New ways to profit from a love of whisky

There have never been so many ways to indulge in your hobby from home

1001-cask-trade-1400.jpg

Another option is to buy and sell whisky by the cask via an online auction. In February, Cask Trade’s newly launched auction service, called auctionyourcask.com, held the world’s first live, online whisky auction dedicated to casks. Around 300 whisky lovers registered to take part, withroughly 100 samples sent out to prospective buyers in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“People loved the option of receiving samples,” founder Simon Aron said. “Try before you buy is incredibly powerful.” A 1995 Springbank sherry hogshead was among the casks sold, going for £45,000. Rather than you buying from the distiller, London-based Cask Trade owns the casks outright in bonded warehouses, and it only sells whole casks. The next auction is scheduled for 14 August.

Against the backdrop of the worsening crisis, Cask Trade has seen a steep rise in demand for its services, particularly in Asia. “Our new Asian customers are very enterprising”, says Aron. “They have a love of whisky, so they keep some, bottle some of the casks they are buying and trade others on as they are buying from us at a better price than some of their local competitors.”

It’s perhaps a little too soon to say how the crisis has affected whisky prices, but it bodes well that demand has held up. It is also yet another reminder that alternative investments, such as whisky, wine and art, can form part of a properly diversified portfolio.

This article was originally published in MoneyWeek

Explore More