BUY A CASK OF BEN NEVIS
How We Evolved As A Broker
We don’t only sell casks to people. In fact, our primary business is selling bottles and casks for people. We are established antiques brokers and have sold everything from medieval gold rings to classic cars.
So how did we get to a position where we were selling casks to the public? Learn more in this short video:
Advice You Can Trust
Since 2016 our aim has been simple – to provide a trustworthy source of information to help people make sound decisions when they are selling their items. To date we have sold millions of pounds worth of antiques and whisky (both casks and bottles) for our clients.
We’re now applying this same logic to help people invest in casks of whisky. Rather than providing sales pitches disguised as educational material, it’s our mission to become the ultimate source of open and honest cask investment guidance.
The information you will find in OUR GUIDE, CASK VIDEOS, BLOG and CALCULATOR is all designed to help you make a balanced decision. We would rather you knew all the facts and didn’t buy a cask than buy one based on ‘fake news’.
The History Of The Ben Nevis Distillery
The Ben Nevis distillery is named after Scotland’s most famous mountain and is known for distilling the Ben Nevis 21-year-old and 10-year-old whiskies. Located in Fort William at Lochy Bridge, it is a Western Highlands coastal distillery which draws the water it uses from Alt a’Mhuilinn. This in itself originates from the Coire na’Ciste and Coire Leis pools. Originally founded in 1825 today it is owned by a Japanese company.
In 1825, Long John MacDonald took out his license for the Ben Nevis distillery which would be established close to the highest mountain in Britain. Soon afterwards, his son, Peter, took over operations and built up a significant whisky business. When the end of the century rolled around, blended Scotch came into fashion, and yet Ben Nevis’ Long John’s Dew remained a very successful brand of single malt.
MacDonald’s whisky was so popular that Peter decided he would construct another distillery called Nevis which would run alongside the original operation. At one stage there were more than two hundred people working across the two operations.
Unfortunately, the golden era of whisky wouldn’t last and in 1908 the Nevis distillery closed its doors, with its sister operation running only intermittently for the next 33 years. In 1941 Joseph Hobbs, a former bootlegger and Canadian entrepreneur purchased the firm. The brand name Long John was sold off to Seager Evans, and the Nevis former site was sold to Associated Scottish Distilleries. As the distillery had been closed throughout the second world war, Hobbs restarted production in 1955, installing a Coffey still and blending grain and malt together before maturing.
In 1978, the distillery fell silent for a period, but in 1981 production began once more and refurbishment was carried out when it was purchased by Long John International, Whitbread’s whisky division. Their ownership lasted until 1989 when Nikka, a Japanese distilling company bought the brand. They had already been buying grain and malt from the distillery for several years.
The Nikka brand owns the distillery to this day although its production continues, with its whisky being divided between the MacDonalds of Glencoe and Dew of Ben Nevis brands and bulk supplies destined for Japan as well as single malt bottlings. Originally only available as a 10-year-old expression, more recently the MacDonalds’s Traditional Ben Nevis has been added to the range, including a more smoky component.
Learn More