Why investing in whisky could earn you £10,000 a month – but you won’t be able to touch a drop
Whisky experts reveal how you could make a small fortune by collecting your favourite tipple
WHISKY drinkers who have a bottle lurking at the back of the cupboard could be sitting on an investment worth thousands of pounds.
The price of the booze has shot up at a jaw-dropping rate over recent years.
According to a report by Rare Whisky 101, which measures the value of 1,000 of the most sought after drinks, the value of collectable bottles of single-malt Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK rose by more than 90 per cent in the first half of 2017 to £11.6 million.
A 50-year-old single malt brand, Macallan, sold for £65,210, making it the most expensive one last year.
On a good month, some collectors make from £5,000 to £10,000 by reselling around 15 to 20 bottle of whisky every week, according to Anne-Sophie, but it requires work and dedication. So how can you decide whether your old whisky bottle is a decent investment, or something to just enjoy?
We've teamed up with Martin Green, whisky specialist at auction house Bonhams, and Anne-Sophie Bigot - a whisky expert from , an online auction platform for buying and selling special items - to find out.
Top tips to sell your whisky for the best price
HERE are some tips from experts on how to get the most out of your tipple:
- Be patient: Wait for the right moment to buy or sell your booze.
- Do your research: To make good revenue it's important you understand whisky and become a bit of an expert. You have to make the right choices and know what you're buying in the first place.
- Where to start: and are among a number of websites looking to buy old and rare whiskies so make sure you take a look at them before buying or selling.
People can also check more generalist whisky information websites such as , or - or subscribe to Whisky Magazine. Anne-Sophie also has her own website where she blogs about whisky: Keep the bottle in good conditions: Make sure you keep the boxes and keep your bottles in good condition.
Whisky does not need the cool, cellar-like conditions often required for wines. But it needs to be kept at a constant level at room temperature and upright avoiding contact between the cork and the tipple inside.
The value can drop dramatically if there is damage to the bottle or labelling or if the fill level drops, showing poor closing and evaporation.
According to Anne-Sophie, whisky is considered a safe investment, because at "the worst case scenario" you'll sell a bottle at the same price you bought it in the first place.
Sadly, it's highly improbable that the standard bottle of booze that you have picked up from your local off-licence and kept unopened is worth much more than you paid for it.
It is the rare bottles and special editions (like the one produced especially for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee) that you should look out for.
Martin told the Sun Online: "It’s important to stress that the market for whisky at auction is for single malts not blended whisky, which only features at auction if there is something exceptional about it.
More money making tips
"Reputation for quality, scarcity and exclusivity are very important when it comes to single malt whisky. Many leading distillers produce special limited editions of their very finest whisky, which become collectors’ items."
The bottles you should watch for fall into four categories: the recently awarded whiskies, official bottles from popular distilleries, the discontinued bottles, or the ones that are not discontinued yet but will become harder to find soon.
The trick, according to the experts, is to identify fairly-priced limited edition bottles that are likely to rise in value once sold out.
"If you look and follow specialist websites firms will announce they will stop producing some of their bottles. That's when it's worth buying them to eventually resell them for more later," Anne-Sophie explained.
Mark added: “Watch for bottles from closed distilleries, often called "silent distilleries", given bottles from these distilleries are finite in number they make for particularly strong investments.
"Big brand names are also a reliable place to invest: Macallan, Bowmore and Glenmorangie for example.
"As a general rule, Scotch is always safe - however, do not discount Japanese Whisky - two big names to look out for are Nikka and Suntory."
But how much could you make out of your collection?
Single bottles regularly go for hundreds of pounds but if you become a serious collector there are thousands to be made.
The cost of whisky investing
HERE are the costs you should consider before starting your collection
- The initial costs for starting your own whisky collection can be low depending on how many bottles you want to buy and their price.
- But very rare bottles can cost hundreds of pounds.
- You'll also get more money out of it if you re-sell a lot of bottles rather than just one or two.
- The trick, say experts, is to identify fair priced limited edition bottles that are likely to rise in price once sold out.
- There are no other costs unless you want to pay a company for storage of a large collection and to insure it.
- There may be capital gains tax to pay when you sell up.
She said: "If you want to start investing in whisky in 2018 you need to go with the volume strategy.
"You can't expect to get a lot of money from selling just one bottle."
"Do you research first, it's very important to understand whisky, if you want to make good revenue."
Remember that you will have the initial cost of buying the bottles, which can set you back by hundreds of pound to begin with before you start benefiting from it.
You'll also need to bare in mind that if you do keep a substantial collection of whisky at home, you will need to insure it.
You can either sell your whisky through a broker, a specialist shop or at an auction.
When you buy, though, remember that you will have auction fees and VAT to pay so you may find you can get better value on eBay, if you know how to avoid the fakes.
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Obviously, you won't be able to have a drop of the bottles you're collecting.
"Sadly, you can't drink from the bottle if you're hoping to resell it after. If you really enjoy a glass of whisky I would advise buying two. One for investment purposes and one for your own pleasure."
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