BUY A CASK OF CLYNELISH
At Mark Littler Ltd. we offer honest and impartial advice to help you buy quality casks of Clynelish whisky at a fair price.
Buy with confidence from a broker with more than 500 five-star reviews from customers just like you.
Buy a Clyenlish whisky cask
Are you looking to buy a cask of Clynelish whisky? We are specialist brokers with hundreds of five-star reviews and a proven track record of helping and educating people to ensure they make the right decision when they come to buy a cask of Clynelish.
By choosing to purchase a cask through Mark Littler you gain access to the whole cask market rather than just our own inventory. That means when you come to sell your cask you will not be selling the same product as everyone else (as is the case when people buy from distillery investment schemes), meaning your cask will command a premium.
If you think that a cask or casks from Clynelish distillery is the right choice for you then we can help you find you the cask that meets your needs. Alternatively, if you are open to suggestions then we can also discuss other potential matches for your cask investment needs.
Download Our Cask Buying Guide
How Mark Littler Can Help You
Let’s assume you have read our cask guide and watched all of our cask investment videos. If not, follow the links and put yourself in an informed position before you buy.
If you think that casks are a good investment for you then we can now help you find you the perfect cask for your needs.
Here is what we do in a nutshell:
Mr Smith comes to us to find three casks, one for each of his three grandchildren. We find him casks a selection of casks from Bruichladdich, Ben Nevis, Caol Ila, Bowmore, Ardbeg, Springbank, Highland Park and Arran to meet his budget and needs. His casks are then moved to our exclusive HMRC Bonded Warehouse.
Mr Smith visits his casks every 2-3 years on his way up to Scotland. He contacts us every Christmas to have 6 bottles drawn from each of his casks.
We have the bottles applied with bespoke labels and he enjoys how the whisky inside his casks is maturing and developing.
When his grandchildren reach 21 they decide to sell their casks. Mark Littler LTD. help them draw a final six bottles from the cask as a keepsake. The casks are then sold in bond and the three grandchildren each use the proceeds from the sales towards a house deposit. Best of all their profits are free from Capital Gains Tax.
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 Clynelish Distillery
Although the Clynelish Distillery achieved success, and for some, it actually has a cult status in the whisky industry, this success was only born from human tragedy. As one of Scotland’s clearance distilleries, it emerged during the early 19th century when landowners moved tenant farmers forcibly from their lands in search of profits. Sutherland and Caithness bore the brunt of the clearances, with the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland being responsible for some of the most brutal activity of this time.
While some of the tenant farmers went overseas, others migrated to the Central Belt to new settlements where they ended up working for other business enterprises owned by the laird. The Duke of Sutherland had a number of businesses which he had established in Brora including a tile and brickworks, salt panning, weaving and a coal mine, however, the business we are most interest in is his whisky distillery – the Clynelish. The staff of the Clylelish Distillery were all one-time farmers who were only paid in a currency which could solely be redeemed in the company shops with all profits going to the Duke himself.
Although the distillery was unsuccessful at first, it started to develop a name for itself in 1896 when the Ainslie & Heilbron blenders purchased it in a partnership with John Risk. He became the distillery’s sole owner a few years later in 1912 and by the century’s end, Clynelish became a prized single malt.
Risk worked closely with John Walker & Sons and DCL, and Clynelish eventually folded into DCL at the same time as John Walker and Sons in 1925. Although it did shut down during the 1930s it did produce a small amount of whisky during the Second World War.
Like many other DCL distilleries, there was new construction during the 1960s, and a brand-new plant with 6 stills was constructed next to the distillery’s original buildings in 1968. Briefly, the old plant was mothballed for a year but then it started running in tandem with the new plant under the name Clynelish B. In 1969 it took the name Brora and started to produce a heavily peated spirit to be used for blends. Although this heavily peated phase continued until the early 1970s, after that the smoke was reduced and then it closed for good in 1983.
Meanwhile, Clynelish has played a long term vital role with the John Walker & Sons brand. Its 14-year-old was launched originally under the Hidden Malts Diageo portfolio and a few years ago in 2014, a £30 million expansion of the Clynelish distillery was announced by owners Diageo, although so far these plans are still postponed.
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