Two of the main strategies when choosing which casks to invest in:
Buy a blue chip cask and flip it in a few years for a rapid market return
Legacy strategy, this is more long-term play whereby clients pass their casks (and profits) down through to the next generation
Not only will this be tax-free, but combined with the current Sterling exchange rate, allow for a higher ROI in a few year's time.
Stay tuned next week as we will be sharing the best casks to invest in for both categories.
For more information or to share any queries, reach out to ask@caskmaster.com.
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